Hans Madsen

After reading some of the recent round of stories about the final passage of Senate File 581, I’m pretty embarrassed.

As a reporter, you’re supposed to tell the reader what happened, who it happened to, how it happened, where it happened and, if known, why it happened. I’m anold school guy. That’s what I was taught. You report things, you’re not on a mission to further whatever agenda you adhere to.

Opinions are for the editorial page upon whose light gray surface, this is printed.

It should have been a pretty simple thing to report.

Then someone spit their soy milk latte out all over their laptop.

The new law actually does the following.

— Establishes a new January antlerless deer hunting season for Iowa counties that have unsold Antlerless Deer Licenses available after the last deer season.

— Defines what firearms the hunter may use. In this case, centerfire rifles with barrels at least 16-inches long firing bullets of at least .223 inches and a maximum of .500 inches that produce a minimum of 500-foot pounds of energy at the muzzle.

— Defines the ammunition the hunter must use, in this case, expanding type bullets.

— Orders that season dates and length be set later.

That’s it; that’s what’s in the bill. It’s one paragraph.

If you read the stories, watched the TV reports or just did what most people actually do, glanced at the picture then skimmed the headline — in concert with not bothering to read the bill — you’d come away with the impression that this new law mandates deer hunters start using those horrible, scary AR-15 rifles to slaughter innocent deer before they have a chance to total your new car when they run out into the road.

The social media arguments that followed were even more entertaining. Sadly and pathetically entertaining.

Nobody seemed to have read the bill, nobody seemed in the least informed about Iowa’s hunting regulations, and forget reason or reasoning, much less civility.

I read the text several times and I was unable to see anywhere in the bill where it mentions AR-15 rifles or even makes mention of anything other than caliber, barrel length and energy.

I suppose, if I printed it out, I could glue an A and R and the number 15 on it somewhere like a Hollywood ransom note, but that’s just a waste of glue and paper.

So the question remains, is an AR-15 then going to be legal to hunt with in those counties that have enough unsold permits to have this hunting season?

Yes, it most certainly will be.

So will every other centerfire rifle in my gun safe.

Yes, I looked.

So here’s the thing about the AR-15 rifle in the hunting fields, not just in Iowa but in many other states: It’s already there and has been for quite some time.

Of course, a reporter who did their due diligence and actually did some research, would know this. A reporter determined to write a story that maligns their favorite boogie monster inanimate object, won’t.

Nor would they care to include it if someone pointed it out. Editors with the same agenda don’t correct bias.

But that doesn’t play well, it’s bad for ratings, website hits and rack sales.

So what have hunters been up to with their AR-15 platform rifles? For generations, they been using them to hunt for coyotes, fox, woodchuck, and other game classified as varmints.

Here in Iowa, they’ve been using them since 2017 to hunt deer.

I used one last year.

I know, oh my God, the horror.

So how is this legal?

Glad you asked.

In 2017 the Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued a ruling that allows hunters to use rifles chambered in pistol cartridges such as the .357, .41 and .44 Magnum and other cartridges that meet the DNR’s specifications. They also have a list of several other cartridges that are deer legal that are frequently used in AR-15 platform rifles.

So how does one use a deer-legal cartridge in a rifle normally sold chambered for a cartridge that’s not deer legal?

This is done by utilizing the modular design of the rifle. An AR-15 is basically two major assemblies. The lower half, called the lower receiver, contains the trigger, grip, magazine well, internal firing parts and the rear stock. The upper half, called the upper receiver, consists of the barrel, sights, hand guard and bolt.

The two are held together with two pins. One can be driven out by hand to allow access for cleaning. The other is removed by taking out a screw.

To legally hunt deer with the AR platform, the hunter purchases an upper receiver assembly set up for a deer-legal cartridge.

Mine is a .450 Bushmaster.

That’s right kids, Iowa’s deer hunters have been in the woods harvesting deer since 2017 with those evil-looking scary guns that “you can’t hunt with.”

Which begs the question, how does this affect you and how will the new season impact your life?

It pretty much won’t.

To start, if hunters with AR platform rifles afield were actually a problem, it would certainly be apparent by now. This might have something to do with the fact that a hunter’s behavior in the field has nothing to do with the design of their chosen firearm. There’s nothing about any type of firearm that intrinsically turns a normal individual into a randomly-firing-at-noises idiot. A hunter’s behavior is a product of their choices to adhere to ethical hunting practices. Good, bad or indifferent. The rifle is only a tool.

For those of you in Hamilton County, whether you wish to hunt or you hide in your basement during deer season, here’s the scoop: Hamilton County is unlikely to have the season. In 2021, there were exactly zero anterless deer permits for sale. This is unlikely to change unless the local deer decide to have a Bambi boom.

For residents in other parts of the state, where antlerless deer permits are available, it will, (If you read the bill, you did read the bill didn’t you? Please tell me you actually read it. ) depend on what’s unsold after the other seasons.

So maybe, maybe not.

For this hunter, it’s wait and see.

Hans Madsen, of Dayton, is an avid hunter, a professional photographer, and a practiced weapons authority.