NRA Hunting Policy

I would like to thank Darren Lasorte, Manager of Hunting Policy NRAILA, for taking the time to meet with the 2ABlogBash group during the Phoenix convention. Anyone who is familiar with me knows that I like to hunt as well as the shooting sports. I am one of the crossover people. It is good to see that NRAILA is making the effort to reach out to the hunting community to get the hunters educated on why they should be a part of the NRA.

A variety of topics were covered that were quite interesting. Let's start off with one that can get some of the archery crowd listening (this includes me). There is a push by NRA Hunting for crossbows to be allowed during archery season. The reasoning is that it allows older and younger hunters that are not capable of handling the required poundage bow to participate in archery season. The rules in Arizona show that the crossbow is allowed during the general (center fire) hunting season for some large game such as elk, deer, and javelina. It is not shown as being allowed in bear and antelope season. It appears to be allowed for most small game. There is an easy to use chart in the AZ Game & Fish regulations for allowable weapons. I am not sure what I think about this one. I am looking at a new bow that has about an 80% letoff as it gets more difficult to participate as I get older. I like the idea from this standpoint. Archery deer is one of the few "over the counter" tags that can be purchased. I would expect that if there was a large surge in archery deer tags purchased that the hunts would become by drawing only the next year. This is already a topic now. I have always viewed the deer archery hunt as my last chance to go out as it is becoming harder to get drawn in general deer season. I expect that G&F would combine the general/archery draw at that time and make it about as likely as getting drawn for elk in this state. It is worth discussing but results will/should vary by state.

HSUS has managed to confuse many people as to what they really are. In my opinion, they are a political organization that is very anti-hunting and have nothing to do with the animal shelter down the street. There a many people who mistake this agency to the shelter down the street and make donations to it. The HSUS donation are way up and the actual Humane Society donation are way down much to the dismay of the local shelters. HSUS is as anti-hunting as they come. This is not my opinion as it is clearly stated on their policy page. Don't be fooled into donating to this group. I wonder how Rush Limbaugh is going to wiggle his way out of his endorsement. HSUS: Fools, and Limbaugh, rush in

Another interesting topic was the discussion of shotgun slug only deer hunting in certain areas. I know that the lower part of the lower peninsula of Michigan is this way in that center fire rifle is not allow due to population density. There is a concern that the rifle bullet will travel further than a shotgun slug. This is true if the weapon is fired in the air. I don't know about you but I haven't seen any deer flying by recently that would require this type of aerial shooting. If you claim to have seen such, I would suggest that you put the gun away and lay off the Christmas punch. Seriously, there have been tests done that indicate that when fired on the level or a slightly downward angle that the slug is more likely to ricochet and travel further than the rifle bullet which tends to fragment on impact. Interesting.

We spent some time discussing Right to Hunt State Amendments and reasons for their necessity. I think most can be explained better on the NRA site.
NRA-ILA Hunting Fact Card is worth taking a look at for a quick reference sheet.