Post by Goosepond Monster on Feb 2, 2012 16:32:08 GMT -5
This is excellent news...
thestatehousefile.com/long-kills-controversial-fenced-hunting-bill/2937/
INDIANAPOLIS — An effort to legalize fenced deer hunting is dead for this session.
Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said he will use a procedural move to kill House Bill 1265 and won’t allow it to be considered in the Senate in the 2012 session.
“I think it is a terrible bill,” Long said. “It’s something that first of all it’s not real hunting. It fences in these animals.”
Fenced deer preserves allow hunters to pay money — sometimes thousands of dollars — to shoot deer that are sometimes bred to have larger antlers. Proponents say the preserves are large enough to give the deer plenty of opportunity to escape, but critics say they violate the fair chase doctrine that dictates ethical hunting.
In 2006, the Department of Natural Resources passed rules — signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels — that made the preserves illegal. But a lawsuit essentially stopped the enforcement. The suit is still pending and four preserves are operating.
HB 1265 — approved 56-40 by the House this week — would have legalized the preserves and created a licensing process for new businesses.
The bill’s author, Rep. Matt Ubelhor, R-Linton, said the preserves and the farms that provide them with deer already have a $50 million annual economic impact on the state. Ubelhor says that could increase if more preserves are permitted to operate.
But Long said Wednesday he prefers to maintain the status quo.
“The bill as it currently exists would open it wide open,” Long said. “I thought we had an understanding (in the General Assembly) that we weren’t going down that path again.”
thestatehousefile.com/long-kills-controversial-fenced-hunting-bill/2937/
