Oregon sportsmen just caught a break. Initiative Petition 28 — the PEACE Act — failed to qualify for the 2026 general election ballot after state verification left it short of the valid signatures needed.
The measure would have stripped long-standing exemptions out of Oregon’s animal cruelty laws. That sounds harmless until you read what those exemptions protect: legal hunting, fishing, trapping, livestock work, pest control, and other everyday animal-use practices that rural people and wildlife managers rely on.
Supporters turned in about 142,000 signatures, but Oregon required 117,173 valid signatures. After review, only about 104,262 were counted as valid, leaving the effort roughly 13,000 short.
That does not mean this fight is over forever. It means hunters, anglers, ranchers, farmers, and anyone who believes in real wildlife management held the line this round. These campaigns usually come wrapped in soft language, but the end result is the same: take legal, regulated outdoor traditions and make them legally risky or impossible.
Stay awake. Read the fine print. Vote like your season depends on it, because sooner or later it will.
Source & further reading
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