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Arkansas Sportsman : 'Right to Hunt' Amendment Winner for Sportsmen

BRYAN HENDRICKS of Arkansas Democrat Gazette, http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/253810/

Finally, Arkansans will get to vote on a meaningful "Right to Hunt" amendment to the Arkansas Constitution.

The bill to create the amendment is Senate Joint Resolution 3, introduced by senators Steve Faris, Bob Johnson, Gilbert Baker, Bobby Glover, Kim Hendren and Ed Wilkinson. Unlike a bill of similar intent introduced two years ago, this version does not contravene the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's constitutional authority to manage the state's game and fish resources. This one is very simple and direct. It guarantees a public right to hunt and fish, and it specifies hunting, fishing and trapping as the preferred methods of managing game and fish.

This does more than preserve a heritage and a sport. It makes licensed hunters, trappers and fishermen junior partners with the AGFC in managing fish and game. Currently, the AGFC has sovereign authority over the state's game and fish, and sportsmen are merely one constituent group among many. If this amendment passes, the AGFC will remain the senior partner because it has the sole authority to grant hunting, trapping and fishing privileges, by way of license, to sportsmen. Hunters, trappers and fishermen will be kind of like franchise holders.

Section I (a)(1) says: "Citizens of the state of Arkansas have a right to hunt, fish, trap and harvest wildlife.

"(2) The right to hunt, fish, trap and harvest wildlife shall be subject only to regulations that promote sound wildlife conservation and management, and are consistent with Amendment 35 of the Arkansas Constitution."

That second paragraph is important in so many ways. First, it not only guarantees a right to hunt, trap and fish, but to harvest the wildlife we hunt, trap and catch. Those two words, "wildlife" and "harvest" eliminate any potential wordplay some creative office holder might use to prohibit killing or keeping the game you hunt or catch, reclassifying game animals as nongame. It also prevents using ballot initiatives or lawsuits to challenge the legality of certain hunts or established hunting practices. These tactics have been used to ban hunting mountain lions in California (despite increasing numbers of people attacked and killed by mountain lions), bears in New Jersey, Oregon, Virginia and Maine, and doves in Ohio, Iowa and other states. That should effectively close the frontier recently opened by the state's new animal cruelty law.

Conspicuously absent from subsection 2 is a "reasonable regulation" clause. That's important because some people might consider it "reasonable" to ban hunting bears over bait on private land in Arkansas, or ban deer hunting with rifles, as is the case in Iowa and Ohio.

Subsection (b) says: "Public hunting, fishing and trapping shall be a preferred means of managing and controlling nonthreatened species and citizens may use traditional methods for harvesting wildlife."

I would be more comfortable if hunting, fishing and trapping were the preferred means, rather than just a preferred means. However, it seems to accomplish the same objective, which is to constitutionally establish public hunting, fishing and trapping as the primary methods to manage fish and wildlife. It also seems to prevent the state, counties, cities and towns from deviating from AGFC-approved practices for depopulating suburban deer herds. This might include hiring private nuisance removal firms using silencer-equipped rifles, or doing really stupid things like trying to control deer populations with contraceptives, or ridiculous trap-and-transplant schemes like they use in Town & Country, Mo., a St. Louis suburb.

Some might interpret "traditional" methods to include spear and atlatl. That's a faulty interpretation because those are not traditional hunting methods. You can define them as historical or anachronistic methods, but there's no tradition of hunting with spears and atlatls in Arkansas. A history of it, yes, but no tradition. The atlatl displaced the spear, and the bow displaced the atlatl about 1,000 years ago.

Finally, subsection (c) preserves the intent, integrity and authority of Amendment 35. Subsection (c)(2) preserves all common law and statutes relating to trespass, private property rights, eminent domain ownership of public property, or any law concerning firearms unrelated to hunting.

This corrects flaws with the 2007 proposal that transferred game and fish management to the legislature and seemed to overrule trespass laws and landowner rights. This amendment preserves property owners' rights, and it preserves the regulatory authority of public land and water managers like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Scott Henderson, director of the AGFC, said the AGFC does not oppose the amendment. It's a good piece of legislation, and in its present form, it's a great benefit for Arkansas sportsmen.