Oregon already let drug addicts shoot heroin on the street and called it compassion.
Now the same state wants to put your grandfather in handcuffs for going fishing.
Animal rights extremists just collected enough signatures to put something on Oregon's November ballot — and what it does to hunters, fishermen, and farmers is worse than anything they've seen before.
What Oregon's IP28 PEACE Act Actually Does to Hunters and Farmers
Oregon's animal abuse laws have always included common-sense exemptions.
Hunters, fishermen, trappers, ranchers, and farmers were carved out of the criminal statutes — because legislators understood that feeding your family and managing wildlife aren't the same thing as torturing a dog.
IP28 – officially branded the PEACE Act, short for People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions – exists for one reason: to rip those exemptions out of the law entirely.
The measure strips every existing protection from Oregon's animal abuse statutes.
Right now, Oregon law explicitly protects hunting, fishing, trapping, farming, and pest control from being classified as animal cruelty.
IP28 removes all of those protections.
Every one.
Casting a fishing line – criminal.
Harvesting a deer with a valid license – animal abuse under Oregon law.
Trapping the rats in your barn – a criminal offense.
Oregon's Native American tribes aren't exempted either – not even for ceremonial hunting and fishing practices older than the state itself.
The measure's chief petitioner, David Michelson, is offering a "Humane Transition Fund" to help workers walk away from what he calls "meat-based trades."
He's offering ranchers a buyout to stop being ranchers.
IP28 Is the Third Version of Oregon's Hunting Ban — and the Best-Funded Yet
IP28 didn't appear out of nowhere.
The same core effort was first filed as IP13 in 2020, targeting the 2022 ballot.
It failed.
They refiled as IP3 for the 2024 ballot – this time adding language classifying artificial insemination of livestock as sexual assault.
It failed again.
Now it's back as IP28, and this time PETA donated $20,000 to fund the signature drive – with the Craigslist Charitable Fund putting in another $30,000 – turning what was once a fringe local effort into a professional political operation with paid signature gatherers.
Hunting publication MeatEater identified at least 15 ballot initiatives directly targeting hunting that have passed in 11 states since 1990.
California banned mountain lion hunting in 1990.
Oregon banned bear baiting in 1994.
The same groups behind those campaigns have been escalating ever since – each cycle pushing further, each cycle learning what framing gets signatures from Portland voters who have never held a fishing rod.
IP28 is not a fringe effort.
It is the endpoint of a 35-year campaign, finally close enough to taste.
What Oregon's Hunters, Fishermen, and Farmers Stand to Lose
Oregon's commercial fishing industry alone generated $1.1 billion in total economic activity in 2025 – a record high – supporting over 10,000 jobs statewide.
The Oregon Hunters Association, the Oregon Farm Bureau, the Oregon Cattlemen's Association, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, and the National Wild Turkey Federation have all formally opposed the measure.
Even Democrats have broken ranks – bipartisan members of the Oregon Legislative Sportsmen's Caucus called IP28 an existential threat to rural Oregon, with Senator David Brock Smith stating that hunting and fishing for food is part of Oregon's heritage and for many Oregonians, part of who they are.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife itself – funded substantially by hunting and fishing license revenue – would lose its financial foundation overnight.
The Ballot Box Is the Strategy
IP28's proponents have openly admitted they don't expect to win in 2026 — and they don't care.
They are not trying to pass this measure.
They are trying to normalize the idea – to get Oregon voters used to seeing hunting and fishing framed as criminal acts on a ballot, to build donor lists, and to set up the version after this one that actually wins.
This is the ballot initiative playbook the Humane Society of the United States perfected over decades – run the same measure until the urban voter base is large enough to push it over the finish line.
Portland, Eugene, and Salem combined can outvote every hunter, farmer, and fisherman in the state – and if the Secretary of State verifies enough signatures by the July 2 deadline, they'll get that chance in November.
Every person who signed that petition thinking they were protecting puppies will have put a $1.1 billion industry, a million Oregonians, and a way of life on trial.
Sources:
- KATU Staff, "Oregon petition to criminalize hunting, fishing reaches signature threshold," KATU News, May 2026.
- KPTV Staff, "Proposed Oregon ballot measure to ban hunting and fishing reports new fundraising details," KPTV, February 2026.
- Oregon Hunters Association, "Oregon IP28: Hunting and Fishing Ban Explained," oregonhunters.org, 2026.
- National Wild Turkey Federation, "NWTF Opposes Oregon Initiative Petition 28," nwtf.org, April 2026.
- NRA-ILA, "Oregon Ballot Initiative Would Outlaw Hunting and Traditional Farming," nraila.org, March 2026.
- National Fisherman, "Oregon Commercial Fishing Hits $517M High in 2025," nationalfisherman.com, February 2026.
- Christopher Bancroft, "A Brief History of the Anti-Hunting Playbook," MeatEater, October 2024.
- Tillamook County Pioneer, "Oregon Legislative Sportsmen's Caucus Oppose Initiative Petition 28," tillamookcountypioneer.net, February 2026.
