GEORGIA BAITING BILL

[Stone Knife]

I wish we could bait in NY.  

[Terry Green]

I understand baiting in places like TX....they don't have the forage to support very much of a healthy deer herd otherwise. And, I understand baiting bears in Canada for the reasons they do there.

But, we don't need baiting in GA.  The deer herd thrives here and it is just not needed.  Its not hard to kill a deer in the large majority of GA at all if you learn how to hunt them.  I really hate to see GA do down this road.

[Mojostick]

Terry,

I don't know if the "bait debate mess" will be as bad for you guys down there or not, but it's a mess up here in Michigan.

Especially so if you're a traditional archer who wants to hunt from the ground and rely on natural deer movements.

Here's a story from Minnesota, and they banned baiting years ago. But once that genie is out of the bottle, you'll never get it back in.

This line from the Minnesota DNR talking about the Michigan DNR tells you all you need to know...

"Our counterparts in Michigan and Wisconsin warned us that if there wasn't support for baiting in Minnesota yet, there would be soon, and that it would be very hard to get the genie back in the bottle,'' said Schad. "They told us that baiting was basically out of control in Michigan, that disease was going to be a big issue and that baiting had changed the entire face of hunting over there, from skills-based to who could put out the most bait.''


Here's the whole story...

    http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/sepoct08/bait.html    

The Race to Bait
To bait or not to bait -- that is a question some hunters ask as firearms deer season approaches, even though deer baiting in Minnesota has been outlawed for almost two decades.
By John Myers
Conservation officer Tim Collette had a pretty good hunch what was going on in the woods southwest of Longville. He was acting on a tip that three hunters on a tract of public land were illegally using corn to bait deer to their hunting stands -- miles from the nearest cornfield. He even saw spilled corn on the ground.
Collette approached one hunter in the group who was standing over a freshly field-dressed deer. The man insisted they hadn't put any corn on the land for more than two weeks -- in accordance with Minnesota's law that bans feeding deer for 10 days before and during deer season, except in northwestern Minnesota.
Collette wasn't buying it.
"He still had his knife in one hand, so I asked if I could borrow it,'' Collette recalled of the incident during the 2007 firearms deer season. "I reached down and cut open the deer's stomach, and the corn just poured out.
"He looked at me and said 'I guess I'm screwed now.' ''
The three hunters admitted their crime, and Collette issued citations -- $382 each for deer baiting. And he confiscated the deer. The three violations were among the 100 issued last year in the northeast region, making illegal deer baiting the region's fourth most common violation during the firearms season. Most violators don't get caught. Some officers report that nearly half the deer stands they check have evidence of illegal baiting -- a violation seldom seen a decade ago.
Seventeen years after the Department of Natural Resources banned the practice, agency biologists say there are compelling reasons to keep baiting illegal -- especially the potential spread of disease: Baiting brings too many deer too close together.

Baiting Everywhere.
Deer baiting may be illegal, but it's not hard to find when firearms season opens in November.
"I fly over deer camps on the day before the season and see the feed bags in the back of pickups and on four-wheelers,'' said Al Buchert, a conservation officer-pilot in northeastern Minnesota.
"I'm seeing baiting everywhere I fly, even in the farm areas,'' said Lt. Tom Pfingsten, a conservation officer-pilot who patrols much of the central portion of the state. "[In one case] they dumped corn in the corner of a plowed field, right in front of a deer stand.''
Some baiters have taken to using black sunflower seeds or placing feed under balsam fir branches to avoid detection from the air. Near the Twin Cities, a baiter strung up camouflage netting to conceal the bait pile from air surveillance.
Conservation officer-pilots take photographs and mark GPS coordinates of bait piles and forward the information to officers on the ground. The fine for illegal baiting is $300, plus $80 or so in court costs. Another $500 can be tagged on for restitution if a deer is seized. Guns may be confiscated as well. But the threat of a citation doesn't seem to be stopping baiters from hauling feed into the forest.
"It's one of those things I shake my head at because I don't understand why so many people are doing this,'' said Mark Johnson, executive director of the 19,000-member Minnesota Deer Hunters Association. "It's not going away. Baiting is a big problem that's getting bigger across more of the state.''

