SPORTSMAN CAUCUS AN ANTI-HUNTING GROUP?

Idaho Elk Breeders on Offense

By Bill Schneider, 1-20-07

Whoever said the best defense is a good offense must be on contract with the Idaho Elk Breeder’s Association. And it looks like the time-worn strategy worked again.

Last week, it seems, owners of elk ranches and canned hunt operations were fighting a losing battle against hunters primarily represented by the Idaho Sportsman’s Caucus Advisory Council (ISCAC). Until Camo Day, January 16, that is.

For the record, the members of ISCAC are the most pro-hunting organizations we have in this country--Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Safari Club International, Pheasants Forever, and others--as well as most Idaho-based hunting organizations such as the Idaho Wildlife Federation, Deer Hunters of Idaho, Idaho Houndsmen Association, Idaho State Bowhunters, Idaho Trappers Association, and Idaho Mule Deer Foundation. It would be the longest reach ever for anybody to call these groups “anti-hunting.”

Camo Day, an event promoted by ISCAC to show the Idaho Legislature that hunters wanted a ban on canned hunts (shooting domestic elk in fenced enclosures) and elk farming in Idaho. It didN’T quite turn out as planned.

During the ramp up to Camo Day, in one of the many planning meetings, there was a conversation between ISCAC officers and a representative of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), commonly considered the largest anti-hunting organization in the country. The animal rights group opposes all kinds of hunting, but the group has specifically targeted canned hunts, calling them “unsportsmanlike and inhumane.”

ISCAC told HSUS that Camo Day was an open forum and everybody was welcome. About 200 people showed up for Camo Day, but it was all pro-hunting rhetoric, no anti-hunting banners or talk.

Immediately prior to Camo Day, without authorization from ISCAC, HSUS posted a notice on its website about the animal rights group “teaming up” with ISCAC to stop canned hunts in Idaho. Members of the Idaho Elk Breeders Association, such as Erin Miller, an elk ranch operator from southcentral Idaho, claimed the website notice proved ISCAC was “aligned with anti-hunters.” Others who supported game farming followed Miller’s lead and posted similar comments. Erik, for example, said ISCAC was “in bed with the devil.” You can read all this in the comment section of an article I posted last week titled Idaho Lawmakers Focus on Elk Farms.

This prompted an official response, posted on NewWest.net in the same comment section, from ISCAC representative Matt Compton.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Compton wrote. “Remember, all information found on websites does not equate to truth or reality.”

In an email to me, Compton confirmed that HSUS attended a Camo Day planning session and offered to collaborate with ISCAC, but the offer was rejected. “At no point did ISCAC offer, solicit, or accept financial help or otherwise from HSUS.”

Compton said that Mark Bell, who is a representative of the National Wild Turkey Federation and current president of ISCAC, is “working on getting a retraction from HSUS for the language used on its website insinuating a ‘team up’ of HSUS and ISCAC.”

In a phone message, Compton re-emphasized that there was “absolutely no collaboration” between the two groups for Camo Day.

All of which looks like a good defense instead of a good offense, which is what ISCAC needs to win meaningful reform of game farming from the Idaho Legislature.

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