Semi Autos legal to hunt big game in PA.

Hahaha, I kind of figured you get fire up over this.
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Remember the game commission's MO. If you want a particular consensus on your survey, make sure you ask a carefully handpicked group of people. Then afterwards defend your predetermined results by saying that "PA sportsmen have spoken".

Now they don't even do that, they cave to philly Democrats on the semi auto issue while ignoring the majority of hunters that didn't want the Saturday rifle opener all for the sake of "inclusion".
 
Well to be completely fair, which of coarse is what old fudds try to be, there seems to be more than enough DEMS on all 4 corners of the state without just singeling out the city of (ahem) brotherly love. Without even mentioning uhh uhh you know, whatits name, the state capital.
 
I'll stick with my Amish machine gun (Rem 7600), even if they allow semi-auto for deer. I only ever ran out of shells once, and never though "boy, I wish I could have taken those 2nd, 3rd, and 4th shots any faster".

My biggest issue with allowing semi-auto is the AR nuckle heads who will be using underpowered .223 with 55gr ball ammo.
 
I'll stick with my Amish machine gun (Rem 7600), even if they allow semi-auto for deer. I only ever ran out of shells once, and never though "boy, I wish I could have taken those 2nd, 3rd, and 4th shots any faster".

My biggest issue with allowing semi-auto is the AR nuckle heads who will be using underpowered .223 with 55gr ball ammo.

I prefer the terms "Mennonite Machine Gun" or "Amish Automatic" as they tend to flow better. I hunted for several years with my Grandfather's 760 when I was younger and I did use multiple shots on several deer. Almost all of them were dead on the first shot but due to my inexperience I was worried I missed and shot again. With a decade more shooting under my belt and complete trust in my equipment these days I rarely use a second shot.

As for the bold that kind of attitude is the reason we still aren't allowed to use them for hunting big game despite no issues with with them being used for everything else. Since FMJ ammo is illegal to use in PA for game odds are there may be a couple morons who do so but overall I'd venture to say that the year they allow it will be no different than any other year.

All of that being said I would absolutely hunt with a semi auto and I personally can't wait to hunt deer with hand loads through my M1 Garand.
 
I prefer the terms "Mennonite Machine Gun" or "Amish Automatic" as they tend to flow better. I hunted for several years with my Grandfather's 760 when I was younger and I did use multiple shots on several deer. Almost all of them were dead on the first shot but due to my inexperience I was worried I missed and shot again. With a decade more shooting under my belt and complete trust in my equipment these days I rarely use a second shot.

As for the bold that kind of attitude is the reason we still aren't allowed to use them for hunting big game despite no issues with with them being used for everything else. Since FMJ ammo is illegal to use in PA for game odds are there may be a couple morons who do so but overall I'd venture to say that the year they allow it will be no different than any other year.

All of that being said I would absolutely hunt with a semi auto and I personally can't wait to hunt deer with hand loads through my M1 Garand.

I can only imagine the fun of getting an M1 thumb on a cold day. lol
Im old enough to have been issued one of those.
The carbine model as well, for sure id be choosing one of the civilian version semi autos over that even with good handloads.
 
I can only imagine the fun of getting an M1 thumb on a cold day. lol
Im old enough to have been issued one of those.
The carbine model as well, for sure id be choosing one of the civilian version semi autos over that even with good handloads.

Every year I shoot my M1 in a WW2 match at the local club in February and so far I've avoided doing that even when it was in the 20's and snowing one year.

My normal hunting rifle is a custom bolt action which I carry opening day but on the last Saturday of deer season here in PA our camp does an old school weekend where we hunt with classic and iron sighted rifles. The past couple years we've had a mix of Winchester 1873's, 1894's & 1895's along with a Savage 99 and Marlin 1895's and 336's.

I've carried my Winchester 1873, 1895 and 1874 Sharps the past couple years but for me as a gun guy it would be really fun to take out my Garand or M1A. I'm seriously hunting for meat I'm taking my 6.5 PRC but if I've already taken a deer for the year then the pressure is off and I like to take the classics for a walk in the woods.
 
Well of coarse i joke, my first season hunting Pa was in 1947, this past season was my 72nd consecutive season there.
My first rifle was a 94 Winchester 3030 which at that time probably accounted for half of all the guns used for deer hunting there. My father and older brother also had 94 Winchesters.
2 years later i had a new model 141 Remington pump in 35 Rem, it cost $105 new which was a tidy sum then.
Both my brother and father had new model 99 Savages in 300 savage. All had the factory buckhorn sites, but within a year or so all had receiver sites installed.
So i started out using todays classics when they were new.
Scopes at that time were to be stared at on someone else's gun, they were that scarse.
Unfortunately the only thing scarce in Pa today are hunters, i can only imagine what 72 more seasons might look like.
 
I personally feel like other than maybe a cultural shift away from hunting, land availability is the next biggest driving factor. When I started hunting ('98) you could hunt pretty much anywhere. Now we have big bucks and people are VERY possessive of them. The first few years I hunted we had a big crew of family members spanning 3 generations, and we hunted all over had an absolute blast. Then it was harder and harder to find chunks of ground to do drives on, and finally just kind of dissolved the group all together. I miss those days...

Just my thoughts, but seems like what has happened.
 
I personally feel like other than maybe a cultural shift away from hunting, land availability is the next biggest driving factor. When I started hunting ('98) you could hunt pretty much anywhere. Now we have big bucks and people are VERY possessive of them. The first few years I hunted we had a big crew of family members spanning 3 generations, and we hunted all over had an absolute blast. Then it was harder and harder to find chunks of ground to do drives on, and finally just kind of dissolved the group all together. I miss those days...

Just my thoughts, but seems like what has happened.
Are you aware of the (millions) of acres of public owned land open for hunting in Pa?
That dosent include several million acres more of land owned by the PGC purchased over the years with funds taken from hunting license sales.
Lack of land to hunt on is the least of the legitimate reasons for fewer hunters today in Pa..
 
Yep, I am. And I do hunt there, some. It's nothing like hunting the farm land, though. I'm not saying it's not worth hunting because it's hard, but if you want hunter recruitment then maybe hunting where we have easy opportunity might be a good way to get people into hunting.

Lack of land may not be a legitimate reason for people not to hunt, but I absolutely disagree that it isn't making hunting unappealing to many (even seasoned hunters).
 
Last I looked PA still has the highest hunter density than any other state. I live on the border of Ohio and it's number 2 on the list. So I haven't really seen a decrease in hunters in my area. I hunt with an AR some for deer now but I don't have a gas block on my barrel. Made it specifically so I could hunt big game in PA. I have 2 barrels like that. A 6.5 Grendel and it big brother the 50wolf. Can't wait for a game warden to say I'm illegal and let him try to prove its a semi.
Shep
 
You might be able to fight it, but my guess is they'd initially give you a citation. I believe they would base it off of action type, regardless of whether it's functionally a single shot or not.
 
They would lose. It's works as a semi or doesn't. It's no long a gas operated rifle. By definition it can't be a semi.
Shep
 
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