Why Bait?
Opinions and attitudes about baiting vary from hunter to hunter, from state to state, and even depending on the quarry. Baiting has long been considered among the most heinous of waterfowl hunting crimes and remains a violation of state and federal waterfowl regulations. Yet baiting is legal, mostly accepted, and widely considered necessary for bear hunting in Minnesota because bear are more nocturnal than deer and harder to hunt based solely on their natural movements. Without bait, bear hunter success rates would drop significantly in Minnesota's thick forests.
Deer baiting is accepted in some states (such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas, Maryland) and shunned in others (Missouri, Mississippi, Iowa). In Minnesota three-fourths of MDHA members oppose baiting for deer, according to a member survey.
Randy Willie of Carlton said some of his fellow Minnesota deer hunters see their neighbors in Wisconsin baiting and wonder why they can't do it here. But he said, "Most guys don't want it.''
Aside from biological issues such as the spread of disease, Willie opposes baiting because it doesn't follow the fair chase ethic.
"I've hunted over bait in Wisconsin because it seems like everybody does it over there. But I feel so damn guilty, I don't even enjoy it,'' Willie said. "You see more deer with bait. But most of them are does and fawns. I don't like it.''
Despite the overwhelming perception that baiting helps hunters bag more deer, that's not necessarily the case. A 2001 Wisconsin study showed surprisingly little difference in success among baiters and nonbaiters. A South Carolina study showed nonbaiters shot more deer in less time afield than baiters did.
It would seem Minnesota hunters don't need another edge over deer. There are an estimated 1.2 million whitetails in the state, among the highest number ever recorded here. Hunters bagged some 260,000 deer last season, fourth on the all-time harvest list and not far from the top years. Hunter success rates in recent seasons have been consistently high; and hunters in some areas can shoot three, four, five, or more deer each season simply by buying extra tags.
The MDHA's Johnson sees increased illegal baiting as a symptom of larger societal problems -- namely laziness and impatience. Johnson said people's lives are so busy that they aren't stopping to enjoy the real attractions of deer season and deer camp -- fresh air in the autumn woods, the annual gathering of friends, and matching wits with nature.
"Baiting is part of the quest for instant gratification. Some people don't want to work for what they get,'' Johnson said. "What's sad is that many of these people haven't figured out that the really good part of hunting is working for it.''
Deer season once meant several days or a week at deer camp or the old family farmhouse, with lots of time to linger in the woods and maybe bag a buck, Johnson said. Now, for many hunters, deer "season'' often boils down to sitting in a tree stand for a day or two before having to rush back to the city for their youngster's sports practice, social functions, or work.
Capt. Ken Soring, northeastern regional manager for DNR Enforcement, said some baiters are entertaining guest hunters on their land and working to assure the visitors have success. Many cases also involve fathers baiting for their sons and daughters.
"I compare it to the hockey dad who wants to see his kid score a goal so much he can't control himself. We've got dads in the woods now who want their son to get a deer so bad they're willing to break the law and break the hunting code of ethics to do it,'' Soring said. "What I'd rather see is the dad out there teaching the skills like scouting and finding deer sign and working the wind.''
Johnson and Soring said hunting DVDs and cable television shows often feature repeated hunter success shooting big-antlered bucks. Often, there's a pile of bait or even a commercial deer-feeding machine visible in the background. Baiting, feeding, and planting special food to attract deer has become a multimillion-dollar national industry.
In some cases, officers get the "everybody's doing it'' excuse.
"It's a form of peer pressure. They see someone else bait and have success,'' Soring said. "And if the next deer camp over is baiting, they think they have to bait to keep up.''

The Right Move.
Without much debate, and without a crisis at hand, the DNR banned deer baiting across the state in 1991. DNR Fish and Wildlife director Dave Schad was the division's big game leader back then. At the time Minnesota had little tradition of baiting, though problems were mounting in some states to the east.
"Our counterparts in Michigan and Wisconsin warned us that if there wasn't support for baiting in Minnesota yet, there would be soon, and that it would be very hard to get the genie back in the bottle,'' said Schad. "They told us that baiting was basically out of control in Michigan, that disease was going to be a big issue ? and that baiting had changed the entire face of hunting over there, from skills-based to who could put out the most bait.''
Minnesota DNR leaders discussed enacting the ban on baiting to preserve the fairness, quality, and tradition of the state's deer hunting. But the key reason then and now is the spread of disease.
According to Schad, deer that eat from the same pile or feeding station have more face-to-face contact. That contact spreads disease faster. Biologists say deer eating together in planted fields or historic wintering yards don't have nearly as much contact as deer being fed or baited.
"There's just no time in nature when they are that close, nose-to-nose, for that much time,'' Schad said, citing fears of bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease.
Baiting also changes deer movement, pulling animals from one area into another. Increased movement leads to more highway crossings and traffic accidents. Sometimes the move causes animosity between landowners vying to see or shoot more deer. In some areas, baiting pulls deer from public to private land, essentially privatizing a public natural resource.
Officer Collette saw baiting concentrate deer near Pine River last fall. On 500 acres owned by a group of hunters, he found 11 of 13 stands had been illegally baited with piles of oats. Collette asked the violators why they didn't just plant crops on their land.
"They said it wasn't worth the effort for a couple days hunting, that baiting was easier,'' Collette said. "Right next to those guys I ran into a father hunting with two sons, 13 and 14. They were hunting on public land and doing it the right way, and they didn't understand why they weren't seeing any deer. I never did tell them there was a ton of oats sitting 200 yards away.'' (Collette didn't tell the family because he hadn't yet busted the nearby culprits and didn't want to expose his case.)

