BISON and FAIR CHASE
The Unabashed Truth
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The Fair Chase Initiative specifically targets, "big game species or exotic mammals confined in or released from any man-made enclosure designed to prevent escape."
The high fence operators insist that the initiative language is vague, and if passed, will put Bison growers out of business. They insist on spreading the falsehood that the phrase "big game species" covers all manner of hairy critters their imaginations can conjure up. That is blatantly false, but it is good propaganda if you can't muster any arguments to support fencing animals in escape proof pastures and then selling a fraud "hunt" in lieu of a real hunt based on fair chase.
A principle of American jurisprudence holds that law must be specific. Contrary to what the high fence operators say, the language of the Initiative is specific. The Fair Chase Initiative, like all law, does not stand alone, no more than the roof of a house hangs in mid-air without walls to support it, nor do the the walls stand without a foundation.
The Fair Chase Initiative that will become the Fair Chase Law, stands on CHAPTER 20.1-01, Title 20.1 of the North Dakota Century Code. The Century Code, the law of North Dakota, defines Big Game as "deer, moose, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and antelope."
That is the law and that law contradicts the propaganda put out by the high fencers. Bison are not included in the definition of "big game species" no matter how the high fence proponents twist the Fair Chase Initiative language. The high fence operators need to define bison as a big game species for propaganda purposes hence the charge of vague language.
And "big game species" does not include pheasant. It's not just a legality, it has something to do with feathers versus hair, Big Game versus Upland Game, and that pesky American Jurisprudence that insists law be specific.
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