State of the Statehouse
Idaho Senate: License Elk Hunt Operations
By Jill Kuraitis, 2-23-07
“We’ve been waiting for this one – this is the industry bill.” With that, Senator Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home began his successful bid to herd S1074 through the full Senate.
And in a prepared statement, Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise wrote, “Senate Bill 1074 passed by the Senate today was written by the elk industry for the elk industry. It represents bare standards designed to give only the minimal protection.”
If the bill passes the House, canned elk hunt farms will be partially regulated by the state Department of Agriculture starting in January 2008.
The bill passed 24-9 along mostly party lines – Republicans Shawn Keogh of Sandpoint and Monty Pearce of New Plymouth voted with Democrats.
Corder’s arguments in favor of the bill included the addition of licensing shooter bull operations, a move which that industry has previously opposed, and the ability for state regulators to set site-specific fencing rules, instead of a blanket rule to apply to all such operations.
Corder argued the idea that by licensing the canned hunt operations, the ability to revoke or suspend those licenses gives more power to the state to enforce rules and laws. He said there will be a one-time fee of $200 per operation for a license.
Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, supported the bill. “This is a very contentious issue,” he said. “Licensing is a good step forward.”
Senate Democrats disagreed.
Last week, a bill to ban all shooter bull, or canned hunt operations sponsored by Boise Sen. David Langhorst was killed in the Senate Agriculture Committee. Today, Langhorst repeated some of his objections to the idea of canned hunts. He said he had intended to support today’s bill but couldn’t because “sportsmen will subsidize the requirements of this bill through their hunting license fees.”
Senate Minority Leader Clint Stennett spoke to what he saw as improper labeling of of domestic cervidae. “I think it’s a major flaw in this bill. We are inscribing in Idaho Code that Rocky Mountain Elk and Red Deer are the same genus and subspecies.”
Pointing out that neighboring states Montana, Wyoming and several others have all either banned canned hunting or put severe restrictions on the practice, Langhorst asked,“Will we sacrifice our 100-year-long fair-chase hunting heritage for this one that is unique to Idaho?”
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