Local hunters respond to bill that accidentally bans rifles on public grounds

Indiana hunters are responding to legislation that accidentally bans rifles from public hunting grounds.

The IndyStar reports that a mistake in a house bill intended to just clarify ammunition rules now prohibits hunters from using rifles on public grounds.

The Department of Natural Resources has a map on their website showing the areas where you can hunt.

“I mean that’s just a big problem that a government is going to make I mean it’s not a huge mistake, but it’s a big enough mistake that it’s going to hamper people. For them to make a mistake like this with anything in general, it’s borderline embarrassing," said one Indiana hunter, Nick Boyd.

According to the IndyStar, the legislator who drafted the bill said he wrote it to clarify rules about using high-velocity ammunition on private property.

There was a mistake in the wording, however, and even though that legislator says many people and departments reviewed the bill, the error ended up getting published.

For this deer hunting season, hunters who prefer using rifles will have to secure a spot on private property. 

Boyd said that's where the majority of hunters go anyway, but there's still a decent number who now might have to change their plans come November.

‘It constricts them a little bit more, especially first timers, people trying to take their kids out, teach them, show them. ...It’s not cheap to go out and hunt, it’s really not. I mean if you don’t have a shotgun, that’s just another expense you’re now having to take," he said.

Those shotguns typically cost at least a couple hundred dollars, and Boyd estimates that his other hunting equipment costs around $300. 

Indiana deer hunting season in Indiana starts on November 18.