BOISE, Idaho - An industry-backed plan to regulate Idaho elk ranches trumped stricter proposals Thursday during Senate debate that included talk of "grain-fed monsters" and "French-kissing" elk spreading disease through fences.

The Senate Agriculture Affairs Committee voted 7-1 for a licensing program for Idaho's nearly 80 elk ranches, 17 of which offer "shooter-bull" fenced hunts. The ranches have come under scrutiny since up to 160 animals bolted from an eastern Idaho preserve last year.

If it becomes law, the plan passed Thursday calls for a $5 licensing fee for the state's nearly 6,000 farm-raised elk, a $200 fee for state Department of Agriculture inspections, and the authority to shut down operations not abiding by the rules. Ag officials could also order double fences where needed, according to the bill now headed to the full Senate.

Three measures failed: To ban penned elk hunts; require double fences; and start a 5-year moratorium on new elk ranches. Democrats who backed them raised the specter of a citizen initiative to ban elk-hunting ranches.

"If anybody is under the illusion that this is a major improvement of our control and oversight of these facilities, I want to dissuade you," said Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise, of the bill that passed.

Elk ranchers who helped come up with the bill say it's an effective way to put maverick operations out of business while not penalizing those who follow the rules.

"This gives them (the Department of Agriculture) the armament to deal with people who may be outliers," Ted Rea, president of the Idaho Elk Breeders Association, told The Associated Press after the vote.

The furor over farm-raised elk, sold for meat, antler velvet or as trophies, was rekindled in August when up to 160 escaped a private hunting preserve near Rexburg. An emergency hunt was ordered to prevent interbreeding or the spread of disease to wild elk that bring $300 million annually to Idaho's economy from hunting and related activities.

Idaho is pursuing a legal case against that preserve's owner, Rex Rammell, for alleged violations of existing rules, including improper tags required to mark domestic elk from wild ones.

Fair-chase hunting activists such as the Idaho Conservation Officers Association have argued that breakouts from private preserves will eventually spread disease to Idaho's wild herds.

They also contend that bulls raised on farms for gigantic antlers and sold to wealthy shooters for up to $30,000 cheapen the experience of stalking game in the wild.

"The 300-pound bull I shot a few years ago, after 38 years of fair-chase hunting, would fit inside most of those grain-fed monsters," Senate Minority Leader Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, said Thursday.

Rea, of the Elk Breeders Association, ridiculed the notion that Idaho hunters who drive pickup trucks into the woods to shoot big game were somehow preserving a sacred heritage. Defenders of traditional hunting should be open-minded to fenced operations that have thrived in countries such as South Africa and New Zealand, he said.

"We're not trying to appeal to the Idaho local," Rea said.

Elk-ranching proponents also downplayed the threat of disease from domestic elk herds, pointing out testing for brucellosis, tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease has turned up nothing in 12 years. Meanwhile, Idaho's wild herds have brucellosis, and Wyoming and Utah deer and elk herds have tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

If disease gets spread through elk "French-kissing through the fence," as Sen. Tom Gannon, R-Buhl, put it, then "the disease will walk across the border … in the form of a wild elk," he said.

Kristy Sterns of Black Canyon Elk Ranch near Emmett said she expects industry foes to attempt a voter initiative like the one that was passed in Montana in 2000 to ban shooter-bull hunts.

"We'll just continue to educate the public," Sterns, whose ranch doesn't offer hunts but sells bulls to ones that do, told the AP.

Matt Compton, lobbyist for the Idaho Sportsman's Caucus Advisory Council, said that while his group won't spearhead an initiative, individual members might.

"There are going to be a lot of sportsmen who are going to take it into their own hands," Compton said.