Indiana Senate shoots down captive deer-hunting bill

For the second year in a row, Indiana’s Republican-dominated Senate narrowly shot down a bill that would have given state approval to captive deer hunting.

The Senate voted 27-23 against House Bill 1453, which would have legalized the four high-fence hunting preserves in the state and set a regulatory framework.

The bill irked opponents of high-fence deer hunting who called for a total ban, as well as some members of Indiana’s deer-breeding industry who advocated for an expansion of the number of fenced-in hunting ranches in the state.

“This is the bill that everybody loves to hate,” said Sen. Susan Glick, R-LaGrange, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate. “I’m beginning to hate it myself.”

The Senate’s “no” vote sets the stage for the Indiana Supreme Court to make the definitive call on an industry that has operated under a regulatory cloud for a decade.

In 2005, the Department of Natural Resources issued a ban on captive deer hunting, citing concerns about disease and unethical hunting. The preserves sued.

Recent court rulings have found the DNR overstepped its authority.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has appealed the case to the Supreme Court on the DNR’s behalf. It’s not clear whether the state’s top court will hear the case.

Zoeller 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.

Meanwhile, the four preserves have been operating under an injunction and without wildlife agency oversight while the court cases played out.

At one point, there were about a dozen preserves in operation. The version of HB 1453 that passed the House would have allowed any preserve that had been in operation before 2015 to resume operation.

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