With HB 507, Politics Are Creeping Further Into Hunting Regs

UPDATE: Feb. 7th, 2022

The Idaho House of Representative Resources & Conservation Committee voted to pass HB507, despite a majority of testimony being in opposition, and it will be heard on the House floor before being sent to the Senate.

IWF reminds our supporters that there is quite a bit of legislative process remaining before HB507 is put into law.

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Idaho Politicians are taking wildlife management and hunting regs into their own hands. 

By IWF Staff

On Monday, Jan. 31st,  Rep. Brandon Mitchell of District 5, introduced HB506 to the House Resources and Conservation Committee,  legislation intended to change current Idaho Fish and Game regulations to allow lighted nocks and expandable broadheads.

Set aside your support or opposition to these topics. The Federation itself does not have a stance on them. The issue here is the slow erosion of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Politicians making such decisions was roundly rejected by voters in 1938 with the passage of Idaho’s first voter initiative. Back then, and maybe too long ago that people can’t relate to how bad things were, it was clear why a Commission form of wildlife and hunting management was needed, despite its own imperfections.

Citizens Initiative of 1938, known as Initiative I.

Background:

Two years after its founding in 1936, IWF successfully campaigned for the passage of the Citizens Initiative of 1938, known as Initiative I, establishing an independent commission to guide wildlife management. Through sportsmen involvement the Commission would set seasons and regulations with science and opportunity guiding the discussion.

This “commission form” of governance instilled civil service protections for employees over political meddling, and provisions for trained enforcement and educated wildlife professionals in place of the ever-shifting winds of political whims and donors.

Today:

It is IWF’s stout belief that bills such as this HB507, much like last year’s Senate Bill 1211 , or the previous year’s HB 514, deteriorate the very North American Model of Wildlife Conservation that has allowed Idaho to become known as “the Opportunity State.” 

The use — or not — of expandable broadheads and lighted nocks in bow hunting is an issue that should be debated in the Fish and Game Commission with sportsmen, over the yearlong negotiated rulemaking process that takes place across the state, not by politicians for two weeks in Boise in a forum mostly inaccessible to the average sportsmen. Further- changing hunting and fishing regs shouldn’t be used as a trophy for a politician to campaign on; one of the 1938 Initiative passed. 

For more than 80 years, the Fish and Game commission has served the greater sporting community of Idaho. Sportsmen and women across the state are actively engaged and tuned into the research, development and enforcement of fish and game management across the state.

While IWF does not hold an official stance on whether mechanical broadheads or lighted nocks should be allowed, we do firmly believe that the issue is best suited and only appropriate for the learned experts of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. Look to CA, OR, WA, CO, AZ, MT, or NM to see where the path of political management of hunting leads.

If you agree that such decisions should be kept out of politics, use the form below to send a letter to your Representatives and the bill’s sponsor to ask them to pull the bill and put this idea to the Commission.

NOTE: IWF encourages advocates to make edits as they see fit. Personalized emails are always better and the suggested language in the form serve as are good talking points.