Senate considers elk ranch reforms

BOISE – Passionate public testimony Tuesday about the future of Idaho’s elk ranches revealed deep divisions between ranchers and sportsmen on ethics and economics, on personal property and the public good.

More than 30 people, including many elk ranchers, told lawmakers their opinions on regulating domestic elk operations and “canned hunts.” The practices are banned in some neighboring states and the subject of four pieces of legislation under consideration by a Senate committee.

Ranchers told the Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee that their businesses are disease-free and a valuable part of the state economy. But some hunters said “shooter-bull” operations are unethical and threaten the health and genetic integrity of native wildlife. Such operations charge hunters thousands of dollars for a shot at trophy bulls.

Lawmakers began examining elk ranches after at least 63 elk escaped last summer from an elk-hunting ranch in eastern Idaho.

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission favors more restrictions on elk ranches and does not recognize shooter-bull operations as “hunting.”

Most elk ranchers supported Senate Bill 1074, backed by the ranching industry and introduced by Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home. It would require elk ranchers to be licensed by the state Department of Agriculture and pay a $200 licensing fee.

Other proposals would prohibit new elk ranches, ban importing out-of-state elk, bar enclosed hunting and require double fencing for elk ranches.

Wearing an elk-logo shirt, Bonners Ferry elk rancher Fred Robbins spoke against all but Corder’s bill.

“I feel it’d be a real financial burden for us, and I don’t see us having a problem,” said Robbins, one of several Panhandle ranchers. “It’s a road to putting us out of business.”

At least three of the 16 Idaho elk ranches offering canned hunts are in North Idaho, according to the Department of Agriculture. Those ranches average 125 acres, and some are as small as 25 acres.

Robbins does not offer hunting himself, but he sells some of his older bulls to elk-hunting “reserves,” or canned-hunt operations.

He pointed out that diseases, such as brucellosis, tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease, have not been found in Idaho’s domestic elk but are present in wildlife in other states. Although domestic elk in Idaho are tested for those diseases, wildlife officials fear new outbreaks of disease could spread to native animals.

An avid elk hunter, Robbins said he views high-fence hunts as legitimate. “I hunt my elk down just as anybody else does,” he said.

But Idaho Department of Fish and Game conservation officer Bill London of the Idaho Conservation Officers Association said, “A fenced hunt is just wrong on so many different levels for so many different reasons.” Every time an elk escapes from a ranch, the state plays “Russian roulette,” he said.

London’s 15-year-old son recently shot his first elk, a six-point bull, after stalking it in the mountains, he said. It required a lot of scouting and shooting.

“That was an earned animal,” compared with one shot in an enclosed ranch, he said.

London said he supports SB 1073, a bill by Sen. David Langhorst, D-Boise, to outlaw importation of elk, ban canned hunts and prohibit new elk ranches after July.

John Robison of the Idaho Conservation League said his organization also supports Langhorst’s bill because it would help protect wild elk as an “iconic symbol” of Idaho.

Canned hunts are still sporting, argued George Kelley, a rancher from Albion.

“I think somebody who would pay $5,000 to $10,000 to $20,000 for a nice bull elk is a good sportsman,” he said.

SB 1074 would protect “law-abiding, credible elk farms,” said Ted Rea, acting president of the Idaho Elk Breeders Association and an elk rancher from Twin Falls.

The legislation would allow the Department of Agriculture to decide whether to require double fences for ranches. While some wildlife officials say double fences would help prevent spread of disease between wild and captive animals, industry members say the science is dubious.

Rulon Jones, a former Denver Broncos football player turned elk rancher from Bingham County, said he had just returned from a large sporting convention on the East Coast where about one-third of outfitters were high-fence operations.

“That is what hunting is a part of now,” Jones said. “We are regulated, we are taking care of ourselves.”

Louise Stark, owner of White Cloud Outfitters in Challis, said guides worry about disease and think ranchers should be regulated.

Also, sportsmen’s fees should no longer pay for the Department of Fish and Game to help capture escaped elk, Stark said.

Committee members are expected to vote on the issue Thursday.