Center Fire Caliber Restriction for Ontario Deer

shellbird01

shellbird01

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Some one told me you can't use a rifle bigger than .270 south of the french river for hunting deer for WMU's that allow center fire? I called wild life and she said there is no restriction, not even a minimum restriction?

I wan't to use my 30-06 in rifle season? What's the truth?
 
Unless you're in a Shotgun only WMU ANY Centerfire round is permitted. That includes some highly not recommended like .17 Rem. But that is the regs. The .275 limit is found under small game regs. That does not include deer.

From the Small Game regulations:

The holder of a small game licence may not use a rifle of
greater calibre than .275, except a flintlock or percussion
cap muzzle-loading gun, for hunting small game in the
counties of Brant, Elgin, Essex, Huron, Lambton, Middlesex,
Northumberland, Oxford, Perth and Wellington and
the regional municipalities of Chatham/Kent, Durham,
Haldimand-Norfolk, Halton, Hamilton-Wentworth,
Niagara, Peel, Waterloo and York and the City of Toronto.
 
medic1050 said:
Unless you're in a Shotgun only WMU ANY Centerfire round is permitted. That includes some highly not recommended like .17 Rem. But that is the regs. The .275 limit is found under small game regs. That does not include deer.
Click to expand...

Even if your WMU is shotgun only for bear/deer, you can still use centerfire for small game.
 
Ontario minimum calipber is ANY CENTERFIRE .22 +. That means a .223 is legal.

Areas in Southern Ontarion have a .270 restriction and some areas have shotguns only.
 
While it's easy to understand the reasoning behind bow/shotgun only deer zones in s.Ont,when I lived there briefly in the 90's I found it to be a rediculously arbitrary rule that I was permitted to use a .270 to hunt yotes,but not my ballistically inferior 30-30?Go figger?
 
Then there the question about "shotgun only"

Since when is a rifled, centrefire firearm, shooting a single projectile with open sights or scope meet the definition of a shotgun??
 
senior said:
Then there the question about "shotgun only"

Since when is a rifled, centrefire firearm, shooting a single projectile with open sights or scope meet the definition of a shotgun??
Click to expand...

I don't think many would dispute the fact that a slug gun is a little more acceptable as a deer weapon than a centerfire rifle in populated areas in terms of downrange danger from errant shots?I'm just baffled at the seemingly thoughtless cut-off limit.ie:.270,when there are arguably dozens of less "dangerous" chamberings with bigger bores that run outta steam long before a .270 and many other smaller centerfires.Do the politicians that draft these laws not get any input from the firearms community?If they allow a .270,then why have any caliber restrictions at all?
 
grinrgrn said:
If they allow a .270,then why have any caliber restrictions at all?
Click to expand...

The most common explanation I have heard for this, is that the restriction was put in place shortly after WWII to prevent guys from using surplus FMJ ammo for hunting in highly populated areas. No military at that point had used anything smaller than 7mm. It probably would have made more sense to simply not allow FMJ for hunting in those zones (or at all for that matter), but sense and politicians don't seem to mix well.
 
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Workin Man said:
The most common explanation I have heard for this, is that the restriction was put in place shortly after WWII to prevent guys from using surplus FMJ ammo for hunting in highly populated areas. No military at that point had used anything smaller than 7mm. It probably would have made more sense to simply not allow FMJ for hunting in those zones (or at all for that matter), but sense and politicians don't seem to mix well.
Click to expand...
That's how I understand the regulation came into being as well.

When I worked for the government of Ontario in the mid-90's I asked a senior MNR bureaucrat about this regulation and while he agreed it didn't make much sense he felt quite strongly that opening the regulation would probably have led to something far worse. It was his view that we'd have ended up with a smaller caliber limit (probably .22) or some combination of caliber/muzzle velocity/bullet regulation.
 
senior said:
Then there the question about "shotgun only"

Since when is a rifled, centrefire firearm, shooting a single projectile with open sights or scope meet the definition of a shotgun??
Click to expand...

That was addressed a number of years ago and it was determined that a rifled barrel on a shotgun was still a shotgun.

This is for Ontario.
 
"...Some one told me..." That someone is confused. It's not all of Southern Ontario. Only some areas. Mostly, but not completely, in Southwestern Ontario. Some other municipalities have the same idiotic rule. It has nothing to do with small game though. It's no hunting with a calibre larger than .275, period. The really daft part, is that it's the name of the cartridge, not the actual bullet diameter.
"...shortly after WWII to prevent..." W.W I, according to the rumour I heard. It's a local by-law. It's so long ago that nobody has any idea when, who or why.
"...seemingly thoughtless cut-off..." It's an arbitrary number. Just like all government inspired idiocy. Logic just does not apply to anything they dream up. Even 80 odd years ago.
"...Since when is a rifled...definition of a shotgun??..." It's a rifle to me too. However, as daft as it sounds, a rifled barrel on a shotgun is ok in a shotguns only WMU. I asked the Ontario MNR some time back.
 
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