Public Statement from the Kentuckiana Chapter of Safari Club International

Our mission is to protect the freedom to hunt and to promote the sustainable use of wildlife through conservation. As such, we advocate to preserve and protect the rights of all hunters in the Commonwealth. Thus, the recent decision from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to redefine the terms of the resident landowner license exemption under Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 150.170 does irreparable damage to the sportsmen and women in the Commonwealth.

For decades the landowner exemption was interpreted to allow Kentucky residents, their spouse, and dependent children to legally hunt on land they owned without a license. The term “resident” is defined in KRS 150.010, as any person who has established permanent domicile and legal residence in the state for a minimum of thirty days.

 The OAG’s recent determination to require resident landowners to physically live on the land they hunt in order to be license exempt has significant negative impacts on all hunters in the Commonwealth, not just resident landowners. As the statewide leader in hunter advocacy, we must highlight the following consequences should the OAG’s position stand:

It would cause a radical change in land use for tens of thousands of bona fide resident landowners. Beyond the obvious impacts on traditional use by families and the value of their land, this would impact how new hunters enter our sport and how we are perceived by the non-hunting public. Hunters are a very small minority of the U.S. population. We need new hunters and we need the non-hunting public’s approval. Erecting yet another barrier to entry into our sport is unacceptable and ignoring how this decision would be perceived by non-hunting family members would be foolish.

It would require a dramatic shift in the way the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) Law Enforcement Division enforces the law. Game Wardens are the most visible members of KDFWR. They engage with the public exponentially more than the Department Leadership or Biologists. If game wardens had to inform landowners who have been hunting on their own property under the impression they were license exempt, that they were now in violation of the law, the upheaval in “on the ground” relationships and the second order effect of how game wardens are perceived cannot be underestimated.

It would destabilize the Fish and Wildlife Commission for many months until new leadership elections and subsequent reorganization could occur. This would set back months of progress on dozens of issues important to sportsmen and women. The annual rhythm of the Commission meetings ensures that new regulations make it through the process in time to be implemented for the next season. Setting back the quarterly meetings in order to accomplish these unnecessary tasks would mean that important changes to wildlife conservation and management recommended for implementation this year may not have time to be approved and may have to wait another year.

It would create a vacancy in the 7th Fish and Wildlife Commission District that could not be filled by law until the Spring of 2027. Thus, the sportsmen and women of Breathitt, Floyd, Johnson, Harlan, Knott, Lawrence, Leslie, Letcher, Magoffin, Martin, Owsley, Perry, and Pike counties would be unrepresented for over a year.

These reasons compel us to respectfully request that the Office of the Attorney General reconsider their new interpretation of the law.

In service to all hunters in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, we remain true to our motto…

“First for Hunters!”