In Michigan, baiting has created a Hatfields and McCoys between baiters and non-baiters, after a bait ban was put in place in 2008 as a result of a CWD action plan created in 2002, followed by a CWD positive deer found in an enclosure in 2008.
The bait ban was the unanimous decision of all the deer biologists in the DNR. They still want the bait ban.
Michigan has longterm TB in the deer herd, a case of CWD in a pen...and a solid 50% or more of the deer hunters are demanding that the bait ban be lifted. In fact, most of those never stopped baiting, they only reduced the amounts, according to bait sales figures. Bait for sale is still found everywhere.
In my opinion, in light of what we know now about baiting vs 20 years ago, baiting is a symptom of our society's thirst for instant everything. Instant gratification, instant communication, instant success, etc.
We see it in schools pushing that kids shouldn't keep score because the kids that work the hardest shouldn't score more than the kids who put in less effort.
Love bait or hate bait, one cannot argue that it's widespread use in Michigan has created large numbers of now two generations of Michigan hunters that know of no other way to deer hunt other than to bait and baiting is the only tactic they employ. Without bait, even in a state with 1,500,000 deer, they claim they don't see deer without bait. This opinion is now the opinion of roughly 300,000 Michigan deer hunters.
The bait debate has it's pro's and con's on all sides.
The pro bait argument is that some people don't have time to scout or "go to the deer", so as a way to "level the playing field", those folks should be able to bait in order to enjoy the hunt like the next guy. Many people don't hunt much and aren't very knowledgeable, or they're hunting poor deer habitat or in area's with few deer and bait gets them into seeing game. As far as disease threats, the pro bait folks see no difference in drawing power of bait vs other food sources and claim the deer biologists are wrong with some hidden agenda.
The pro "natural" argument is that bait disrupts natural deer movements and the act of many people repeatedly replenishing bait sites makes deer nocturnal, just as the crush of 600,000 Michigan hunters 2 days before firearms opener puts the deer on notice. The view of these folks is that nothing draws deer like bait, and that bait (corn, apples, sugar beets, carrots) in a pile is like crack cocaine to deer.
Another argument is, on public land, some hunters squat on baited sites and the non-baiter gets edged out of public lands baited by another.
I'd baited in the past. In fact, in the unrestricted baiting days, we baited heavily, because we had to in order to keep up with all the neighbors. It got to the point where the DNR even coined a term for it, "defensive baiting".
In my opinion from that experience, bait is like crack to deer, but widespread baiting turns deer sightings into a "last light" event, due to the human activity/pressure of baiting, so the piles usually get hit hard after dark. In fact, if bait isn't such the draw, regardless if after dark, why are so demanding it's return? The truth is, bait is king in drawing power in the deer woods and he with the biggest and most piles usually wins. The only problem is, the tracks and sign of the 20 deer that hit the bait may have all been at midnight.
To me, a bait pile is also like a smoker in a crowded room. He thinks he has the right to smoke and the other non-smokers around him want him to stop. If a smoker wants to smoke at home or in his truck, that's fine. But when he lights up at the table next to my family in a public place, then it becomes my problem, even though I never asked for it. Since deer are a public resource, one cannot claim total landowner "rights". Unlike a neighboring ag field or orchard, which everyone knows is there well before any hunt, a neighboring bait pile affecting all the deer movement around it can pop up anywhere, at any time, often in the middle of the night.
I hope our bait ban stays in place. Our hunting has been much better after the ban, likely because even though many still bait, they bait far less because they don't want to get caught.
We're seeing much more deer movement hours before and after last/first light, because the deer get up to seek normal foods. Before the bait ban and many baited with larger piles, deer movement was often right at last/first light. But sadly, I think so many folks are so used to the practice, (addicted to it) and unable or unwilling to use other tactics, that the folks who think they need bait are going to bait no matter the law.
If you guys get baiting, I hope for your sake it's only a 1 gallon limit and corn only. You may also wish to suggest that it be on private land only, like Ohio and North Dakota do, because if you're a public land hunter in area's with decent hunter pressure, you're scouting efforts will likely be for naught, if others are baiting nearby.
Here's among the best video's I've seen on the subject, from the North Dakota DNR...
http://gf.nd.gov/multimedia/pubs/baiting-video.html Here's also a very recent story from the Detroit Free Press on the issue that the Michigan NRC may vote to allow baiting in the LP again...
http://www.freep.com/article/20110417/SPORTS10/104170630/1058/Eric-Sharp-Ted-Nugent-shouldn-t-support-deer-baiting Eric Sharp: Ted Nugent shouldn't support deer baiting
Apr 17, 2011
"Routine bovine Tuberculosis (TB) surveillance testing conducted by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently found two bovine TB positive beef herds in Alpena County located in the Modified Accredited Zone."
