A Montana judge has rejected a request by state game farmers to allow ranchers to operate hunt farms until a court date next July.
Kim Kafka is one of the two ranchers who filed the class action suit, claiming a hunt farm ban is unconstitutional.
Earlier this month, the judge denied the preliminary injunction against Initiative 143 that bans hunting captive game animals for a fee. The ranchers must wait until next July, when the the court case could be heard.
“He did not rule. He just denied our injunction,” said Bob Spoklie, of Kalispell, Mont.
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“We considered time was of an essence and we asked for a preliminary injunction to keep the Fish and Game (officials) from harassing us until it could be heard in court,” said Spoklie, who has a hunt farm.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is the government agency that enforces the initiative, which was a question on last November’s election ballot that asked Montana voters if they wanted to ban paid hunting of captive game farm animals.
Spoklie said a local judge has granted him a temporary restraining order against Fish and Wildlife officials who want to stop him from offering paid hunts. He is one of the few game farmers who have continued to offer them.
Last year’s initiative didn’t ban game farms outright. Game farmers can still harvest antlers and use the animals for meat. However, they can’t offer the animals for a hunt in a game preserve for a fee.
“If we can’t hunt, they know good and well they have strangled us.”
Even though Spoklie has a temporary restraining order, the word is out in hunting circles that Montana is no longer open for business.
“This has totally, totally devastated many, many families,” said Spoklie. “They took the market away from us.”
Kafka and some other producers are also applying for temporary restraining orders against the Fish and Wildlife department.
Kafka, of Havre, said it’s frustrating that I-143 only bans elk from hunt farms. Kafka has about 70 bulls on his hunting preserve. He can’t offer hunts for these animals, but he can offer hunts for bison on the same property.
Kafka estimates he has lost $250,000 this season from cancelled elk hunts.
