AGFC Seeks Input on Allowing Straight Wall Cartridges in Arkansas Muzzleloader Season
Arkansas AGFC is seeking public comment about a proposal to allow straight wall rifle cartridges in the Arkansas Muzzleloader Deer Season. It’s important to note that this proposal is in the early stages and may not be considered for a proposed change to the rules. I Love Muzzleloading encourages sportsmen of all opinions to get involved in the process and make their voices heard.
As written now the proposal reads as follows:
(AGFC is seeking) Opinions on opening the statewide muzzleloader season to straight-walled centerfire cartridges of .30 caliber or greater.
There are a variety of proposals included in the survey (linked below) for Arkansas sportsmen, but this is a major issue for many muzzleloading enthusiasts. In recent years, muzzleloading seasons across the United States have been opened up to an increasing amount of modern arms and tools. While states have drawn the line at inline muzzleloaders, we’re seeing a pattern of encroachment from straight-wall cartridges in several states across the United States. At the time of writing, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, and others allow straight wall cartridges in their deer hunting seasons.
I Love Muzzleloading firmly stands against the encroachment of non-muzzleloading arms into muzzleloading seasons.
For decades, muzzleloading seasons have been reserved for those looking to increase the difficulty of their hunts by leaving modern, contained cartridges at home and replacing them with loose powder and projectile. No matter what kind of muzzleloader you hunt with, it’s a muzzleloader, and allowing straight wall cartridges into a “muzzleloader” season will only allow the continued degradation of state muzzleloader seasons, and within them, the history and tradition of our forefathers.
Why Straight Wall Cartridges?
Based on the research I’ve done on the topic, straight wall cartridges make for a ‘balance point’ for many states that have rather limited firearm options for hunters. Straight Wall Cartridges, and the rifles that shoot them, can be more accurate than a shotgun, and allow for the modern convenience of having several weather-resistent cartridges at the ready. The straight wall cartridge does not, however, travel as fast or as far as some modern “necked” cartridges, presumably making them a safer option for hunters near populated areas, or busy state land.
Until very recently, Ohio only allowed two types of firearms to be used in their deer seasons, a muzzleloader and a shotgun. Ohio Division of Wildlife District Three manager Peter Novotny has gone on the record saying, "Straight-walled cartridges are comparable to muzzleloaders and slug guns", and ballistically they may be, but if the hunting season in Arkansas was about different kinds of ballistic performance, the season would not be called a “Muzzleloader” season.
On the note of season names, let’s check out the official season names and rules as listed by AGFC.
Arkansas “Muzzleloader” rules are as follows:
To be used for deer hunting, muzzleloading rifles must have a barrel 18 inches or longer and be .40 caliber or larger. Magnifying sights may be used. The use of shot is not legal. Legal muzzleloaders use flint, percussion cap, primer or electronic pulse, must have the bullet loaded through the muzzle and are not capable of firing a cartridge.
Hunters may use muzzleloading handguns with:
barrels 9 inches or longer
.45 caliber or larger if they shoot conical bullets (200 grains or heavier), or
.530 caliber or larger if they shoot round balls.
A hunter may carry a muzzleloading handgun of any caliber as backup to a muzzleloading rifle.
Arkansas “Modern Gun” rules are as follows:
Modern guns may be used for deer EXCEPT:
buckshot in a .410 shotgun.
shot smaller than No. 4 buckshot in any shotgun.
rimfire cartridges, military or full metal jacketed ammunition.
centerfire rifles or handguns smaller than .22 caliber.
handguns with barrels shorter than 4 inches. See illustration, right.
NOTE: The AGFC has approved for modern gun deer season the use of large-bore air rifles that meet certain standards. The large-bore air rifle must be at least .40-caliber, shoot a single, expandable slug, produce at least 400 feet/pounds of energy at the muzzle, and be charged from an external tank. Large-bore air rifles are not legal for harvesting bear or elk.
Arkansas’ own rules separate ‘cartridges’ between the muzzleloader and modern gun seasons. It’s my opinion that if Arkansas would like to make this change, and increase the firearms available to hunters during the “muzzleloader” season, they first need to redefine the season, and rename it as we have seen with other states, like Georgia, who allow air guns in their “primitive season”.
More than primitive hunting
The hunting industry has long since passed the ways of the traditional muzzleloader to the side. With fewer options from the big manufacturers, much of the sport is self-reliant and/or sustained by a network of smaller, but passionate businesses. No one can argue the convenience of the availability of breechloading arms, but convenience isn’t everything. The hunting industry’s slick marketing and yearly “new” cartridge releases to fit in with new and proposed rules would have us believe no one does, or should, hunt with a muzzleloader, that muzzleloading is an unnecessary hassle, a struggle for a bygone era, better left to the last century, but I argue that difficulty, the requirement to load from the muzzle is more than an inconvenience, it’s a connection. A connection to our history and to our ancestors. Every one of us is here because, at some point in time, our ancestors were fed because of a muzzleloader. Muzzleloaders were the arms that founded this country, they are at the root of many of the rights we still enjoy today. Rifles, shot bags, and powder horns hung in every cabin on the frontier, ready to defend and provide for countless families for hundreds of years.
That is what a muzzleloader season celebrates each and every year, and why it should be preserved in Arkansas and across the country.
AGFC proposes more changes
Arguably, the proposed change for the Arkansas Muzzleloader season is small compared to the 150+ proposals AGFC is taking note of, but I think it’s important for us to get involved in the process. While I’m not in favor of the proposed introduction of straight wall cartridges in the Arkansas muzzleloader season, I’m excited they are seeking opinions on so many ideas. I hope Arkansas sportsmen take part.
AAGFC Director Austin Booth said many of the proposed changes came from public comments on previous surveys as well as public requests gathered throughout the last two years.
“There are many changes that are being proposed because of biological needs and changes in animal populations and habitat, but there are just as many fueled by a desire to better serve hunters, anglers and other outdoors enthusiasts who are our partners in conservation.”
There’s an added incentive to complete the survey beyond the opportunity to voice your support or opposition to proposed changes. After the survey is complete, respondents will be sent to a webpage where they can enter to win prizes, including gift cards for sporting goods retailers as well as outdoor merchandise provided through the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation. All information collected for the prize drawing is separate from the survey and cannot be traced back to an individual’s responses on the anonymous survey.
Many other proposals, including captive wildlife regulations changes and WMA-specific hunting changes, are available in an online public comment survey, which will be available at www.agfc.com from Feb. 16-March 15.