Indiana senator waters down captive-deer hunt bill

On Monday, a state senator significantly watered down a bill that could have vastly expanded hunting of farm-raised captive deer in Indiana.

Sen. Susan Glick, R-LaGrange, added amendments to House Bill 1453 that cut out a provision that would have allowed any fenced hunting preserve larger than 160 acres to open.

Instead, the amended bill would allow only the four hunting preserves now operating in Indiana to stay in business.

Glick's amendment also adds the threat of a Level 6 felony charge if a preserve owner is caught deliberately violating the regulations set forth in the bill.

The amendment does offer some concessions to Indiana's captive-deer industry. It would allow current owners to sell or move to a new location as long as the hunting area is at least 100 acres, and it would reduce the fence height requirements for a preserve from 10 feet to 8 feet.

Under the current version of the bill, owners of Indiana's fenced hunting preserves would be forbidden from selling a deer for a hunt within 24 hours of it being sedated, and only animals born and raised on Indiana deer farms could be hunted.

The bill also includes a provision that says Indiana taxpayers wouldn't have to pay a preserve owner if state officials kill his or her deer in the event of a disease outbreak.

The bill also would set record-keeping requirements and some hunting ground rules, would forbid owners from releasing animals into the wild and would require owners to report escapes into the wild within 24 hours.

Even with the additional regulations, it's still not what opponents of the industry want: a complete ban on what they disparagingly call "canned hunting."

"There are issues you aren't able to compromise on, and this is one of them," said Jeff Wells, president of the Indiana Conservation Officer Organization.

But Rodney Bruce, a hunting preserve owner from Southern Indiana, said the state's deer-breeding industry has made so many concessions, the bill represents the most comprehensive regulatory framework of any of the high-fence hunting bills that have stalled over the years in the General Assembly.

Still, he said he would have preferred legislation that allowed an expansion to better help Indiana's deer farming industry, which supplies live trophies to hunting ranches.

"But if this is the starting point and we have to work toward that," Bruce said, "then maybe this is what we have to do."

Should the bill pass in its current form and be signed by Gov. Mike Pence, it would end a decade-old stalemate over whether the captive-deer hunting industry could legally operate in Indiana.

In 2005, the Department of Natural Resources issued a ban on captive deer hunting. The preserves sued. Recent court rulings have found the DNR overstepped its authority. The preserves have been allowed to operate under an injunction and without wildlife agency oversight while the court cases played out.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has appealed the case to the Supreme Court on the DNR's behalf.

However, he has repeatedly said he would rather the General Assembly pass a law that sets a regulatory framework as opposed to having the courts sort it out.

Glick's amendments also might satisfy concerns raised by Pence's office.

In early 2013, the governor's spokeswoman said Pence was concerned about an expansion of high-fence hunting but would be willing to have "an open mind about legislative efforts to permit existing facilities to continue to operate."

Call Star reporter Ryan Sabalow at (317) 444-6179. Follow him on Twitter: @RyanSabalow.