Hb1154 was introduced by Rep. Bill Friend today:

"Game preserves. Provides for the licensing and operation of game preserves in which privately owned cervidae and game birds may be hunted. Provides for the maximum sale of 10 licenses to operate game preserves. Requires game preserve owners: (1) to pay a yearly license renewal fee; and (2) to provide annually a free program at the game preserve's facilities that promotes hunter safety or develops new hunters who are either less than 18 years of age or disabled. Provides that the owner of a game preserve is not required to possess a game breeder's license or shooting preserve license. Restricts the sale and transfer of ownership of an ownership interest in a game preserve. Establishes requirements for the operation of game preserves. Provides for the inspection of game preserves by the department of natural resources and the state board of animal health. Establishes record keeping requirements. Requires game preserve license fees to be deposited into a hunter safety education fund. Establishes the hunter safety education fund."

Lets keep the pressure on them guys....

Its the same BS WE HAVE FOUGHT FOR YEARS!!!! time for some new blood to jump into the game if you care about this issue than get with it and I don't mean just send in an email!!!!!

Read my tag line!

Received from Indiana Wildlife Federation this morning:

"Looks like a canned hunting bill, HB1154, has been introduced again this short session. There have been some changes to the bill to try to assuage the opposition. There is nothing said about liability if disease occurs in the herd.

I’m playing telephone tag with the Attorney General’s office to get an update on the court appeal. Will let you know what I learn.

Another bit of information related to this is that the captive deer (~19-20) in Jackson County that were imported from a Pennsylvania farm and later found to be positive for CWD have been sacrificed and are being tested for CWD. The Board of Animal Health is required by law to indemnify the owner. BOAH does not have money in that fund and it’s my understanding the state budget agency is requiring DNR Div. of Fish and Wildlife to pay approximately half the cost, ~$10,000. This money comes directly from licenses sold, so the people engaged in hunting, fishing, trapping wild game are paying for captive deer disease testing.

Actions you can take now:

· Contact your State Representative http://district.iga.in.gov/DistrictLookup/ and let them know you oppose HB1154.

· Attend Conservation Day at the Statehouse January 28th. Make an appointment with your legislator to join you for a free lunch that day and tell him or her what you think. Here’s the link to register and see the details:http://www.indianawildlife.org/conservation-day-2014

Looks like a full court press this session - Sen. Carlin Yoder has introduced a companion bill to HB1154 in the senate SB404. I think this is the year we lose.

http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2014/bills/senate/404/

This is basically the same bill that IDEFA presented 2 years ago that Senator Long killed after it passed the house....correct???

Since this exact bill was originally heard by the House it can start at the Senate then will have to go back to the house again(my understanding)????

Wouldn't this bill would put the existing 4 preserves out of business because there is no grandfather and they are all less than 200 acres???

And the preserve is to be fenced with 10' fence

Correct

I only know of one preserve of less than 200 acres and I think he's trying to expand.

Actually there is a grandfather clause in Senate Bill 404 and the fence is only 8 feet.

Jack is really good at being a middle man, toes the line and is respected by folks in IDNR and the legislature. Well I'm not the same guy and I'll just roll with this......

There are two bills on fenced deer hunting one in the house and one in the senate. Senate pro tem Mr Long is going to allow the senate bill to be heard, he will also not stop the house bill. He waited until the Harrison county court ruling was read. Of course that was in favor of the shooting preserves. The Attorney General has appealed the ruling, but who knows when that will be settled.......

OK HH.com members, .........your turn! YOU make your wishes known to your house and senate members. The IDHA will not spend time and resources(money) any longer on an issue Hoosier hunters don't seem to be concerned with.

CWD probably isn't as important as the number of deer seen in the field last season...

Those of us who have fought this for years have family and other obligations. That "J- O- B", it calls to all of us, I'm completing my career. It will be up to others to direct the future of whitetail deer in Indiana.

I'm done!

I have mine, and will just work to improve it. Good luck on the canned hunting.........Money talks and you know what walks. Who is going to put up the cash this year to kill this?

I forgot to add................

You might want to let your house and senate reps know your thoughts in this election year....

Joe - the only thing I would say different is that Senator Long sent SB404 to the Rules Committee effectively killing it. HB1154 is alive and well in the House Natural Resources committee where it will most likely pass.

Then again I could be wrong...

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/01/16/indiana-high-fence-hunting-bill-may-advance/4518517/

Thanks for update....your work never goes un noticed ....IMO

+1

Jack I think you are correct, this year we lose...semen straws andstraw hats win this one.

The average hunter does not care about this issue.

Joe - doesn't seem like many "knowledgeable" people on this site care either...

So what happens with the current "appeal" if this bill passes???

We have an altra business pro governor right now and I just doubt that the DNR will fight this. Then, we the disease happens, and we all know it will, and it is pretty much tied back to one of these entities, the entities won't have to deal with the liability they should have to deal with in regard to costs associated with the disease. If even 5,000 deer hunters were to speak up by contacting their legislators this could go away. And, if folks really wanted to fight this, you don't fight it solely with hunters. The real power and influence is non hunters but hunters are always afraid to partner with non hunters, which is outright unfortunate and a bit foolish in my opinion. I'll comment no more on this issue because it's just not worth it.

