Conservation Commission approves appeal of Ripley County judgment

JEFFERSON CITY Mo – At its Aug. 20 meeting in Jefferson City, the Missouri Conservation Commission announced its decision to have the Missouri Department of Conservation appeal a judgment by Ripley County Circuit Judge Robert Smith who ruled in early August that three state regulations prohibiting the use of motorized vehicles and dogs in deer hunting are too vague to be constitutional.

The ruling followed a case involving two Ripley County hunters who sued in February over the regulations.

At issue are Missouri Wildlife Code regulations that prohibit the use of “motor-driven air, land or water conveyances” while deer hunting and regulations stating that deer may not be “hunted, pursued, taken or killed with the aid of dogs, in use or possession.”