Feeding ban next?
In a Wisconsin DNR study, some deer stopped migrating to traditional wintering areas because they had so much feed -- from baiting and from feeding by wildlife watchers. Deer researchers in Minnesota near Remer now are seeing the same deer behavior because of widespread recreational feeding. In 2005 when bovine tuberculosis broke out among cattle in northwestern Minnesota, both illegal baiting and legal feeding had increased in the region (see sidebar).
At an MDHA meeting in February 2008, chapter representatives voted to support a seasonal statewide ban on deer feeding. In addition to keeping disease in check, prohibiting all deer feeding from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 would end any question of why food was being placed in the woods. Johnson said a statewide seasonal feeding ban would put all hunters on an even playing field to see deer based on their natural movement.
Schad said DNR officials have discussed a statewide feeding ban, but such a proposal won't be made lightly.
It likely would face fierce opposition from some groups, especially businesses that sell feed. Many Minnesota COs report that some small stores and even taverns stock up on feed before deer season specifically to sell to hunters. And lawmakers will get an earful from people who like to watch deer feeding near their home or cabin.
The DNR has been working with legislators in recent years to plug loopholes that impaired the effectiveness of existing baiting and feeding laws.
"We'll continue working and monitoring to see if those changes are having an effect," Schad said. "In addition we'll continue very vigorous feeding and baiting enforcement efforts in the TB area of northwest Minnesota." To report deer baiting or other natural resources law violations, call Turn in Poachers, TIP, anytime at 800-652-9093.

Controlling disease in northwestern Minnesota's deer herd
In 2005 an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis -- a progressive and chronic bacterial disease -- among beef cattle in northwestern Minnesota spread to the local wild deer herd. Since the disease can spread through the exchange of respiratory secretions, the deer were most likely exposed when they commingled with infected cattle on farms and shared unprotected feed.
After the disease was confirmed in deer, the DNR banned recreational deer and elk feeding in a 4,000-square-mile area surrounding the bovine TB management area.
"Recreational feeding congregates animals into unnaturally high densities and increases nose-to-nose contact," says DNR regional wildlife manager Paul Telander. "One infected animal can contaminate feed and potentially spread the disease to every uninfected animal at the feeding site."
Because there are currently no effective vaccines or medications for bovine TB in animals, all of the infected cattle herds were destroyed. Between September 2007 and May 2008, hunters, landowners, and DNR-contracted sharpshooters reduced the local deer herd by 2,656 deer.
"This was a major disease control action that called for extreme measures," said DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten. "The future health of Minnesota's deer herd and the economic interests of cattle ranchers and dairy farmers were at stake."
Thanks to the cooperative efforts of state and federal agencies, cattle producers, hunters, and landowners, the prevalence of bovine TB in Minnesota remains low and is confined to a relatively small geographical area. From 2005 through 2007, a total of 11 TB-infected beef cattle herds and 18 TB-infected deer were confirmed. Preliminary results from 2008 indicate six TB-presumptive-positive deer and several other suspect deer. Surveillance and testing of harvested deer is ongoing.
While it is still too early to know for sure, state officials are confident that the steps taken have greatly improved the chances of successfully eradicating the disease. -Tammi Jalowiec, DNR northwest regional information officer

[Mojostick]

Another article from Minnesota, with their Michigan like problems.

A couple highlights.

Here's what the Michigan DNR talks about when they describe "defensive baiting"...

"The main complaint we get is a neighbor is baiting, so it's sucking deer away from someone else,'' Duncan said. "They may feel justified to do so if someone else is doing it."