It becomes moot because we'll have a new law on the books in favor of the high fence preserves.

From WISH-TV's website this morning.
http://wishtv.com/2014/01/28/ind-senate-panel-oks-high-fence-deer-hunting-bill/

From the IWF:


The bill passed the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee with a vote of 6-1. We thank Sen. Tim Skinner of Terre Haute for taking a stand for wildlife and voting no. The bill was amended to add a few features that would help reduce the likelihood of captive deer escaping. That said, this is still a bad bill no matter how you look at it. The major concerns fall into two categories: 1. Health of the wild deer herd, and 2. Fair chase and hunting ethics. While the opposition may propose things like double fencing to keep wild deer and captive deer from interacting, there’s no way to dress this up to be fair chase hunting.



Action that you, your friends, family, and affiliate members can take to speak up for wildlife and stop legalization of high fence shooting/canned hunting:



Contact the people who have the power to address this and make the right decision that canned hunting is not good business for Indiana:
Gov. Mike Pence: 317-232-4567
Sen. David Long, Senate President Pro Tempore: 317-232-9416, Senator.Long@iga.in.gov
Speaker of the House, Brian Bosma: 317-232-9657, h88@iga.in.gov


As we said earlier........It don't look good!

This bill grandfathers in the existing 4 preserves as they are. They will be hiding behind the much more stringent and costly rules of this amended bill. With the likelihood of SB404 being passed there has been an inside job attaching language that in essence is no different than the bill that Rodney Bruce proposed last year. This inside job has done no more than to ensure an unfair business advantage for those under the grandfather umbrella and would completely deter those that would want to put in a new preserve. This was facilitated by using opposition of hunting preserves to gain competitive advantage over any new preserves. Therefore, the grandfathering of the existing preserves should be struck from this bill and they should be made to comply with any new guidelines set forth in this bill.

THIS ^^^

There is an online petition to stop the high fence bill, please share it with everyoene you know and any other sites you visit.

also if you are a facebook user share it there!


Sign the on line petition to oppose canned hunting in Indiana: http://www.change.org/petitions/ban-canned-hunting-in-indiana

Got a response from Senator Crider today let me share!!!


Dear Greg,

Thank you for contacting me about hunting preserves or "canned hunting" I recently voted in committee to advance the hunting preserve bill. If I may explain. No one is the entire state has worked harder to stop this activity than I have. I spent 30 years of my professional life working as a conservation officer, and if you recall I was the one who convinced Senator Long to kill the bill last year.

So what changed? Well this issue has been ongoing for nearly 15 years. These preserves have been operating even though I and my counterparts at DNR enacted an administrative rule to outlaw them. The preserve owner immediately filed a court injunction, and this past fall the judge in Harrison County ruled that DNR had exceeded its authority because these animals were privately owned and not subject to DNR regulation.

Not only is that ruling disastrous for DNR but it left these pens to operate with NO regulation. If you dislike this activity as much as I do then the only option is to counteract the judges ruling and enact as strict a set of regulations as you can. I am being given the ability to put language in Senator Yoder's bill that will help us be as responsible as we can. The bill will also provide for the ability to charge the operators with Felony level violations and close them down if they break the laws set forth in the bill.

Let me be clear. I still detest this activity and it stands against all that I had stood for in the past. I came to the conclusion that this was the responsible thing to do and it is something that we can get passed in the House where they have routinely endorsed these pens. It is the proverbial "making lemonade out of lemons."

Sincerely,

Michael Crider

Mr. Crider and I have not always seen eye to eye on things, but I will say that I fully respect his commitment to Indiana's natural resources and wildlife and that his response above was well thought out and presented. I believe he addressed the "reality" very well.

I will say this Senator Crider put a lot of thought into this amendment, he got the best he could get for all of us that are against high fence hunting. Everything he said in his letter is true, I have had many conversations with him at the Statehouse about this. Senator Crider is a class act and we are lucky to have him at the Statehouse.

Contacted my Senator yesterday. His staff indicated that some people had been contacting about the SB404. Not that hard to do and doesn't take much time to voice your opinion.

There is ONE person that has something BIG to gain if this bill passes. And this is the Same person that is responsible for the house bill that was introduced. This same person also is a business associate with someone in Farm Bureau. He got the bills combined so it basically is a monopoly for him. Someone should follow the family tree.

And just who would that "one" person be? Inquiring minds are waiting!

A preserve
owner and has a lot to gain if this bill goes through.
and you have to look at this through the states eyes if they lose the appeal according to the law, they have shut down and restricted business of 12 preserves for over 8 years unlawfully. the state knows that there could be major suits to follow. that is why they want this resolved. and how can they let people keep shooting in smal Pens and with stacks of violations, and not make them comply with the rest of the rules. that's what the passage of this bill will do.

Any updates???
I hear the word is that now the Gov just wants the 4 existing preserves on this bill.

Here.... http://www.hoosierhunting.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/15/737.html