ND House defeats party hunting bill

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - If you want to shoot someone else’s deer in North Dakota, you’re out of luck.

The House of Representatives defeated House Bill 1377, which would’ve allowed for party hunting. The bill would have authorized anyone in a group of ten or fewer to kill more than one deer, provided the hunting party had valid deer licenses for everyone in the group.

“The goal of every hunter is to have success during the hunt and party hunting would accomplish that. It would also place more stress on the deer population in North Dakota, and doesn’t provide a solution for the problem of having low numbers of deer licenses available,” said Representative Jared Hagert, R-Emerado.

The bill failed 26-67. On Tuesday, the House passed another hunting-related bill. House Bill 1151 would prohibit Game and Fish from implementing bans on deer baiting.