"People spend less time in the woods, but still expect results," Kuske said. "They use (baiting) to have an upper hand. I think for some guys, it hurts their ego if they don't get a deer. Getting that deer is so important to some people."


Here's the whole article...


Last summer, a deer hunter was quizzing conservation officer Paul Kuske about baiting deer. Kuske explained how and why using bait, such as corn, to lure deer for hunting is illegal. He recalls the hunter's response: "That's terrible that people do that."

But last Saturday, Kuske and other Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officers raided the same hunter's 160-acre property near Pierz, Minn., and found 24 illegal corn piles near deer stands and trails.

Two of the hunter's sons were busted, including a juvenile. The adult son was fined $300. The father wasn't fined because he wasn't hunting at the time.

"It's one of the most blatant deer-baiting cases I've ever seen,'' Kuske said last week. "They knew it was wrong. The landowner's sons had been helping him (bait)."

DNR officials say the incident illustrates how a growing culture of illegal baiting is changing the sport of deer hunting in Minnesota.

Since 1991, Minnesota has prohibited food from being used to lure deer for hunting, but DNR officials say illegal baiting has grown more popular and widespread in recent years.

They say a new breed of baiters don't fear being caught and DNR bait investigators are being pulled away from other deer-enforcement duties.

The trend is confirmed by a Pioneer Press computer analysis of deer-baiting tickets written by DNR officers since 2002.

That analysis, paired with extensive officer interviews, shows that:

-- The number of hunters getting deer-baiting tickets has more than tripled in five years, a period when baiting complaints have risen dramatically and the DNR has increased baiting enforcement.
-- Baiting violations occur across a broad swath of Minnesota's forested region, but less so in the state's southern agricultural region, where deer populations are lower and where corn and other crops are common.

-- There are baiting "hotspots,'' such as around Park Rapids and the North Shore. Officers in those areas write more tickets because they get more complaints and make baiting enforcement a priority.

-- Baiting enforcement is taking away from officers' other deer-season duties, such as checking gun-safety violations and trespassing complaints. Last weekend, some officers spent nearly all their work hours investigating baiters.

No one knows how many of Minnesota's 500,000 deer hunters use illegal bait, but conservation officer estimates range from 1 percent to 50 percent, depending on the region.

DNR officers have written 369 tickets for deer baiting since 2002. Five years ago, baiting barely registered as a top-10 violation. Now it's No. 4.

Moreover, those 369 tickets are "only the tip of the iceberg,'' said Capt. Jim Konrad, DNR enforcement administrative manager. "Judging by the complaints we get and our aerial surveillance, there's a lot more out there.''

Ken Soring oversees 56 DNR conservation officers in Minnesota's northeast region. "Eighty percent of them were involved in baiting enforcement (last weekend)," he said. "It's pretty widespread."

THE RISE OF BAITING

Until Minnesota banned it, deer baiting wasn't viewed as a problem. It is legal in Wisconsin and Michigan.

But when Minnesota's deer herd began increasing a decade ago, complaints about baiting also rose. Most complaints have come from law-abiding hunters whose neighbors bait deer and attract them across property lines.

Minnesota's deer herd of 1.2 million is near record levels. With liberal hunting rules, hunters have recently set statewide kill records. Last year, 37 percent of firearms hunters registered a deer, a success rate near the 10-year average.

So why is illegal baiting becoming more prevalent?

DNR conservation officer Kipp Duncan has written 16 baiting tickets since 2002, more than any other officer in that time. Until last year, he worked along the North Shore near Two Harbors, but now he is based in Duluth, where he spent most of last weekend investigating illegal baiters.

Duncan said baiters simply want to increase their odds of killing a big deer.

"There are so many big-buck contests out there, so it's about bragging rights," he said.

He said some hunters justify baiting because their neighbors bait.

"The main complaint we get is a neighbor is baiting, so it's sucking deer away from someone else,'' Duncan said. "They may feel justified to do so if someone else is doing it."

They also want guarantees.

"People spend less time in the woods, but still expect results," Kuske said. "They use (baiting) to have an upper hand. I think for some guys, it hurts their ego if they don't get a deer. Getting that deer is so important to some people."

Mark Johnson, executive director of the 19,000-member Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, said hunters today are influenced by what they see on television.

"If you watch TV, they're hunting over feeders and near feed operations. It's totally getting away from fair chase," he said.

Duncan said he makes baiting investigations a priority because the practice "cheats" ethical hunters by drawing deer away from them.

"People who are hunting honestly and ethically," he said, "rather than shooting deer over a corn pile, should have the same opportunity as the cheaters."

