Why It Matters: Although victories may be secured during regular sessions, Governors in some states may call veto sessions, in which the legislature has the opportunity to pass additional priorities. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) successfully advocated against the passage of a bill in Illinois that would have prohibited hunters from organizing contests to take furbearers, such as coyotes. Although legislators in the Prairie State showed interest in revisiting that bill during a veto session, science-based conservation ultimately prevailed.
Highlights
- IL HB 2900 would have prohibited hunters from organizing hunting contests for furbearing species, which are a legitimate tool for managing localized populations.
- Although the bill initially missed a deadline to pass from the House, it received a special vote to revive it, where it subsequently passed out of the House by a margin of 68-45.
- IL HB 2900 threatened movement once again during a veto session to close out 2024, yet science-based wildlife management prevailed.
- The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation advocated against its passage during each phase of the bill’s progression.
In Illinois, CSF worked throughout the 2024 legislative session to help defeat HB 2900, a bill that would have prohibited hunters in the Prairie State from organizing contests to take furbearers. Although the language had been introduced in previous years, HB 2900 gained traction this session, and even received a special vote in the Rules Committee to revive the bill after it had missed a deadline. Despite the bill being unsuccessful during the regular session, additional legislators lent their support as co-sponsors during the 2024 veto session. However, the bill ultimately failed to gain further support and did not survive.
Predator hunting contests are mischaracterized by anti-hunting organizations, which ignore the benefits that organized hunting can provide to hunters, local sporting stores, farmers, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and wildlife populations themselves. Coyotes, the species that these contests most commonly seek to manage, have infiltrated nearly every corner of the country with a booming population, depredating livestock and causing an increasing number of human-wildlife conflicts. Hunting contests create opportunities to concentrate hunting effort in a specific area to better address specific localized concerns and conflicts, while still requiring participants to abide by the same laws that would apply otherwise. Equipment sales in preparation for hunting contests benefit local sporting stores, while license sales benefit the Illinois DNR through the American System of Conservation Funding.
Informing non-sporting legislators of the above considerations, CSF and members of the Illinois Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus advocated against the bill’s passage throughout the 2024 session. Throughout the country, CSF will continue to protect the interests of sportsmen and women, as well as the wildlife that they pursue – including future attempts in Illinois to prohibit hunting contests, which are almost certain to appear in 2025.
