Indiana Senate blocks high-fence deer hunting bill

INDIANAPOLIS — A proposal aimed at legalizing five fenced deer-hunting preserves around Indiana has failed in this year’s legislative session.

Rep. Matt Ubelhor of Bloomfield said Thursday that his bid to protect the hunting preserves was blocked by the Senate.

Ubelhor says he believes the step was needed to resolve an eight-year-old lawsuit over attempts by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to shut down the existing preserves where hunters pay for a chance to shoot deer confined inside high fences.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long says he doesn’t believe that the preserves offer true hunting and that the courts should decide whether the preserves are legal before the Legislature gets involved.