October 18, 2007 11:44 pm
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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — State officials have decided to fight a lawsuit challenging a rule banning high-fenced hunting preserves in Indiana.
The Department of Natural Resources had entered into settlement negotiations in August 2006, but more than a year later, the legal wrangling continues, The Journal Gazette reported in a story Thursday.
The issue started festering in the late 1990s when several facilities sprang up under the guise of a game breeder’s license. The owners charged thousands of dollars for hunters to come in and shoot deer bred specifically for large antlers.
In 2005, then-DNR Director Kyle Hupfer said he would implement an emergency — and later permanent — rule banning the operations. The intent was to clarify current regulations and establish new ones regarding what some call canned hunting — paying to shoot deer behind fences.
Hundreds of deer farms in Indiana have white-tailed deer and other animals under a game breeder’s permit, but only a few allow hunting.
Hupfer determined that while the permit allows for the possession, breeding and sale of white-tailed deer, it does not authorize the hunting or purposeful killing of them.
Preserve owners disagreed, saying former DNR officials gave them permission to open up.
Rodney Bruce, the owner of Whitetail Bluff near the southern Indiana town of Corydon, sued in 2005 and obtained a court injunction preventing the DNR from enforcing the ban on his property.
The General Assembly tried to intervene in 2006 but failed, which prompted negotiations to start in earnest.
The idea was to allow existing preserves to continue operating for about 10 more years so they could recoup their investment. Various versions of the settlement required the owners to admit the activity is illegal and to cease at the end of the established window.
Nine more preserves or owners were added to the lawsuit as plaintiffs so they could sign onto any agreement reached. They now have the protection of the same initial injunction against enforcement that Bruce received.
Settlement negotiations ceased after Robert Carter became the new DNR director when Hupfer left the position in December.
Adam Warnke, the DNR’s deputy director and chief counsel, told The Journal Gazette that the talks were stopped as “we determined that an acceptable settlement wasn’t possible, so we elected to fight the lawsuit.”
Doug Allman of the Indiana Deer Hunters Association is pleased about the agency’s changed stance on the hunting preserves.
“They just aren’t popular, and the Michael Vick thing isn’t helping,” he said, referring to dogfighting charges against the NFL star. “People just aren’t willing to accept these preserves.”
Preserve owners have filed a motion in Harrison Circuit Court asking the judge to enforce the proposed settlement agreement even though it was not officially signed. The state is seeking to have that motion dismissed.
Arguments on the issue were scheduled for Nov. 7.
“I think our chances are pretty darn good,” said William Moyer, an attorney for Bruce. “I have cited several state and federal cases all that approved the enforcement of oral settlements. The fact that this was never signed, in my opinion, really doesn’t matter much.”
Hupfer disagrees, saying the two sides never came close to making the agreement official. He said one of the reasons the DNR backed off was research finding the state is not allowed to enter into an agreement not to enforce a state rule or law.
Warnke said that while the DNR is prohibited from enforcing the preserve restrictions on those involved in the lawsuit, the agency has stopped at least two startups of similar preserves in the past year.
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