House backs legalizing Indiana's fenced-in hunting preserves

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana's four current high-fenced deer-hunting preserves would be legalized under a bill approved by the Indiana House.

House members voted 55-39 on Tuesday on a bill that sets up a licensing and inspection process for the preserves where farm-raised deer are hunted.

The preserves currently aren't regulated in Indiana and the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled the Department of Natural Resources overstepped its authority in trying to shut them down.

Bill sponsor Rep. Sean Eberhart of Shelbyville says the preserves need commonsense rules to continue and that it will benefit Indiana's nearly 400 deer farms.

Rep. Clyde Kersey of Terre Haute opposed the bill, arguing the preserves don't offer true hunting and increase the risk of spreading diseases to the state's wild deer.

The bill now goes to the Senate.