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THE FAIR CHASE ISSUE
The people that operate high fence shooting
galleries argue that they offer "hunts" as challenging as any in the
wild. A little thought destroys that argument. The elk pictured here
will not want to escape the man that feeds him, and could not escape if he
wanted to. The fence in the background will stop him.

To be Fair Chase, the game animal must have the
wit and the will to escape the hunter. Raise a deer or elk inside
and escape proof fence in close
contact with humans, and the animal loses its innate fear of
man. What animal will run from
the hand that feeds it? And escape does not mean running to the end
of the pasture where a fence stops the animal.
The issue is simple: Should North Dakota
residents accept high fence shooting operations, operations that do
not follow
the hunting
season, observe no bag limits except the size of the shooters bank account,
and do not require a hunting license.
The shooting gallery operators argue that what
they do is none of our business. They tell us to butt out and ignore
what they do behind their fences. They are wrong.
These operations are our
business because what they do behind their high fences reflects on North
Dakota hunters, and ultimately, on all North Dakotans, because
in the end, we are all responsible for the laws and regulations
passed in our state. The non-hunting citizens
of this state accept hunting as part of our heritage. The North
Dakota State Constitution protects that heritage by law. We
cannot continue to have legitimate fair chase hunters associated with those
that shoot animals penned inside escape proof pastures. We want to pass our hunting heritage to
our children and grandchildren; shooting penned animals without any
opportunity to escape is a poor example to pass on.
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