TALLAHASSEE — Florida voters will decide next week whether to enshrine hunting and fishing rights in the state Constitution, as opponents have struggled to get their message across.

The Legislature placed the proposed constitutional amendment, Amendment 2, on the Nov. 5 ballot. Supporters of the measure, called “Right to Fish and Hunt,” have raised significantly more money than opponents, and political experts believe the proposal will likely receive the required support from 60 percent of voters to pass.

“Generally speaking, most Floridians support the right to hunt and fish — and in fact, that right is already enshrined in state law,” said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida. “Many environmental groups are concerned about the impact this could have on certain animals, such as bears, and the type of methods that could be used, such as large nets or steel traps. But they haven’t been able to raise and spend much money to make their concerns known.

The amendment’s summary, the wording voters see on the ballot, states, in part, that the measure would “forever preserve fishing and hunting, including through the use of traditional methods, as public law and preferred means of responsible management and control of fish.” and wildlife.

For many voters, reading the summary might be the first time they really examine the measure, “which, as we well know, doesn’t really represent the full story,” said political science professor Susan MacManus. retired at the University of South. Florida, said.

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When lawmakers decided in 2023 to put the measure on this year’s ballot, only Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, D-Davie, voted against it. The lawmaker’s supporters said other states have adopted similar rights and highlighted issues such as the role hunting and fishing play in wildlife management.

But Charles O’Neal, chairman of the opposition group NoTo2.Org and president of Speak Up Wekiva, raised concerns that the proposal would override protections for fish stocks, such as reversing the state’s ban on gillnets, opening the waters of the state to foreign commercial fishing and possibly allowing hunters to enter private property.

“Do you really want to give hunters the right to enter your property in pursuit of a raccoon or a bear? » said O’Neal.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Evan Power said that in the limited polling he saw on Amendment 2, the proposition garnered 68 percent support.

“There doesn’t appear to be any organized opposition,” Power said. “I think he’s in a pretty good place, if you look at the polls. I think that barring disaster, I think it will pass. »

Power rejected the argument that the proposal would give hunters rights over private landowners.

“What we’re seeing in some liberal states is they don’t want people to hunt and fish. They want to take away their guns, their gun rights,” Power said. “I think it goes in the direction of protecting people’s individual rights.”

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said her concern was how the Republican-majority Legislature would implement the amendment if it passed, such as whether it could overturn the gillnet ban approved by voters in 1994.

“On the face of it, it’s just about protecting hunting and fishing,” Fried said. “We already have it. It’s already in our state statutes. It’s already a way of life. And as a hunter and fisherman, I have the right to do so today. So, that is the question: what is the impact of its adoption and what additional powers and changes will result from it?

The Vote Yes on Amendment 2 political committee, which is leading the effort to pass the proposal, had raised $1.228 million in cash as of Saturday and spent nearly $964,000, according to financial information posted on the committee’s website. State Division of Elections.

Contributions included $250,000 from the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida; $100,000 from the Friends of Wilton Simpson, a committee led by state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson; and $50,250 from Tennessee-based Ducks Unlimited, whose CEO is former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.

NoTo2.Org had collected $95,829 in cash and spent $66,872 as of Saturday. The Sierra Club and a Sierra Club PAC had contributed $80,000.