Dollar-a-deer license surcharge on course in House

(AP) - Despite resistance from a powerful hunters' group, a bill that would tack an extra dollar cost onto deer hunting licenses remained on track Monday in the Minnesota House.

The Environmental and Natural Resources Committee approved the surcharge on a 10-5 vote. The money it would raise each year -- almost $500,000 -- would repay meat processors who turn donated deer into venison for food shelves.

R. Jane Brown, executive director of the Second Harvest Heartland food bank, said finding enough butchered venison is a continual challenge.

"Deer meat is highly desirable because it is abundant and nutritious and high in protein, which is in short supply among donated food products," Brown said in an e-mail to lawmakers.

Several Republicans spoke and voted against it, saying the program should be voluntary for hunters. They also argued that it stretches hunting ethics because hunters are taught to shoot only what they know will get used.

The Minnesota Deer Hunters Association isn't on board because of the surcharge, said Tom Keliher, an association lobbyist. But Keliher said the group already runs its own hunt-for-the-hungry programs.

The measure's sponsor, Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, said similar programs have proven successful in Wisconsin and Iowa.

He hopes people who might otherwise skip the annual hunt would decide to take a deer if they know it would help feed the poor.

Companion legislation has cleared one Senate committee.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)