Game and Fish grapples with evolving gun tech

Guns that shoot arrows and bullets, high-powered scopes and suppressors are requiring Game and Fish to reconsider how it approaches technology.

JACKSON —- Kenneth Roberts looked down the barrel of the black matte rifle, took a breath and pulled the trigger. There was a noise — not a bang, or even a particularly loud pop — and a projectile flew out of the gun.

About 50 yards down range, an arrow rather than a bullet thunked into the target.

“Hey you guys, that’s kind of fun,” Roberts said, grinning. “You’ve got to shoot that.”

Gov. Mark Gordon appointed Roberts to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission in 2021. He’s one of seven appointees who oversee Wyoming’s wildlife management.

But on Tuesday, Roberts was one of about 50 wildlife managers from across the United States gathered in Grand Teton National Park for a demonstration of new firearm technology. While Roberts and other members of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies talked about scopes for long-range shooting and suppressors that quiet hunters’ shots, “air bows” like the AirForce TalonBolt that Roberts fired were the show’s stars — for better or worse.

Wildlife managers in Wyoming and beyond are grappling with how to regulate the rapid advance of firearms. High-powered scopes have allowed hunters to kill animals from over a mile away, prompting debate about fair chase.

Suppressors can protect hunters’ ears and prompt less of a prey response from animals hunters are pursuing. But they also make it harder for game wardens to hear gunshots. Air rifles just make it difficult to answer a simple question: What are they? And how should they be regulated?

“How do you classify them?” Roberts asked. “Where do you put them in the spectrum?”

“Air bows” are more powerful than a regular bow and similar in power to a crossbow, and Roberts isn’t sure whether hunters who use them should be classified as archery or rifle hunters.

Part of the complexity is that air rifles look like a firearm and act like a firearm but aren’t a firearm. They use compressed air to shoot projectiles rather than the explosive force of gunpowder. They shoot arrows, but also slugs and sometimes both. On Tuesday, officials displayed another air rifle, the Seneca Dragon Claw, which is capable of firing arrows and .50 caliber slugs — from the same chamber.

The air rifles, when firing arrows, are significantly more powerful than most bows on the market. Either of the models displayed Tuesday can propel a bolt faster than your average crossbow, which in turn propels bolts faster than your average compound or recurve bow. But when firing a slug, the rifle’s range is significantly less than that of high-powered firearms that hunters use to chase elk or other large ungulates.

Air rifles are illegal for hunting big game such as elk and deer in Wyoming.

They can, however, be used to kill animals the state considers small game, such as squirrels, and predators. That’s a larger category that includes coyotes, porcupines, stray cats and wolves, except in the northwest corner of the state where wolves are considered trophy game. Wyoming places almost no restrictions on how predators can be killed.

Other states such as Georgia, Virginia, Oklahoma and Utah have passed laws allowing hunters to use air guns and bows to chase big game. On Tuesday, wildlife managers said pressure to pass similar laws will come to places like Wyoming and suggested that state game agencies should get ahead of the issue.

“A lot of these new hunting technologies are, if not in your state, coming to a state near you pretty quick,” said Zach Lowe, executive director of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

Lowe, who is skeptical of the advancing technology, said he nonetheless sees it as an extension of the existing market. Because of air guns’ limited range, he sees them as useful in more developed areas where hunting is allowed, and a possible advantage for hunters with disabilities because there’s less kick.

A small subset of hunters are lobbying states to legalize the firearms.

“Even if it’s not legal to hunt with, it’s perfectly legal to target shoot,” Lowe said. “One begets the other.”

Wildlife managers such as Jon Stephens, north Jackson game warden for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, are still forming opinions on new technology. If air rifles were legalized, they likely would be allowed in places like the limited-range hunt areas on the National Elk Refuge, Stephens said.

But Game and Fish would have the difficult task of defining what an “air rifle” or “air bow” is, using the mechanisms’ velocity and projectiles as a guide. Stephens sees that as an enforcement challenge.

“So if you’re carrying the air bow in the field, and it has to meet a 400-feet-per-second threshold, from an enforcement standpoint how would we know that?” Stephens asked.

Angi Bruce, the new director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said keeping up is a challenge.

“We have an internal committee that studies the issue,” she said. “But just when we think we get it handled and understood, then more things advance.”

Roberts, the Game and Fish commissioner, said he’s heard from hunters in the Afton area who want to see the air rifles legalized, which is part of why he was eager to shoot one Tuesday. He wanted to better understand the technology. Roberts said Game and Fish Law Enforcement Supervisor Mike Choma is preparing a technology-related package to be reviewed by the commission in the coming months.

“With this technology, where do we stop it?” Roberts asked. “How do we do it?”

This story was published on December 4, 2024.