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Thursday, March 16, 2006

Ind. Courts - "Fenced deer hunt case back in court "

"Fenced deer hunt case back in court: Corydon man says operation is legal" is the headline to a story by Grace Schneider in today's Louisville Courier Journal. Some quotes:

Indiana legislators wrestled unsuccessfully this session over whether to legalize or impose new restrictions on high-fence hunting operations.

While the General Assembly retreated, the arguments continued yesterday in Harrison Circuit Court with a Corydon man's challenge of state action that could close his hunting preserve.

The suit has been closely watched by lawmakers, hunting enthusiasts and the owners of about a dozen high-fence hunting operations in Indiana.

Judge H. Lloyd "Tad" Whitis ended the afternoon hearing by asking lawyers for the Indiana attorney general and William Moyer, the lawyer for hunting-preserve owner Rodney Bruce, to submit final briefs within 10 days.

The arguments centered on Bruce's request for a restraining order to stop the Indiana Department of Natural Resources from banning the hunting preserves while the agency crafts a permanent rule that agency officials said will clarify the legal issues.

In Indiana, no state law specifically authorizes fenced hunting, but the Department of Natural Resources had told Bruce and other preserve owners that they could operate if they had a game breeder's license.

But late last year, new agency director Kyle Hupfer, appointed 13 months ago by Gov. Mitch Daniels, decided state law doesn't permit fenced hunting.

Hupfer testified yesterday that while the breeder's license allows the owners to possess white-tail deer, nothing in the law permits hunting the animals. Elk are considered "exotic" animals under the state's rules and cannot be hunted at such operations, he said.

Hupfer expects the department to adopt permanent rules before the next deer-hunting season that will make clear that fenced hunting operations are illegal.

In a brief interview after the hearing, he said he thinks the legislature "has no appetite" for adopting rules to allow the hunting preserves.

See Hupfer's press release from Aug. 11, 2005 here. See also this entry from Aug. 26, 2005, titled "DNR sued over ban on deer farms."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 16, 2006 08:24 AM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions