U.S. Supreme Court won't hear game farm appeals

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by Montana game farm operators over a citizens' initiative they claim amounts to an unlawful taking of their property. The news means there can be no captive shooting of deer or elk in Montana. Game farm operators earlier this year appealed a state Supreme Court ruling that said Initiative 143 does not constitute the unlawful taking of private property. Robert Lane, chief legal counsel for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, said the country's high court declined the case within the past several days. He said the Supreme Court's ruling leaves in place the Montana Supreme Court decision on I-143. That initiative was approved in 2000 by a majority of Montana citizens. It effectively ended the game farm business in Montana, primarily by outlawing the fee shooting of captive elk...read more