AirGun Deer Hunting is now legal in Tennessee.

Kirk

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Location
Charleston, TN USA
New for Tennessee Deer Season 2018-19.

During the Tennessee modern firearms deer season, pneumatic hunting device (Pre Charged pneumatic AirGuns), previously allowed only for small game hunting, is approved for use during modern gun hunts by the TWRC.

"The stipulation here is that the pellet must be at least .35 caliber in order to hunt big game or furbearers," noted Taylor. "And once again, it can only be used during modern gun hunts."

Air guns with pellets .35 caliber and larger will be legal for deer, elk, bear, or furbearers such as bobcats, foxes or coyotes when they are in season.

In order to hunt furbearers, sportsmen using pellets that are .35 caliber or larger during deer, elk, or bear seasons must be a legal big game hunter in possession of a big game license.

Check out page 14 of the Hunting Guide for guidance.

https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/twra/ ... tguide.pdf
 

mike243

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Sep 6, 2006
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east tn
From what little I have read about them they have less than 500lbs
at the muzzle. Every thing I have always read suggested 1000lbs for deer sized game. Means nothing as head shots only or what?
 

Kirk

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Aug 7, 2001
Messages
13,754
Location
Charleston, TN USA
This article and video explains Air Rifle Foot Pounds much better than I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cvza9SLgT4

"An awful lot of "authorities" recommend 1300 foot-pounds (at the deer, not muzzle velocity) though I doubt most know why. After some research I traced this recommendation to Jack O'Connor, the shooting guy at OUTDOOR LIFE until 1972. It seems 1300 was his recommendation after shooting many deer. Since then many other writers have copied his 1300, and other writers have copied them.
The most common figure thrown around when hunters discuss the energy required to ethically kill a whitetail is 1,000 ft.-lb. By this logic, at 1,000 ft.-lb. and above, you're being ethical; your shot becomes questionable when the energy drops below this level. The problem here is that energy isn't what kills an animal, making this line of reasoning nearly irrelevant.

What kills animals is the terminal ballistics of a projectile. This is the tissue disruption and damage to the vital circulatory, neurological, or respiratory system of the animal. As an example, it is more ethical to hit a whitetail with a 225-grain Barnes Expander bullet, which has a mere 600 ft.-lb. of energy at 75 yards, than with a 500-grain solid from a .470 Nitro Express, which has 4,000 ft.-lb. of energy at that range. The superior terminal ballistics of the Barnes bullet will dispatch the whitetail more swiftly than the solid bullet will.

So don't get caught up with trying to achieve a particular level of impact energy with your hunting rounds. Instead, do some research into the terminal ballistics of the round you want to shoot and see whether the impact velocity at the ranges you plan to shoot at will give you the bullet performance you need."
 

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