An Oregon Government Worker Tried to Ban Hunting and Americans Will Be Furious Over Who Funded the Operation

Oregon hunters have spent two years fighting off a Portland teacher's plan to outlaw their way of life.

That fight just ended in Salem and the money behind it tells its own story.

A name thousands of miles from Oregon turned out to be bankrolling the whole campaign to end hunting.

Russian Financier Leonid Postnov Poured Money Into the Anti Hunting Campaign

Initiative Petition 28 died in the Oregon Secretary of State's office on Friday.

The measure needed 117,173 valid signatures to reach the November ballot.

It came up more than 12,000 short.

But the real story isn't the failure – it's who was paying for the attempt.

Financial disclosures list a $35,000 check written by Leonid Postnov, a Russian financial consultant working out of St. Petersburg.

Add in $30,000 from the Craigslist Charitable Fund and $10,000 from PETA, and you get a clear picture of who actually wanted Oregon hunters stripped of their rods and rifles.

Not Oregon farmers.

Not Oregon families.

A Russian financier and a coastal animal rights lobby, nowhere near the ranches and rivers they wanted to shut down.

David Michelson, the Portland substitute teacher who ran the campaign, brushed off the Russian cash as nothing to worry about.

"It seems more ominous than it is," Michelson told a local outlet.

Tell that to the ranchers in eastern Oregon who make their living off cattle he wanted classified as crime victims.

Portland Vegan Activist Admits the Real Goal Was Never Passing This Year

Michelson has run this exact scheme twice before, in 2020 and 2022, and lost both times.

His group's fundraising has topped $315,000 over the past two years, all spent chasing this same goal on a third try.

He compared his crusade against hunting and fishing to the women's suffrage movement, claiming it took six tries before Oregon women got the vote.

He wasn't even hiding the strategy.

Michelson has admitted he was "under no illusion" the measure would pass this year.

Starting the conversation, he said, was the real point.

That's not activism.

That's a professional pressure campaign built to wear down rural Oregon one election cycle at a time.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation's Lawrence Keane didn't mince words about what would have happened if it worked.

The initiative, Keane said, would have "destroyed Oregon's rural communities, outdoor economy and abundant wildlife."

Even Oregon's own Democrat governor couldn't stomach this one.

"Efforts to criminalize activities like hunting and fishing are wrong for Oregon," Tina Kotek admitted after the petition collapsed.

When a Portland Democrat won't defend your ballot measure, you've written something even the left can't sell.

State Senator Christine Drazan put the real warning on the table.

"The people behind IP 28 will be back," Drazan said.

She added that the next group with an extreme idea will be right behind them.

She's right, and Oregon hunters know it.

The Animal Rights Lobby Is Building a Playbook for Every Red State

This isn't really about Oregon.

Twenty-four states have already written the right to hunt and fish into their constitutions because activists like Michelson keep trying this exact play.

Michelson isn't going away, and neither is the money that funded him this time.

Oregon hunters won this round, but the next attempt starts the moment this article goes to print.

Sources:

• AWR Hawkins, "Oregon Hunting Ban Ballot Initiative Fails Signature Deadline," Breitbart, July 27, 2026.
• Mike LaChance, "Insane Initiative That Would Have Banned Hunting and Fishing in Oregon Fails to Make November Ballot," The Gateway Pundit, July 27, 2026.
• "The Long Campaign to Criminalize Hunting and Fishing With Out-of-State Funding Should Trouble Outdoorsmen," Outdoor Life, July 2026.
• "Oregon Hunting and Fishing Ban Fails to Qualify for November Ballot," KOIN, July 2026.
• "Only Two Groups Have Submitted Signatures for 2026 Ballot Initiatives. They Aim at Very Different Issues," Willamette Week, January 28, 2026.