FARGO - Game preserve owners are campaigning against a proposed North Dakota ballot measure that would eliminate so-called high-fence hunting, saying a ban would violate their property rights.

"The bottom line is that preserve hunting is not for everyone," said Wayne Laaveg, who owns an elk farm near Edinburg. "But citizens should have the right to choose where they want to hunt."

Supporters of the initiative say it's unethical to shoot a fenced-in animal.

Roger Kaseman of Linton, chairman of the Fair Chase Initiative, said the property rights argument was shot down when Montana voters passed a similar initiative in 2000.

"We're doing exactly what Montana did," said Kaseman.

Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, sponsored a bill in the last session that would have banned high-fence hunting. That measure was defeated 44-3. Kaseman attributed the loss to a powerful lobby that included the state's congressional delegation and the North Dakota Farm Bureau.

"We just ran into a political buzz saw," Kaseman said.

North Dakota has more than 100 game and elk preserves, but only about a dozen offer hunting for a fee. About 80 percent of those hunters are from out of state, said Shawn Schafer of Turtle Lake, a spokesman for Citizens to Preserve North Dakota Property Rights.

"This has tremendous economic impact for the state of North Dakota," Schafer said of the proposed ballot measure.

Countered Kaseman: "There's some economic development that just isn't right."

Schafer said most supporters of the ballot measure are people who want to keep nonresident hunters out of the state, or people who are against hunting. "I think the majority (of hunters) support us," he said.

Kaseman said his group has about 5,000 certified and notarized signatures. They need signatures from at least 12,844 North Dakota voters to put the measure on the ballot.

"Shawn needs to get out there and go face-to-face with the people who have signed our petitions. Sportsmen are signing in droves," Kaseman said. "I'm a hardcore hunter."

Schafer said that supporters of the ban might get enough signatures, but his group is not waiting to find out.

"We don't want to wait until that point to get to our campaign," he said. "The word we're trying to get out is, 'Vote no.'"