A single ballot initiative in Oregon could make it a crime to hunt elk, catch a steelhead, or raise cattle. That’s not an exaggeration. That’s what the language actually says.
What IP28 Actually Does
The initiative is called IP28 — formally the “People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions,” or the PEACE Act. It’s currently gathering signatures in Oregon, and if it reaches the ballot and passes, it would strip away the legal exemptions that allow hunting, fishing, trapping, ranching, rodeos, and wildlife management under Oregon’s animal cruelty statutes.
Read that again. It doesn’t regulate seasons. It doesn’t limit tags. It removes the legal framework that makes these activities lawful in the first place.
Under current Oregon law, animal cruelty statutes include exemptions for standard agricultural practices, lawful hunting, fishing, and wildlife management conducted by state agencies. IP28 deletes those exemptions. Without them, harvesting a whitetail in November or branding a calf in spring becomes, legally speaking, animal abuse.
The supporters frame it as a compassion issue. The actual effect is a blanket criminalization of activities that have been legal, regulated, and essential to conservation for over a century.
This Isn’t Just Oregon’s Problem
If IP28 were a one-off, we could call it a fringe effort and move on. It’s not. This is part of a deliberate national strategy that the hunting industry calls “ballot box biology” — using emotionally charged signature campaigns to override the science-based wildlife management system that actually works.
Look around. Colorado recently debated a ban on fur sales. North Dakota is tightening nonresident hunting restrictions under political pressure. The Farm Bill — the single largest funding vehicle for habitat conservation in the country — is being targeted by animal rights lobbying groups who want to strip wildlife management provisions from it.
The playbook is consistent. Find a state where urban voters outnumber rural ones. Draft an initiative with language that sounds humane to people who’ve never set foot in the field. Collect signatures. Let the math do the rest.
Oregon fits that profile perfectly. Portland’s metro population dominates the state’s voter rolls. Most of those voters have no connection to hunting or ranching. They see a petition that says “eliminate animal cruelty exemptions” and think, “Yeah, obviously.” They don’t know that those exemptions are what make ODFW’s elk management program legal. They don’t know that hunter-funded conservation dollars paid for the habitat those elk live on.
And that gets to the harder truth the hunting community needs to face: we are losing the public relations battle with non-hunters. Not because our position is wrong, but because we’ve been terrible at explaining it. The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is the most successful conservation framework in human history, and most Americans have never heard of it. That’s on us.
What You Can Do Right Now
The Oregon Hunters Association is leading the fight against IP28, and they just received a $50,000 grant from the National Shooting Sports Foundation to fund the opposition campaign. That money matters, but it’s not enough on its own.
Here’s what hunters — in Oregon and everywhere else — can do today:
If you’re in Oregon: Contact the Oregon Hunters Association and ask how to volunteer for the opposition effort. Talk to your non-hunting friends and neighbors. Not with bumper-sticker slogans, but with the actual facts about what this initiative does. Most people don’t want to criminalize ranching. They just don’t know that’s what they’d be voting for.
If you’re outside Oregon: Support your state hunting organization financially. These fights are won or lost at the state level, and the groups doing the work run on member dues and donations. Join the Oregon Hunters Association even if you don’t live there. Join your own state’s organization if you haven’t already. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation are all fighting these battles at the national level.
Everywhere: Have the conversation. With your coworkers. With your kids’ teachers. With anyone who will listen. Explain that hunters fund conservation. Explain that regulated harvest is how healthy wildlife populations are maintained. Explain it calmly, with facts, without the defensive anger that turns people off.
Why This Matters
We hunt because it connects us to something real. To the land, to the animals we pursue, to a tradition that predates every institution in this country. That connection carries a responsibility — not just to be ethical in the field, but to defend the system that makes ethical, legal, regulated hunting possible.
IP28 is a test. Not just for Oregon hunters, but for all of us. If it passes, it becomes a template. Other states will follow. The signature gatherers are already watching.
Don’t wait until it’s your state on the ballot. And don’t wait to hunt, either. If you’ve been putting off that backcountry elk hunt, that spring bear trip, or that turkey hunt you’ve been thinking about — book it. The opportunity to hunt is not guaranteed. Make the most of it while we still can.
Check out our Dream Hunts Sweepstakes — you could win a guided Colorado elk hunt ($8,500 value) or a Kansas whitetail hunt ($6,200 value). Entries start at just $25.
Browse all of our guided hunting trips, or reach out to our team to start planning your next adventure.
