OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Election Day is now less than a week away and this year, Florida voters will have a say in several key amendments.

While Amendments 3 and 4 regarding the legalization of recreational marijuana and the right to abortion have been top of mind for voters, Floridians will also get to decide on Amendment 2 — the Right to Hunt and Fish. (Get more about the amendments on the ballot here.)

If passed, this amendment would enshrine the right to hunt and fish in the Florida constitution.

The controversial ballot measure has already generated mixed opinions among Central Florida voters.

What You Need To Know

  • This year, Florida voters will have a say in several key amendments, including Amendment 2 or the Right to Hunt and Fish

  • If passed, the ballot measure would provide a state constitutional right to hunt and fish and declare hunting and fishing be preserved as a public right forever

  • A 60% supermajority vote is required for the approval of this amendment

  • The measure indicates that “the amendment does not limit the authority granted to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)”

  • Central Florida Sierra Club says hunting is already legal and Amendment 2 would allow unlawful killing of wildlife

The Deer Park Ranch-Kempfer Cattle Company in St. Cloud has been passed down in Billy Kempfer’s family since 1902. 

Kempfer manages the 25,000-acre ranch with the help of his family.

At every corner he turns, he recalls memories from different moments of his life. One of those memories is hunting with his father when he was a little boy.

“This actually right here starts the Melbourne Hunting and Fishing club,” Kempfer said, pointing to the entrance of one of the hunting terrains located on his property.

The Melbourne Hunting and Fishing Club belonged to his family since his mother signed the lease back in 1931.

For Kempfer, Amendment 2 goes beyond preserving a person’s public right to hunt and fish forever. For him, it’s about much more than that — protecting his property rights.

“Not only to continue to allow recreational hunting but to keep these anti-groups from being able to just control what we do in order to be able to make a living,” said Kempfer, who is a partner of Deer Park Ranch-Kempfer Cattle Company.

He said his primary sources of income don’t just come from the herds of cattle he and his family raise, but a significant portion of it is a result of managing two hunting leases on the 25,000-acre property.

As he drives around on the property on his ATV, Kempfer says his property rights and his right to farm are two things he has fought to defend for a long time.

That’s what he fears could be taken away if this amendment doesn’t pass.

“This kind of closes the door to keep those activist groups from trying to put an additional burden on landowners, or even on some of the state land for public that enjoys hunting,” explains Billy Kempfer.

As for the conservation chairwoman of Central Florida Sierra Club Marjorie Holt, she fears Amendment 2 could pave the way to what she deems to be the unlawful killing of wildlife in the state of Florida.

Holt says Floridians already have the right to hunt and fish, since it already exists in Florida statutes. 

“Amendment 2 would allow for traditional hunting methods which are right now many of them are unlawful, and that is trapping and snares and poison and hunting turkey with dogs,” says Holt.

She believes these traditional hunting methods would enable the killing of many species, some of which are endangered, like the Florida black bear and panther, and could become secondary to science-based methods.

“People would be hunting maybe in areas where hunting typically is not allowed. The ambiguous language in there could allow maybe in city parks, other people’s property,” says Marjorie Holt.

The measure also specifies “the amendment does not limit the authority granted to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).”

For this amendment to be approved, a 60% supermajority vote is required first.