The current HB1453 seems to me to be a bandaid to a broken policy. The court ruling last week seems to affirm that when it agreed that DNR overstepped their authority. I agree, they do not seem to have outright authority.

My question for those who have followed this over time is whether or not bills have been introduced to outright ban canned hunting?

And if so, how have they fared?

John, No there has never been a bill to ban shooting preserves because we didn't need one. IDNR had already deemed the business as illegal. That all ended this week when the appeals court said IDNR overstepped their authority.

HB1453 will not get a hearing, bills are written and then sent to a committe, in this case it is sent to natural resources. The chairman, Mr Eberhart has a bill legalizing deer preserves so he will/would never allow a competing bill to be heard.

Just to clarify:

HB1453 has already been heard in the House Committee but not voted on. It is on the schedule again for Monday,February 9th I assume for a vote. Very likely it will pass out of committee. Also very likely it will get amended either on the House floor or when it gets to the Senate. The debate continues. Not sure the AG will appeal and send the court case it to the Supreme Court or if the court will even hear it.

http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/committees/natural_resources_1400

HatchetJack

Seems like we've been pussyfooting around then. The tenuous authority DNR exerted and tried to defend over the past 10 years is pretty clearly a flawed strategy. Hindsight, I know, but it seems clear from here.

Any ideas for a better strategy? A direct legislative assault? With such a clear mandate from what I have seen stated as 80% of the populace, this doesn't seem like it would be a hard sell.

yes we did.

and do

My last post seems like a slam on the DNR. It is not. I applaud their efforts at trying to solve this administratively. But it looks like our lawmakers are going to have to run with this one. And we need to get them to do it.