People who seem to believe it is their God-given duty to cram their personal beliefs down the throats of others continues in this country with no end in sight. According to an article in the Bismark Tribune out of North Dakota, the Secretary of State, Al Jaeger, has received a proposed ballot initiative from some unidentified “hunting” group that wants to ban not only hunting on ranches but also to ban the growing of animals, such as deer and elk, on farms.

The ballot initiative will need to be written up with a brief description and then supporters will need to gather 12,844 signatures from registered North Dakota voters.

Roger Kaseman is chairman of the campaign to ban the hunting and ranching. The attorney, Paul Germolus representing the sponsors of the initiative says, the group is doing this because they don’t think hunting on a ranch is ethical.

“The pursuit of captive game animals does not equate to ‘hunting’ in any sense of the word,” Germolus’ letter says. “Rather, it is the mere shooting of killing of animals that lack any means of escape. More aptly described as ‘canned shooting,’ the practice defies long-standing principles of fair chance and ethical hunting.”

And there are probably some other people who feel the same way. I happen to think that the attitude of some lawyers isn’t in the best interest of the American Bar Association but I don’t feel it is my God-given responsibility to ban it. If a person doesn’t think it is ethical to hunt that way, then stay home. Go do your thing. Nothing is being accomplished by stripping Americans of their right to run a business.

But this particular group, like many of the others, goes far beyond anything to do with hunting ethics. They want to ban the ranching itself.

Shawn Schafer, of Turtle Lake, said the measure’s language would even prohibit ranchers from raising big game to be butchered and sold for the meat. Schafer and his brother, Clark, operate the Schafer Whitetail Ranch, and Shawn Schafer is president of the North Dakota Deer Ranchers group.

Game preserves offer ranchers the opportunity to use land that is often marginal for farming or raising traditional livestock, Schafer said. The Schafer ranch raises white-tailed deer, which the Schafers sell to a private hunting preserve in Missouri. The ranch does not offer hunts on the premises.

“This really, really infringes upon the private property rights of producers, the farmers and ranchers of this state,” Schafer said. “We’re able to take that land, fence it in, and offer a service to a customer who apparently must enjoy it. Customer satisfaction will regulate this market better than anything.”

Earlier this year, the North Dakota Legislature defeated a proposed bill that would essentially accomplish the same thing as this ballot initiative is seeking. One of the reasons stems from the fact that the state has actively assisted farmers in their business quests to ranch game. That measure only garnered 3 votes in the Senate. Most Senators understood this is a huge property rights infringement.

People need to speak up. There is no good reason to pass such a proposal. This is simply a matter of a group of people wishing to force their values onto others while disregarding the Constitutional right of a landowner to conduct business on his land. I don’t care if you don’t think hunting in an enclosure is hunting or whether you think it’s canned, unfair, unethical or anything else. Ethics can’t be regulated, although it is people like this group in North Dakota, who think it should be. I hope they are prepared to have others regulate their lifestyles and businesses simply because someone else doesn’t like it.

Hunting on ranches is having zero negative impact on the heritage of hunting. It’s a non-issue. The only affect any of this is having is driving a wedge between sportsmen. This is something more than protecting hunting heritage and the good name of the sport. If it was, groups like this would be spending their time and money on real projects – education, recruitment, retention, public relations campaigns and landowner issues. These are valuable programs. Why worry about whether some rancher in North Dakota is trying to eke out a living by raising a few head of deer or elk.

I have said it a million times and I’m sure I’ll say it a million more. I don’t hunt ranches and have no plans in the future but with people like this who think they are doing good, ranches may be just the only thing left to hunt on. The reason is because many of these same people who want to stick their noses into other people’s business are the same ones who post their own land. They are control freaks who feel it necessary that the world conform to their standards. As this trend continues, it won’t be long before their actions will come back and haunt them. There will be no land left to hunt on and the so-called ethical people of this world will rule.

The good people of North Dakota should speak up now and hopefully this group will never obtain enough signatures to reach the ballot.

Tom Remington

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