W. Va. Code § 20-2-5K

This is the official text of W. Va. Code § 20-2-5K, part of West Virginia’s Va. Code — part of the compiled statutory law of West Virginia, published by the state as "Va. Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§20-2-5k. Use of air rifles to hunt.

Official statutory text

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, any person lawfully entitled to hunt may hunt with an air rifle during small game and big game firearms season: Provided , That air rifles may only be used for deer hunting in counties open to firearm deer hunting.

(b) An air rifle may not be substituted for a muzzleloader during any muzzleloader season or during the Mountaineer Heritage season.

(c) No person may be afield with an air rifle and bow, or with an air rifle or any arrow at the same time.

(d) No person may hunt with an air bow at any time.

(e) Any person hunting with an air rifle is subject to all other rifle and firearm hunting regulations according to this chapter and rules promulgated thereunder.

(f) Only air rifles meeting the following specifications may be used for hunting big game:

(1) No person may hunt big game with an air rifle of less than .45 caliber and with a bullet of less than 200 grains, except that wild turkey may be hunted with an air rifle of .22 caliber or larger.

(2) No person may hunt small game with an air rifle of less than .22 caliber.

(g) Air rifles may be shot within 500 feet of a dwelling.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.