I keep seeing the whole "ethical" crap coming up. People have been hunting for 50k years without modern guns. The debate about an instant kill being the only "ethical" option has only been around for 50 years or so. It's a concept drilled into people by gun manufacturers who want to sell the latest greatest version of their products. They hate archery and air guns because it infringes on their profits.
People use air guns because they are quieter and almost no recoil. Missed shots don't travel for a mile and risk hitting people. Due to the lower power, they can be used in and around buildings with minimal risk. Much better for pesting.
If you want to be "ethical", learn to shoot and to follow blood trails. "Ethical" is making sure the animal dies and recovering the meat. Everyone talks about it as sport or a game. Hunting is about filling the freeze (and your belly).
For you "ethical" types out there, do you think trappers hesitate to set a steel trap that slams shut (often breaking the leg) on the animals they are hunting? The animals are sometimes in the trap for a day or two before the trapper gets back to check. Ethical for them is recovering the animal ASAP and not wasting the fur and meat.
Sorry about the rant but got a pet peeve about people who need the technology of modern firearms and accessories to do all the work for them.
I sympathize and agree with you, I really do. As you may have seen from my past posts here, I am a "powder guy" who has tried for over six years to convince the California Fish and Game Commission - which also relies upon the advice of the CDFW (California Department of Fish and Wildlife, often referred to in hearings and reports as simply "The Department") - via my regulatory petition to simply get the Fish and Game Commission to allow a new method of take (to allow big bore airguns to be used as a method of take for wild pig in California). The regulatory petition and approval from the Fish and Game Commission was all that was needed since the law had already been changed and part of the recent law relating to wild pigs changing them from big game to exotics was sufficient to change the permissions on what could be used on wild pig to different set of tools - but the law still required that the Fish and Game Commission approve changes in California Fish and Game Code for any actual final language to change the method of take. Which is why a regulatory petition was needed, it wasn't going to happen unless someone like myself actually petitioned the Commission. So several years ago (over six years ago) I petitioned the Commission formally. I spent over a year consulting with Committees of the State, various staff, different hunters and random people, and studying the law, and finally, I formally submitted my petition in very carefully written language with carefully thought out reasons and rationale. At that point I thought it would be easy to move forward. Well, was I wrong.
And after six years of the CA Fish and Game Commission beating around the bush, with the Fish and Game Commission pretending my very well written regulatory petition didn't exist (while expediting the regulatory petitions of anti hunting, anti fishing fanatics/fascists), the Fish and Game Commisson, on recommendation of the corrupt CDFW, simply said no. I appealed, and the appeal was denied as well (early in this year, 2023). I could have appealed that denial (to a court level and challenged the decisions on the basis that they were improperly reached, not only for failure in timeliness but also for abuse of discretion and other reasons) but I didn't bother, I decided, probably correctly, that California is just happy to live in the stone age while other states advance.
So yes, I'm a "powder man," but I was still excited about potentially using new technology (big bore air guns, or as they are referred to in California law, BB devices) for my chosen sort of hunting which I've done for many years now in California, at least as an alternative. It was particularly interesting to me since big bore airguns would have - if they had been approved by the California Fish and Game Commission - allowed hunters here to use a suppressed, "firearm-like" weapon (though not actually a firearm, which meant it would not be subject to the suppressor ban which is in effect on firearms in California), and as well, the slugs used in big bore airguns would not have been subject to the lead free requirement. It seemed that the Fish and Game Commission were happy to let people keep using the airguns for hunting on other smaller species (as is currently the case for some species where airgun use is allowed in California), but when it came to considering the use of the airgun for wild pig, they just couldn't mentally process it.
So I continue using my SKS to hunt wild pig (and I have plenty of California's required lead free ammo for it, mostly from the manufacturer known as DoubleTap,, from which I have obtained lead free 7.62x39 (for the SKS) and 7.62x54 (for the Mosin-Nagant) ammunition that not only goes bang but is unquestionably reliable for hunting). It's an old reliable curio and relic and it serves me well. But meanwhile if you want to check out the many, many, MANY other states whose laws are superior to California's I will provide a link below which shows an interactive map which indicates where you can hunt with an airgun wild pigs and other big creatures.
That regulatory prohibition (the fact that we can own big bore airguns in California, get them shipped straight to our door, but aren't allowed use them to hunt wild pig) isn't the only problem with California, obviously. There are a million problems with being here and most of it is not attributable to the Fish and Game Commission - the vast majority of the problems with California have been created by the Legislature and Governor and can't be changed by voting. A discussion of why people are net out-migrating to other states is beyond the scope of this discussion and board but suffice it to say it should come as no surprise that you will encounter disgusted, relatively conservative business minded Californians trying to flee what is happening in CA.
And that's all I have to say about that. Cheers and thank you for reading.
Edit: Here's that interactive map I said I would include earlier. The below are sources to maps that show what states we are currently allowed to hunt wild pig in with airguns.
For javelinas and / or wild boar, you can see regulations or laws allowing use of airguns (described in some states as BB devices) to hunt (boar, feral pig, or javelinas as defined) in (the states of) AZ, NM, TX, LA, AL, GA, SC, NC, and FL, and a bunch of other states, actually. But those states I just mentioned are the easiest ones to find on the regulatory map.)
You can also review this state by state or by category such as "wild game" or "nuisance animal" at the following regulatory repository for airguns:
https://www.pyramydair.com/airgun-map/ Or, check the "states allowing use of airguns to hunt feral hog" comprehensive overview here, easy to see:
https://www.pyramydair.com/airgun-map/?hunting=Big_Game#approved_Feral_Hogs (It looks like there are currently 20 states that currently explicitly allow use of airguns to hunt wild / feral hogs, although I think if you include "javelinas" or "nuisance" animals then the list of states that allow it grows to almost every state. Check your state's hunting regs for the exact limitations.)
As you will see there are a lot of states that allow this.
Note that in California, after a recent change in law on wild pigs, wild pig is being moved out of 'big game' to an 'exotic' category that gives wild pig less protections than before, but the Fish and Game Commission in CA still has not, utterly refuses to, and shows no signs of wanting to, adding method of take to allow use of big bore airguns on wild pig by hunters. California is stuck in the stone age.
