The voter-approved provision may set a precedent for other states, including Oregon.
ELLYN FERGUSON
Statesman Journal
April 14, 2003
WASHINGTON — Hunters in Wisconsin believe they have found a way to protect themselves from what they call unacceptable limits on when, what and how they can hunt: a state constitutional amendment.
A lopsided 82 percent of voters recently approved the provision, which declares, “The people have the right to fish, hunt, trap and take game subject only to reasonable restrictions as prescribed by law.”
Hunters, trappers and anglers hope the amendment will make it tougher for reformers and animal rights activists to set restrictions in Wisconsin as they have elsewhere. Animal rights activists and some hunters believe such amendments are unnecessary and are largely symbolic gestures.
Nationally, sportsmen say they are fighting two battles: a demographic trend toward older and fewer hunters, and a chipping away at hunting, trapping and, to a lesser extent, fishing privileges.
The most recent survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that 13 million people aged 16 and older said they hunted in 2001, a 7 percent drop from a 1991 survey.
Thirty-one percent of people 16 and older who were surveyed said they fed, watched or photographed wildlife — up 5 percent from a decade earlier.
Meanwhile, over the last decade, numerous restrictions have been put on hunting.
Oregon has outlawed the use of bait to lure black bears and hunting dogs to track them, although a move is under way in the Legislature to ease some of the restrictions.
As originally written, House Bill 2436 would have overturned both the dog and bait bans.
An amended version that would allow the use of dogs for hunting cougars passed out of the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources on a 6-1 vote and is headed for the House floor.
Proponents for overturning the two public initiative votes got traction by making the cougar vote a public safety issue.
Meanwhile, California has banned hunting mountain lions, Washington state has banned the use of most traps, and several states have ended the hunting of mourning doves.
But an bill to ban dogs for hunting, and a second bill in the California Legislature that would have banned dove hunting in the state both were turned back in the past week by pro-hunting groups.
Frank Herres, a lifelong hunter and fisherman, said the Wisconsin constitutional amendment firmly places the power to govern sportsmen in the hands of hunter-friendly state wildlife officials, whose departments are supported largely through the sale of hunting and fishing licenses.
“I think the average person in Wisconsin who hunts and fishes has taken it for granted,” said Herres, who is a board member of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation. “The realization that I could lose that (right) has made me pay attention.”
Rob Sexton, vice president for government affairs at the Ohio-based U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, said hunters are up against extremists whose “goal is to eliminate hunting, and their game plan is to eliminate it piece by piece.”
Lynn Sadler, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation in California, dismissed Sexton’s extremist label.
“If 60 percent of the state disagrees with them (sportsmen), who’s the extremist then?” Sadler said, referring to support in California for the ban on hunting mountain lions. “I have a number of deer, turkey and duck hunters in my family. I haven’t kicked them out of the house.”
Sadler said hunting groups that opposed the mountain lion ban in California were out of step with the general public. Voters in 1996 rejected an attempt to repeal the ban for several reasons, including a dislike of the idea of mountain lions being hunted for trophies.
This year, hunting-related bills are pending in at least 15 states. Some would expand hunting practices, as in a South Carolina proposal to allow the use of hounds in hunting raccoons and opossums or in New Jersey, where a proposal would allow bow hunters to take deer on Sundays.
Others would prohibit certain hunting methods. In Maine, there’s a proposal to ban the use of snares to hunt coyotes; in California, there’s a push to stop the use of dogs with radio collars for hunting bears and bobcats.
At the federal level, several members of Congress will try again to ban the practice of using food to attract bears on lands owned by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
Ellyn Ferguson can be reached at (202) 906-8116.