Court Opinion

ID: 9775104
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:43:48.852512+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:20.486402
License: Public Domain

Robinson, Justice, dissenting. Amendment No. 35 to the Constitution gives the Game & Fish Commission authority to establish zones and regulate the seasons and the taking of game and fish therein. Under this amendment the Commission should be allowed to zone any area of the State and prohibit hunting in such zone, provided it does not act in an arbitrary manner. It can not be said the Commission acted arbitrarily in this instance. The area in which an attempt is being made to protect the wild game consists of over 30,000 acres which has been used as a game refuge for more than a decade. Appellants own only a small portion thereof. As a result of such protection, the wild life, especially deer, have become numerous. In this refuge the Commission has in effect established a zone where no hunting is allowed. If the Commission can not zone this particular thirty odd thousand acres as a refuge, just where can zones be established to protect the game? The establishment of refugees has caused the deer population of this state to multiply by the thousands; now, instead of the area involved here being a refuge inuring to the benefit of the whole state, it will be a slaughter pen to be operated by a few who will enjoy it. I respectfully dissent. The Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Holt concur in this dissent.