Game ranch operators counter that letting somebody hunt an animal on their land gives them much needed revenue and is no different from a farmer letting someone kill a cow on his farm.

The Colorado bill was easily defeated, but the controversy over game ranches continues. Supporters of the bill said they planned to take the measure before Colorado voters in 2004.

Most of the big game ranches focus on elk in Colorado, which has the biggest elk population in North America, although exotic animals like zebra can be found at ranches in Texas, a popular state for hunting big game on private land.

Hunters who do not want to hunt in the wild can pay $20,000 or more for a bull elk, the kind with large antlers. Some may be tired of traditional hunting, or are top business executives who do not have the time needed to bag an elk or may not be in good enough physical shape for the rigors of hunting.

While it is much easier to shoot an elk on a game ranch, nobody is walking up to a tame animal and shooting it either. Hunters on an elk ranch with the help of a guide can get as close as 150 feet (45 metres) to the animal. The shooter still has to aim carefully, but getting that close and having a guide help find the animal make all the difference between being successful or going home empty-handed.

BREEDING FOR ANTLERS

The typical game ranch can be as big as 30,000 acres (12,140 hectares), although some ranches are smaller. But the catch is that the area is fenced, meaning the animal cannot truly escape.

Hunters on game ranches are also more likely to find a bull elk with large antlers. "We breed for antlers. We feed them when they're babies," Ron Walker, president of the Colorado Elk Breeders Association, said. Walker, who operates two game ranches, said the 119 elk ranchers in Colorado only earned about $4 million last year in total.

"We're not hurting anybody. We own the animals. We're not stealing them," he said. Walker said in the wild a hunter who is not an excellent marksman may injure an animal, but on the ranch if that happens an experienced guide will then shoot the animal. "We don't want wounded animals out there," he said.

Colorado state Rep. Lois Tochtrop who introduced the bill to ban enclosed game ranches said she was disappointed it failed and was hoping anti-hunting groups do not try to mount a more stringent voter initiative.

The Colorado bill called for allowing "fair chase," meaning that the animal has a chance of escaping, a concept credited to President Theodore Roosevelt, known for his love of hunting.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

There are economic issues too.

Hunters who visit game ranches do so without obtaining a hunting license, denying a source of income to the Colorado Division of Wildlife which manages big game in the state. Colorado has about 300,000 elk. A hunting license for a bull elk with big antlers will cost $483.25 this year, Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Tyler Baskfield said.

People who bag an elk on game ranches spend a short amount of time in the state and less money in the small towns that depend on the multibillion dollar hunting industry, Tochtrop said. "This is something that impacts an important industry in our state," she said.

Not true, countered elk breeder Walker. "We have a different clientele. These people won't hunt in the wild," he told Reuters.

But Tochtrop, who favors hunting, maintained that "true hunters" supported her bill. The Colorado lawmaker said she learned about fenced-in ranches during the recent rise in chronic wasting disease cases among wild game, which crossed the Continental Divide for the first time last year.