The Boone and Crockett Club last week issued an official position statement regarding the proliferation of commercial deer-breeding operations and private shooting preserves.

"The wildlife conservation and management community is becoming increasingly concerned, that growing trophy deer and elk and then shooting these animals in fenced shooting facilities reflects negatively on hunting and will weaken the public support for the type of fair chase hunting they cherish," according to the statement.

Morrie Stevens Sr., president of the Club, said his organization encourages all hunters to read the position in its entirety. A press release and a link to the statement appears elsewhere in this week's Archery Wire.

"The core topic - privatizing a public resource for individual profits - has the power to change the foundations of hunting and its historic ties to conservation," Stevens said. "And crossing the line from wildlife to agricultural commodity represents a fundamental shift in American culture. We think the ramifications are worth considering carefully."

Boone and Crockett has never accepted record book entries for animals taken on high-fence commercial preserves.

In summary, the B&C position statement addresses:

• Selective breeding, artificial insemination, regimented feeding and pharmaceutical drugs to achieve unnaturally large antlers in deer and elk.
  
• Commercial values based on artificial trophy size.
  
• Ethics of altering native wildlife and then shooting these animals in escape-proof, fenced enclosures.
  
• Breeding operations' potential for transmitting diseases to wild herds.
  
• Risk of weakened public support for hunting.

During 2014, increased attention was drawn to commercial deer farming and breeding operations as a result of the discovery of chronic wasting disease (CWD) at facilities in Iowa, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and most recently, Ohio.

In its statement, Boone and Crockett maintains the threat of the spread of CWD by the escape and/or transport of captive animals "is a real and documented problem."

"The Club seeks to reduce the spread of CWD and other diseases to both captive and wild cervid populations, and consequently supports those states and provinces attempting to do so by: (1) prohibiting or restricting the establishment of new breeding and shooting operations; (2) adopting stricter regulations, including importation bans, governing the transport of captive cervids; and/or (3) prohibiting the release of captive animals from fenced breeding or shooting operations into wild, unfenced habitat as the danger to native wildlife from CWD is overwhelming."

The B&C statement marked perhaps the most direct criticism of commercial deer farming and high-fence shooting operations by a national hunting and conservation organization to date. Other national groups, and most notably, the outdoor and hunting media, have been reluctant to publicly criticize the captive cervid industry, its ethics and its genetic commercialization of wildlife.

In 2102, the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) was the first national conservation group to oppose expansion of the captive deer-breeding industry and to speak out against proposals by some states to move the authority over existing operations from state game agencies to state agriculture departments.

Boone and Crockett's most recent statement expands on its earlier comments regarding genetic manipulation, canned shoots and fair chase.

"The captive-cervid industry uses selective breeding, artificial insemination, regimented feeding, and pharmaceutical drugs to achieve unnaturally large antlers. Such intensive manipulation of the natural characteristics of a wild deer and elk is a major departure from what occurs in nature, and it challenges our common understanding of the terms wild and wildlife. It does not appear that breeding and shooting operations considered the ethical implications of how far they should go in manipulating wildlife to satisfy the desires of a few."

Here at The Archery Wire, we have it on good authority that two long-established national bowhunting/archery groups are preparing a joint position statement on the captive-cervid industry, CWD and ethics to be released in coming weeks. And we say "good authority," because we were present during their discussions held during the recent ATA Show in Indianapolis.

There's little doubt the subject of captive deer breeding, genetic manipulation and high-fence operations is attracting more attention than in the past, and primarily because of CWD outbreaks in previously disease-free states. But don't be surprised to see it become a prominent issue among a growing number of sportsmen's groups as well as the subject of new legislation as lawmakers convene in statehouses across the nation's whitetail-rich midsection in 2015.

We'll keep you posted.

- J.R. Absher

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