BY ANDY WALGAMOTT, NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN MAGAZINE
Last year, we rediscovered a great truth: When a bad idea that could affect fish, wildlife and our access to the Great Outdoors pops up, people of all stripes will unite to defeat it.
I’m of course talking about how a few extremists on the right attempted to sell off our public lands and just about everyone with a stake in that ground – whether for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping or just keeping it whole for the critters and whatnot that depend on those landscapes – rose up to say No dice.
That’s because public land and all that goes with it are not ideas beholden to one party or one ideology; they’re a common love and cause that transcends political, social, economic, cultural and other boundaries.
That energy is needed again.
OREGONIANS ARE FACED WITH a similarly bad idea but from the opposite fringe – one I’m worried could be a closer vote if it makes the ballot this fall. More on that aspect in a moment.
Initiative Petition 28 cloaks itself as an anti-animal cruelty campaign, but in reality it would essentially criminalize hunting, fishing and trapping in the Beaver State, put ranchers out of business, and prevent you from even raising your own chickens for the table or trapping rodents damaging your home or business.
IP28 represents an existential threat to our shared way of life, not to mention all Oregon-based fishing and hunting businesses such as guide and outfitter services, gear and tackle makers, magazines, sporting goods stores, sportsmen’s shows, fishing boat dealers and even an entire state agency, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is funded in no small part by our license revenues.
Tribal fishing and hunting wouldn’t be exempted either, even for critical ceremonial purposes, say state Senators David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford) and Anthony Broadman (D-Bend), co-chairs of the Oregon Sportsmen’s Legislative Caucus.
It would also affect commercial fishing and crabbing up and down the coast, shoppers would lose access to locally grown lamb, pork and beef at Saturday markets in the Willamette Valley and Portland, artificial insemination of livestock and other domestic animals would be deemed “sexual assault” – the mind-boggling list goes on and on.
IP28 CAMPAIGN ORGANIZER David Michelson downplays his odds of success. He says he’s playing the long game, hoping to gradually bend societal views in his favor. He envisions himself as some sort of modern suffragist trying to extend human rights to animals.
The Oregon Hunters Association has been doing yeoman’s work to educate people about the dangers of IP28. They’ve been at it ever since the idea first raised its head earlier this decade as IP13 and then IP3.
While this latest iteration still needs around 7,000 signatures to meet the minimum threshold of 117,000 required by the Oregon Secretary of State to qualify for the ballot (an estimated 140,000 is needed to account for likely invalid ones), if it gets there come November, OHA policy rep Amy Patrick aims to help deliver the “largest defeat in Oregon’s history.”
She’s scored some high-profile coverage in the Portland market and nationally of late, and is urging sportsmen and trappers to register to vote. If you aren’t already and are eligible to vote in Oregon, you can do so via the “Voting & Elections” tab at sos.oregon.gov.
That could be really critical because if IP28 does make the ballot, it could have more legs than you might think. That’s because the midterm elections are typically tough on the party in power, and given the past year, 2026 may be a particularly rough one for the GOP.
Turnout of Republican hunters and anglers and disaffected Trump voters – all who likely would vote against IP28 in a heartbeat in a normal election year – may be very significantly depressed, and for those same reasons a higher than usual percentage of hardcore animal rights-oriented voters will likely be motivated to mail in their ballots, perhaps making the result closer than it otherwise might be.
In that same vein, however, Democrat hunter and angler turnout may increase and help offset the dropoff from the other side of our shared campfire on this particular item.
I know, I know, I’m as much of a political expert as I am a rocket scientist, but I do know that fishing and hunting is not unique to one party or ideology; the pursuit transcends political, social, economic, cultural and other boundaries; they are noble practices harkening back through time immemorial.
And our traditions as well as the fish, wildlife and lands that support them are far stronger because of that wide base.
I’M PREACHING TO the choir here, I realize, brothers and sisters. I don’t believe you would vote for IP28.
The battle is really going to come down to helping the vast majority of Oregon voters who don’t hunt or fish, aren’t tribal members, don’t have ranches or farms or Saturday market stalls, aren’t tied to the commercial fishing industry, etc., etc., etc., understand what’s at stake for us, themselves and wildlife as a whole.
I really do believe that a majority of people in Oregon, the Northwest, the West Coast, America, the world, are OK with fishing and hunting, or at worst are merely neutral, especially as it pertains to feeding ourselves, our families and friends, and on occasion, say, the office Christmas party with smoked fish from last season.
And while some of us might scoff at the whole locally sourced, sustainable, free-range fad, it has always tied in well with what we’re doing and, crucially, helped bridge it with modern palates and urban and suburban audiences.
Our work to defeat IP 28 has been made easier by Michelson’s absolutism – his strategic mistake in not “compromising my convictions.” In trying to eat the whole thing in one bite, he and his supporters have created a far wider front than they otherwise would have had to fight on. And they’ve lost the element of surprise a more targeted campaign could have led off with.
Banning just fishing and/or hunting and/or trapping might have been more doable and allowed for progressively larger next bites, but going after us as well as important rural, coastal and valley industries – all of us together generating billions of dollars in economic activity, tens of thousands of jobs and untold meals on the plate – is a whole other matter.
Throw in no exemption for tribal harvest in a state as progressive as Oregon, as well as outlawing pest control whether that be at home, places you go out to eat at or elsewhere, and congratulations on uniting almost the widest possible spectrum of opposition.
That said, our messaging to the general public must be careful not to describe IP28 as a “libs” or Democrat plot. It’s not, the campaign appears to be self-funded with some help from PETA and some guy in Russia, and we need the left to help give it that huge defeat OHA’s Patrick wants, meaning don’t give folks like my wonderful mother-in-law and her lovely friends reason to vote against us out of spite.
TO BE ABUNDANTLY clear, absolutely nobody is for animal cruelty. I wholeheartedly reject the notion that what we do can even remotely be considered that.
We pride ourselves on bringing meat from animals that have lived good, wild lives to the table. Even more importantly, we advocate for and help fund habitat, landscapes and clean environments that deer, elk, salmon, steelhead and all other fish and wildlife need. And a state without ranches is one that is subdivided into ranchettes, breaking up even more habitat.
We do it because we love animals and want to see them thrive forever, for all of us, for their own sake, for all reasons. And our intense interest, as well as tribal treaty rights, ensures government stays focused on funding fish recovery, habitat restoration, wildlife corridors and conservation efforts.
IP28 comes from the same place as the bid to sell off public lands: way outside the mainstream. And if it goes to a vote this fall, just as wide a coalition will have a chance to firmly and emphatically say No dice and nip this idea in the bud for good.
Meanwhile, please help spread the word about this misguided measure. OHA has some great tools here.
