Oregon’s Anti-Hunting IP 28 Fails to Make the Ballot

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Oregon hunters, anglers, ranchers, and farmers can breathe a little easier. For now.

One of the country’s most sweeping anti-hunting ballot measures is officially dead for the 2026 election after supporters failed to collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

The Oregon Secretary of State’s Elections Division certified just 104,262 valid signatures, well short of the 117,173 needed to place Initiative Petition 28 (IP 28), also known as the PEACE Act, before voters.

The proposal would have dramatically expanded Oregon’s animal cruelty laws by removing legal protections for hunting, fishing, trapping, livestock production, and many common animal husbandry practices.

NSSF, the firearm industry’s trade association, strongly opposed the measure throughout the campaign.

This radical anti-hunting plan was clearly, and correctly, rejected by Oregonians who wanted no part of this attack on the heritage of outdoorsmanship and proven conservation efforts that managed hunting requires,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel.

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Keane argued the measure would have devastated Oregon’s rural economy while undermining the conservation model that hunters have helped fund for decades.

Supporters of IP 28 gathered more than 140,000 signatures, but election officials invalidated nearly 40,000 during the verification process, leaving the petition well below the required threshold.

According to reporting by Farm Journal, the proposal would have reached far beyond simply banning hunting. Oregon farmer Tim Deboot said it could have criminalized a wide range of normal farming and wildlife management activities, including livestock practices, predator control, rodent control, fishing, and hunting.

“If it had passed, we would be out of the livestock business,” he said during the interview. He added that many common agricultural practices would have been classified as animal abuse under the initiative.

The proposal also raised concerns about conservation funding.

According to NSSF, roughly 85 percent of Oregon’s wildlife funding comes from hunting license sales and Pittman-Robertson excise taxes paid by firearm and ammunition manufacturers. Oregon received more than $9.7 million from those federal conservation funds last year.

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The outdoor economy was another major point of contention. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching generated about $1.47 billion in inflation-adjusted spending, while Oregon’s broader outdoor recreation economy produced roughly $9 billion in economic activity in 2024 and supports more than 76,000 jobs.

While sportsmen are celebrating the result, the fight doesn’t appear to be over.

This marks the third time supporters have attempted to qualify the measure, and opponents don’t expect it to be the last. During Farm Journal’s interview, Tim said supporters have already indicated they’ll likely return with another version in the future.

In response, the Oregon Farm Bureau is urging state lawmakers to pass legislation that would better protect hunting, farming, and ranching from similar ballot initiatives going forward.

For now, however, Oregon’s hunting season and the state’s long-standing wildlife management system remain unchanged.

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