Minnesota is one of a dwindling number of states where it’s still illegal to shoot a deer or elk in a pen. But an increasing number of hunters and livestock owners would like to change that. Last spring, two bills wended their way through the Legislature that would have legalized big-game shooting preserves in Minnesota. The bills were never passed. Critics argued convincingly that big game shooting preserves could turn nonhunters against hunting, that the enclosures would restrict wild animal movement, and that additional farm-raised deer and elk herds--there are currently 520 in Minnesota, raised for meat only--could increase the risk of disease to livestock.
Despite the bill’s failure to pass, its temporary progress underscored the fact that interest in trophy elk and especially deer is booming. In a growing number of states (32), wealthy hunters pay thousands of dollars for the privilege of killing a trophy elk or deer that has been raised and confined within the fences of a shooting preserve.