A national advocacy group is preparing to spend millions of dollars next year convincing voters to add legal protections for hunting and fishing to the Ohio Constitution.

T. Roosevelt Action has budgeted between $4 million and $6 million for its campaign, the group’s CEO, Luke Hilgemann said in an interview on Wednesday.

First though, Ohio’s Republican-controlled state legislature would have to approve placing the measure on the ballot – something Hilgemann said he’s confident will happen, based on his conversations with state lawmakers.

“We’re building strong momentum behind the idea and the amendment,” Hilgemann said.

More about the amendment

The right to hunt or fish currently is protected in 24 state constitutions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The first was Vermont, which approved its amendment in 1777. The rest date back to 1996, with 20 of those being approved by voters. The National Rifle Association initially promoted the measures, but T. Roosevelt Action and its affiliate, the International Order of T. Roosevelt, became the main group promoting them in the 2000s. 

Florida was the most recent state to approve one. The amendment there got 67% support from voters. A CBS affiliate in Miami reported the “yes” campaign spent more than $1 million to pass the amendment, overwhelming opposition from animal rights groups that contributed to the “no” campaign. 

Hilgemann said the hunting and fishing amendments are meant to head off bans or restrictions from animal rights groups – offering a proposal in Oregon that would completely ban hunting and fishing as an example. In Ohio, animal-rights activists managed to get a proposal banning the hunting of mourning doves on the ballot in 1998. Voters rejected it 59% to 41%.

Where Ohio’s proposed amendment stands

The main hurdle facing the amendment right now is the three-fifths vote it needs in the House and Senate before next summer to qualify for the ballot.

A similar proposal was introduced in Ohio ahead of the 2024 election. But that measure failed to advance. 

This year’s version was introduced in late October. It’s sponsored by Republican Sen. Stephen Huffman, a cousin to House Speaker Matt Huffman. The measure, called Senate Joint Resolution 8, has yet to get a preliminary committee vote. 

The amendment reads: 

• The right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife is a valued part of Ohio’s heritage and will be forever preserved for the public good
• Hunting and fishing is a preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife;
• Nothing in the amendment limits the application of any laws or the Ohio Constitution as they relate to trespass or property rights.

There are several other potential constitutional amendments – all proposed by citizen’s groups –  looming for the November 2026 election, including one that would abolish property taxes. Getting them on the ballot requires backers to collect hundreds of thousands of voter signatures though. It’s unclear whether any of the various proposals have the resources to make that happen.

Internal poll shows support for amendment

Hilgemann spoke with Signal Ohio as his group, named for the former Republican U.S. president, touted a new internal poll showing Ohioans overwhelmingly support the hunting and fishing amendment.

The poll, a summary of which was shared with Signal Ohio, shows 79% for the amendment, compared to 7% opposed and 14% of voters undecided. 

Ballot issues are tricky to poll, and private polls in general should be taken with a large grain of salt. 

But the 79% figure is consistent with how versions of the measure have performed in other states. 

The group also quizzed voters about next year’s governor’s race between likely Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy and likely Democratic nominee Amy Acton.

It found the race was functionally tied, given the poll’s 4% margin of error, with Ramaswamy drawing 45% support and Acton at 43%, although many of the undecided voters were Republican-leaning. The numbers are similar to other recent public polls, including one from earlier this month by Emerson College. Polling in Ohio though has tended to undermeasure Republican support over the past decade, leading to inaccurate results.  

Hilgemann said his poll found the hunting and fishing amendment had broad bipartisan support, including from 66% of Democrats, although Republican voters were more likely to back it. 

This dynamic could help mobilize Republican-leaning voters to turn out next year, Hilgemann said.

“The poll tells us very clearly that the people of Ohio – 603 likely voters, a really strong sample size – believe that hunting and fishing rights deserve to be protected in the State of Ohio,” he said.