Conservation officer Mike Lawrence, 54, of Park Rapids is also driven to enforce the baiting law by hunting ethics. He wrote six baiting tickets in 2006 and 13 since 2002. He has been a conservation officer for 25 years.

"I think hunters don't want to work as hard as they used to,'' Lawrence said. "Putting bait out for deer is not hunting. Most ethical deer hunters don't like it and they eventually call me (to report bait)."

LEGAL LOOPHOLES

Last year, the Legislature changed the baiting law. The new rule doesn't penalize a hunter on private land if the deer he or she shoots is being draw to a bait pile on a neighbor's land.

In writing the law, lawmakers acknowledged that baiting has become a problem among neighbors, but DNR officials believe the law change only encouraged baiters to find legal loopholes.

"We need to clarify some of the confusion created by last year's law,'' Soring said.

The DNR also made deer feeding and baiting illegal in a portion of northwest Minnesota last year, where bovine tuberculosis was discovered in cattle in 2005 and later in wild deer.

Biologists say recreational deer feeding, which is legal, and illegal baiting encourage the transmission of bovine TB and other diseases.

The DNR also increased the minimum fine for illegal baiting from $100 to $300.

So, how did those law changes affect the incidence of deer baiting this year?

DNR pilots still found 16 areas with deer bait in the TB zone where it's prohibited, despite widespread publicity about the bait ban. "It ranged from a bucket of corn to truckloads of corn and sugar beets," said Capt. Mike Trenholm, the DNR's chief pilot.

Whether the increased fine is deterring baiting is debatable. Kuske said he's made it known around Pierz that he's investigating baiters. "I think some people are cleaning up their act," he said.

But some baiters, Duncan said, continue to play a cat-and-mouse game with officers - using more sophisticated techniques and machinery to camouflage bait and distribute it.

CHANGING THE LAW

The MDHA's Johnson said the outbreak of TB and other deer diseases like chronic wasting disease have his group's membership worried. They'll vote in February on a resolution to ban the feeding of deer from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31.

"We've found tuberculosis in wild deer in Minnesota, so deer feeding is something our membership is worried about,'' he said. "As a side effect, the proposal would also take care of the deer baiting issue."

Any changes in deer feeding or baiting would have to be proposed by the Legislature, Konrad said.

He added, though, that the DNR is reluctant to take up the issue with lawmakers.

Lawmakers could say, "Let's just legalize it,'' Konrad said. "There are those in that camp. It's something we're really worried about."

Konrad said baiting enforcement takes away from other deer-hunting enforcement, but some officers feel strongly it is worth fighting. "They take it personally,'' he said. "It's cheating. They think it's important to catch them."

Kuske said he's determined to catch more.

"I've hiked 20 miles in the past few days, looking for bait,'' he said. "The word is out - we're looking for bait and looking hard."

[tarponnut]

From what I heard, it passed in GA south zone.
(I'm all for baiting hogs)
Can anyone substantiate that (in two sentences or less)?
For what it's worth, I've seen some amazing things while hunting hogs over feeders. One of the most memorable was a red shoulder hawk dive bombing some squirrels and landing on a branch 4 feet away!

[rastaman]

Click here for full article...  

Yes, the bill was signed by Gov. Deal.

[josef2424]

I think it's up to the hunter to be educated in how game should be managed for his particular land. Some hunters with large tracts need to be able to harvest large quantities of does per year. Baiting, if used, should be used to manage a herd correctly for a quality and healthy herd. But I believe American Hunter magazine wrote an article a year ago that had a study saying that only young bucks and does come to feeders during shooting hours. I personally hunt far away from any feeders because I know that the big boys all know better than to come to the feed. Just know you wont get that monster in Georgia woods by hunting over bait.

[RC]

Truth is that most of the folks wanting to bait already were.I hunt mostly on public land where you can`t bait and most is huge tracts of land that won`t be affected by joining landowners as much.One of the reason I don`t hunt private land is because most all the places I have gained permission I found piles of corn while scouting so I did`nt go back.I will hunt those areas now as they are not real far from home. My Uncle has a small Farm that has a few fields on it . When he plants peanuts I`m just about for sure gonna kill a Spring gobbler there as well as a couple of deer. They will be baited up by a couple 50 acre fields. RC
  As far as nocturnel goes any deer feeling pressure is gonna come in at dark wether your hunting bait or a white oak.
 I barely can afford the gas to go hunting now ,no way I could by feed too...RC