got to say i agree that the guy broke the law and should be cited.
i am in favor of game laws. shooting game out of season and without a tag is a bad thing, not a good thing. if we want game around for the next generation we need to protect it.
the reason its illegal in this state to shoot a deer with a pellet gun is because its likely you just wound it, it runs off dies anyway and its “lost game”. that is also a good law in my view.
that said, i hunt with a pellet gun, but just rabbits to eat. definitely not a toy gun, the muzzle velocity is higher than a .22 and so is the muzzle energy. very accurate out to around 35 yards in my experience.
intersting comparison of pellet and .22 long rifle here:
.22LR http://www.gunnersden.com/index.htm.rimfire-rifles.html
pellet: roughly 900 to 1,000FPS muzzle velocity, higher than some .22, lower than others.
same for muzzle energy, roughly 170 foot pounds for pellet, big range of .22 from 40 to 180.
Oh yes. He broke the law and should be cited by Fish and Wildlife. I don’t think this is an issue for Humane Society or the city law enforcement.
I got in trouble for throwing a rock at some guys throwing rocks at some ducks. The guys were teenage college butt wipes. They wanted to fight, when campus police showed up. They wanted to charge me, which was fine, I was wrong. I asked the cop to call the game warden. He asked why? I told him, in front of my accusers, that they would be cited for hunting with no license, no state or federal duck stamp, out of season, illegal method, hunting in a no hunting zone, hunting after hours, and that was likely just a beginning, that they could be looking at federal charges as ducks are migratory water fowl. They declined to press charges.