By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Anti-hunting extremism in Oregon has once again been beaten back, as the effort to place Initiative Petition 28 in the November ballot has failed because backers did not gather enough valid signatures.
The Salem Statesman Journal reported Friday that the Secretary of State’s office said only 104,262 of the 142,000-plus petition signatures handed in were valid. The measure required 117,173 valid signatures to qualify.
Cheers went up immediately from Beaver State hunters and anglers, ranchers and farmers. IP28 would have literally made hunting and fishing, beef ranching and other consumptive animal uses illegal, costing the state billions of dollars in revenue.
What was unusual about the IP28 campaign was the level of opposition on both sides of the political spectrum. According to the Salem Statesman Journal, all 37 state House Democrats released a statement opposing the measure. Far-left Gov. Tina Kotek panned the initiative. Democrat U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley publicly opposed it, along with Republican politicians, national sportsmen’s organizations, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Oregon Hunters Association, Oregon Veterinary Medical Association, Oregon Farm Bureau, the Sportsmen’s Alliance and many others.
Andy Walgamott, editor of Northwest Sportsman magazine, wrote over the weekend that IP28 “represented an existential threat to our way of life, and would have eliminated a solid portion of ODFW’s budget.”
NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Larry Keane said in a statement Monday, “This radical anti-hunting plan was clearly, and correctly, rejected by Oregonians who wanted no part of this attack on the heritage of outdoorsmanship and proven conservation efforts that managed hunting requires. The proposal would have, without question, destroyed Oregon’s rural communities, outdoor economy and abundant wildlife. Hunters are the original wildlife conservationists and are crucial to sustained propagation of managed wildlife for future generations. Oregonians are correct to reject this short-sighted and politically-driven agenda that would have annihilated over a century’s work to restore wildlife across Oregon’s landscape.”
The initiative’s chief architect, David Michelson, did not expect voters to approve IP28 if it made it to the ballot, but he insisted people signed the petition to have “a conversation” about animal cruelty. This was his third attempt to get the proposal on the Oregon ballot.
To underscore what was at stake, NSSF said Monday, “85 percent of Oregon’s wildlife money comes from the combination of excise taxes paid by firearm and ammunition manufacturers and hunting license, permit and stamp fees. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) apportioned $1.3 billion to state wildlife agencies last year. Over $804 million of that is sourced directly from the Pittman-Robertson excise tax paid by firearm and ammunition manufacturers. Oregon received over $9.7 million from that apportionment.
“The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) reports that hunting, fishing and wildlife watching accounted for $1.2 billion in spending in 2019, or $1.47 billion when adjusted for inflation,” NSSF added. “Oregon’s outdoor recreation economy generated $9 billion in economic impact in 2024, supporting more than 76,000 jobs and accounts for 2.7 percent of state gross domestic product.”