Anyone who read that announcement last week and still thinks we should resume deer baiting in the Lower Peninsula doesn't care about Michigan's deer, never mind that two more Michigan farmers might see all of their cattle slaughtered.
You might argue that because you hunt many miles from Alpena County, you should be allowed to bait. But where do you draw the line? Fifty miles from the infected farm? One hundred miles? Two hundred?
The reason TB hasn't become commonplace in deer outside the core area (although there have been scattered cases) is because the Department of Natural Resources has contained it to the northeast lower.
Bad management decisions in the middle 1990s underestimated the threat from bovine TB, which reached a rate of 4.9% in deer at the core area in 1995. But the DNR overcame a late start and brought the incidence of disease down by drastically dropping deer numbers and banning baiting and feeding.
But as deer numbers dropped, so did the number of people who went to that area to hunt deer. That led to illegal baiting and feeding by many people who continued to hunt there, and the infection rate was still 1.9% at the core last year.
Deer bait is sold openly by businesses throughout the TB zone. Even after the baiting ban was extended following the discovery of chronic wasting disease in a single deer on a game ranch, deer bait continued to be sold blatantly by businesses that knew it would be used illegally by hunters who knew it's illegal to use it.
We don't yet understand everything about the transmission of diseases such as bovine TB and CWD, but we do know they spread from animal to animal, so deliberately concentrating those animals will spread disease.
Recently, rock star Ted Nugent told Gov. Rick Snyder that baiting should be allowed in Michigan -- and that we should not require people to buy turkey licenses because the birds are as common as mosquitoes.
This brought down the wrath of groups such as the National Wild Turkey Federation, which pointed out that hunters' license money brought the wild turkey back from the edge of extirpation in much of America.
Nugent is a rock star whose career depends on getting public attention. Because of that he has more than once made a statement that was outrageous or thoughtless.
But his defense of baiting is more than disingenuous. Last year Nugent was fined $1,750 after pleading no contest for baiting deer in California and not having a properly signed hunting tag. He managed to plea-bargain away another charge of illegally killing a deer, which would have had far more serious consequences.
Had Nugent been convicted on the illegally killing a deer charge, he would not have been able to buy hunting licenses for up to three years in many states, including Michigan.
Nugent also told Snyder that the state should not try to ban game ranches and that the threat from feral pigs is greatly exaggerated. Once again, Nugent's claims need to be taken with a bucket of salt: He owns game ranches in Michigan and Texas (where he now lives) and sells canned hunts.
Nugent's Web site said he charges $5,500 for people to hunt buffalo with him at his fenced Sunrize Acres facility in Michigan. And people can pay up to $7,700 on his Texas ranch to hunt various Asian and African antelope, sheep and deer. They can also hunt whitetails with him there, but it costs extra (the Web site says "call for pricing").
Nugent sells hunts for "wild boar," which makes his statement about feral pigs less than disinterested. (Michigan's wild pig problem began with escapees from game ranches.) Though he might not be concerned about them, wildlife, agriculture and environmental agencies in several states spend millions of dollars each year to try to eradicate wild swine and repair the damage they do.
At the federal Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge in Florida (home to the Kennedy Space Center), trappers remove 2,500 or more wild swine each year, and car-pig collisions are a serious problem. The ancestors of those swine were introduced by the Spanish 400 years ago, but they still breed like rabbits.
Michigan's pig farmers are concerned about escaped swine because they say the feral animals can carry serious diseases that threaten a pork industry valued at about $500 million.
Ethical hunters understand that their primary concern isn't their desire to kill a specific animal or bird during the next open season but maintaining the health of all the wildlife and the habitats in which they live. Nearly as important is maintaining their image as ethical among that great mass of people who don't hunt but do vote.
If it's just about making it easier to kill deer, let's not stop at baiting. As one reader suggested, why not let hunters put sedatives in the bait to slow the deer and make them easier to shoot?
Whenever I hear hunters complaining about the threat from animal rights advocates, I tell them not to worry about that small group. If they want to see the biggest threat to hunting, many hunters need only look in the mirror.
Contact ERIC SHARP: 313-222-2511 or
[email protected].
Topic: GEORGIA BAITING BILL (Read 3136 times)
