When I first started hunting deer in Wisconsin, there were a lot of counties(generally ag land with open terrain) that were shotgun only. Some were shotgun first two days and then rifle. Was always told it was a safety issue, as supposedly there were no trees to stop bullets and those areas were mostly 80-120 acre farms with houses and domestic animals in close proximity to each other. Also had to do with amount of hunting pressure contained mostly to small wood lots and windbreaks. Most of these areas had more liberal antlerless seasons than rifle areas, so it wasn't trying to limit kill. In fact many of us that hunted rifle areas would take our smoothbores and head to those shotgun counties later in the season to try and fill our tags with a baldie. Then came the Blaze Orange and Hunter Safety requirements. Hunting accidents dropped dramatically. Small farms were bought up and made into larger ones of 240 acres or more, with access to those private lands becoming very limited. The idea that those areas were any less safe for rifles than others, became moot. When those counties were opened up for rifle there was a rush on rifle sales in the area, as hunters wanted all that extra range to make it easier to kill a deer. In actuality, the kill numbers did not go up as drastically as folks thought, especially after the initial year. Just so many deer along with the elimination of the liberal doe seasons. Even with the use of rifles our deer herd flourished, especially in the southern section of the state, where once they did not hardly exist. Limited access to those private lands along with hunters now wanting to shoot quality animals instead of just "meat" has created a herd that has made for driving rural roads at night a dangerous proposition. Now even with unlimited antlerless tags and extended seasons, and crossbows legal for everyone during archery season, we can't keep the numbers down on private land.
Having used rifles, shotguns, handgun caliber carbines and handguns for hunting deer during the gun season, I can honestly say that while it's nice to have the extra range, I doubt if most folks are going to see a dramatic increase in the amount of deer they kill, just because they now can use a handgun caliber carbine. Even my lil' Ruger 77/44's effective range is no more than my 870 slug gun with a rifiled barreled when using sabots, or is it any more accurate. Today's slug guns are not the same full choked, bead sight model 97 I used when I was 14. Still, in the hills of west central Wisconsin, very seldom do I need a firearm that shoots more than 80 yards. Kinda why I hunt primarily with handguns any more. Those deer running across the lower field 200 yards away can run to the neighbors to get shot. Even tho I have a ol' ought-six in the safe that would have made them easy, I don't mind. Ain't the kill anymore but the hunt.
