Below is one of a series of articles examining Initiative Petition 28, a potential citizen ballot measure proposed by radical anti-hunting and animal rights extremists that would make it a crime in Oregon to hunt, fish, raise livestock and poultry for food and/or dairy products, and even carry out pest control. It would also severely affect and change private property rights, recreational activity on public lands, restaurants and small business owners, coastal communities, working animal industries, agricultural-related youth organizations and programs, and the state’s economy on multiple fronts. Also, it would lessen the ability of Oregonians to acquire food. This piece focuses on IP 28’s devastating impact on wildlife management.
If anti-hunting fanatics get their way, they will force a vote and their ideology on more than 4.27 million residents in Oregon. If ultimately successful in their quest, they will greatly frustrate a long-standing, proven approach to safeguarding wild animals and their future.
Initiative Petition 28 (IP 28) is a potential ballot measure that would outlaw hunting, fishing and trapping, which are the main tools used by professional game managers and biologists to successfully manage wildlife populations in line with the North American Wildlife Conservation Model.
Extremists pushing the measure have zero understanding on the issue.
“People ask how are we going to manage populations? I tell them there have been programs that introduce sterile males into a population. That tends to work pretty well, and that doesn’t involve killing anyone,” said David Michelsen, IP 28 chief petitioner.
In reality, there is no successful record of any such pie-in-the-sky practice, although some people around the country looked into that possibility with hopes of better dealing with ballooning deer populations within city limits. According to the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, sterilization, hormone implants and contraceptive vaccines are all extremely labor-intensive techniques without proven effectiveness.
In 2016, former New York City mayor Bill de Basio proposed spending $2 million for fertility control practices to reduce Staten Island’s growing deer population. The idea was to capture and sterilize about 400 male deer at an estimated cost of $5,000 per buck. The proposal did not move forward.
More recently, Cornell University conducted a sterilization study that kept eggs from reaching the uterus by blocking fallopian tubes. Researchers found it would cost more than $1,200 per deer and extremely time-consuming. Ironically, fertility control flies in the face of stipulations specifically spelled out in IP 28, amounting to “animal sexual assault.”
Hunting as a means of wildlife management is not only proven to be effective but hunters willingly pay for the opportunity in the form of licenses and fees, which generates $198.9 million annually for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW).
“The General Fund, or Oregon’s taxpayer dollars, makes up only 10 percent of ODFW’s budget, nowhere close to the amount needed to operate the agency and benefit Oregon’s wildlife,” said Senator Brock Smith (R-Port Orford).
Outlawing hunting and fishing would also cost ODFW billions of dollars for fish and wildlife management going forward. The Pittman-Robertson Act places an excise tax on the purchase of all ammunition, guns and archery equipment. From 2023-2025 alone, that tax, thanks to Oregon hunters and recreational shooters, generated $75.9 million dollars that was distributed from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the state of Oregon for public access projects, research, wildlife management and restoring, conserving and managing habitat for wildlife and birds. The Dingle-Johnson Act places an excise tax on fishing equipment and boat fuel, which generated $26.8 million doled out to Oregon from 2023-2025. But here is the catch: those federal funds are allocated based on the number of hunting and fishing licenses sold in the state, which would be zero under the IP28.
Removing hunting as a wildlife management tool would have measurable impacts on many species across the landscape. To cite one example, the Blue Mountains, which are mostly in northeast Oregon but stretch into southeast Washington, are home to a shrinking elk population due to declining calf-to-cow ratios. Wildlife managers use funding to:
In other areas, expanding ungulate herds are causing crop damage. Without proper management, a potential overpopulation of wildlife species could trigger a lack of quality forage, which could lead to starvation.
Hunt 2 Conserve strongly opposes IP 28 and urges Oregonians to reject it.
About Hunt 2 Conserve
Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org.
(Photo credit: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife)
