Jesse Dunlap with Cory Brossman’s Out There TV in Kansas on the hunt for small game.
Why do I let this surprise me every year? January through April absolutely drags by then, when the weather gets really nice for May, it feels like the accelerator pedal of time hits the floor. June, July, and August fly by as if three whole months were a mere three weeks. Here we are smack in the middle of August with the end of the year staring us in the face. But before we get to the end of the year, the autumn hunting seasons open up, and wouldn’t you know it, unexpectedly soon.
Umarex’s Stephen Lamboy with a black bear harvested with the Umarex Hammer.
Bear Season is one of the closest large game seasons here in the Natural state. Then bow season opens up for all the archery hunters in the middle of September. The foot on the accelerator of time pushes deeper into the floorboards.
What is it about beautiful weather and awesome outdoor activities that leads to the perception that time is actually flying by? I guess that’s just it, you are having fun and the clock is working against you.
With 7 and a half months in the rearview mirror for 2024, it is certainly time to get prepared for the remaining months of the year, especially if you are in the mood to try something completely new, like big bore airgun hunting or air archery hunting.
Transitioning from firearms or traditional archery in air powered hunting devices is best done with planning and practice in mind.
What Equipment is Needed?
The easiest way to fill up a PCP style air rifle is to plug it in! Electric pumps like the ReadyAir PCP compressor have become more affordable and portable over the years.
When it comes to big bore or air archery guns, the most crucial piece of the puzzle is not the gun itself, but rather your source of air. Big bore airguns tend to consume a large quantity of air so this question has to be answered if you are considering hunting with air. The most common solution for air is to purchase an electric compressor and use that to charge the gun’s onboard air tank. While this can lead to longer shooting sessions to zero in an optic or just practice, it is a very effective way to fill up the on-board tank.
While this isn’t an answer in itself, a growing group of airgunners are buying large carbon fiber tanks to expedite fill times. Filling a large high pressure tank has to be done via a large commercial style compressor or a 6K nitrogen tank. Commercial high pressure compressors are very expensive– usually places like dive shops and airsoft fields will have a compressor that can fill a carbon fiber tank in exchange for some money.
A carbon fiber tank is certainly fast, but they are also quite costly.
The 6K tank option will require a fill adapter that will attach the tank to the 6k bottle and fill the carbon fiber tank at a proper rate and to the proper level. These 6K bottles can be rented from welding supply shops and a fill adapter can be purchased from Ninja. This option can be very attractive to people who have garage or shop space to properly secure the heavy tank. Make no mistake, 6K tanks are very heavy and need to be treated with the utmost respect. You don’t want a tank like this to turn into a 350lb steel missile.
Depending on where you are, and your personal preferences, you might be better served with a big bore air gun like the Hammer or it might make more sense to use an air archery gun like the AirSaber.
Some states don’t allow for any big bore or air archery hunting, but, at the time of this writing there are 27 states that allow big bore airgun hunting and 18 states make allowances for air archery hunting. One nice thing about the map for both is there is a considerable number of sportsmen and women in the states where airgun hunting is a thing.
What If You are Not in an Airgun Hunting State?
Chris Cook defines the term sportsman. Here he is in South Africa with a potential world record blesbok harvested with his Umarex AirSaber air archery gun.
Fear not, my dude. If you live in a place where airgun hunting options are limited, there’s always Texas ( or any other state that you want to hunt in). Traveling to another state to hunt with air is always an option for you. One prolific airgun hunter we know actually lives in Texas and does a great deal of hunting there, but has packed up his airguns for hunting trips elsewhere, including a couple trips to South Africa.
If you want to do it, make it happen. This kind of hunting does require some legwork in order to pull off, but it is entirely feasible. Just research the state or country where you want to hunt, plan for the travel and expenses, and budget the money for the trip. Oh, and request vacation if you need to. That will help a lot.