Feeding and Baiting in Michigan
There seems to be some confusion and misinformation about the regulations regarding baiting and feeding wildlife in the aftermath of the Natural Resources Commission’s final enactment of the Chronic Wasting Disease regulations earlier this month. MUCC’s grassroots members have continued to support (since 2009) a ban on baiting and feeding deer so as to reduce the risk of human-assisted transmission of disease. Below, we attempt to share what the deer regulations are that have been enacted and clarify how they interplay with other wildlife baiting and feeding regulations.
First, definitions:
- “BAIT” means a substance composed of grains, minerals, salt, fruits, vegetables, hay, or any other food materials, whether natural or manufactured, which may lure, entice or attract wildlife. “Bait” does not include the establishment and maintenance of plantings for wildlife (food plots), foods found scattered solely as the result of normal agricultural planting or harvesting practices, foods available to wildlife through normal agricultural practices of livestock feeding if the area is occupied by livestock actively consuming the feed on a daily basis, or standing farm crops under normal agricultural practices.
- “Single bite bait” shall mean shelled corn, nuts, beet pulp, deer feed or pellets, or wheat or other grain.
DEER AND ELK
- Effective immediately in 2018, the following twenty counties in the CWD and TB Management Zones will be under a DEER AND ELK baiting and feeding ban: Alcona, Alpena, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Jackson, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm, Montmorency, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oscoda, Ottawa, and Shiawassee counties.
- Statewide hunters will not be allowed to possess or use natural cervid urine-based lures or attractants not marked with the official Archery Trade Association seal of participation stamp in an area frequented by deer.
- Effective January 31, 2019, it shall be unlawful for a person to make use of bait to aid in the taking of a deer within zone 2 and zone 3 (the entire Lower Peninsula).
- The exception: Eligible hunters with disabilities participating in the September two-day Liberty Hunt (not including youth hunters) or four-day October Independence Hunt may make use of bait to aid in the taking of a deer if the baiting occurs only from the first day of the season to the last day of the season. In the 20 counties of the CWD and TB management zones only single bite bait shall be used. All bait shall be removed prior to any additional hunting during this season.
- For the Upper Peninsula and areas outside of the baiting and feeding ban, the existing regulations will continue to apply.
BEAR
- In areas closed to deer baiting or deer and elk feeding, the only legal baiting material is meat, meat products, fish, fish products, or bakery, confectionery products.
- Statewide: For the protection of bears and other wildlife species, it is also illegal to use chocolate or cocoa derivatives in bear bait.
- There are only a few changes in counties that have been added to the CWD Management Zone that effect bear baiting for the 2018 season, including Muskegon, Newaygo, Mecosta and Isabella. The same four counties in Northeastern Lower continue to have this restriction in place: Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, and Oscoda. In 2019, the above regulation will be in place for the entire Lower Peninsula.
WILD TURKEY
- It is illegal to use bait to aid in the harvest of a wild turkey in Michigan.
- Providing recreational or supplemental turkey feed is legal, but not recommended in areas with lower annual snowfall or when snow depths are below four inches.
- In areas where deer baiting and deer and elk feeding is prohibited, turkey feed must be placed in a feeder/container to make it inaccessible to deer and elk.
WILD BIRD FEEDER TIPS
Can you tell me what the difference between a 1/8 of acre kill plot which is solely based to attract DEER and an 1/8 of an acre bait plot is? Are they both means to attract and kill deer?
These CWD issues have grown by leaps and bounds since the food plotting and bigger antler craze started gaining traction. Ten, twenty and even thirty years ago you never seen the disparity between hunters grow like it has now just to support a minority group (QDMA) which promotes a healthier herd, which we all know means Antlers.
To say the least I am very disappointed in the direction NRC has taken along with any other group that supports this decision.
Where does bait come from? Is it possible that the bait sold and distributed all over the state was grown in a place where it has come in contact with a CWD positive deer? You don’t have to be a disease ecologist to see why bait is worse that a food plot in terms of potential for disease spread.
Same thing with seed for food plots. What guarantee that it’s CWD contamination-free either?! Most of it’s grown already in states with CWD.
10-4 good buddy just like the food we get in the store is worse than the food you can grow for some reason. The government wants to control things for the sake of business and money. The truth behind the bathing plots are to prevent homeowners from drawing deer to their property where you don’t need to purchase a license to hunt and kill. If they can stop the deer from coming to your house you’ll need to get a license to go hunt somewhere else and hopefully on their property, that is, the state’s property. It’s the dears fault because they’re animals and they share their food. Humans can’t do nothing about that. It seems that everything is about the money. Just like “Mothers Against Drunk drivers” is used to push the DWI enforcement in States. Only God knows the truth and who the liar is.
Are you saying people should be able to drive drunk? You might need to get checked for CWD, it’s clear your brain is turning to mush.
Real sportsman dont need to bait and poach out their widows any how!!!
Where does the seed come from to grow the food plot. The seed can contain CWD and you could be growing a contaminated plot.
NRC is saying Bait Piles are causing and spreading the CWD. Food plots are safe.
Unsuspected Infected Deer can leave residue of their contaminated body fluids in food plots. These prions over time will cycle and spread CWD over and over since they can remain in the soil for 20+ years. The larger the deer population and growing number of food plots being created will defeat anything a bait ban would attempt to accomplish over time.
That’s also why they want to reduce the Deer herd density considerably!!
What is the difference if an animal has a disease. Would you be more concerned about the diseases for humans then the animals. That’s an issue to take up with God not with our food source. We can throw bad apples away we can also throw bad deer away. That wouldn’t be a waste. Consider it another deer that got hit by a car. Also, a dead deer can transmitted disease so we will be helping feed ourselves and helping remove a diseased animal if found with the disease. If we plant food plots we will be planning in a disease-free area. Further, humans can take care of their plot whereas wild watch can’t be taken care of as easily to remove disease. Don’t get me started.
I HUNT IN STATES LIKE TEXAS AND KANSAS.THEY HAVE FEEDERS GOING 24/7 no cwd healthy deers and turkeys hogs in texas.What we are forgetting our farmers get to use round up on there fields.causes cancer in humans how about the deer that are exposed to it daily.Hunters will just have to hunt out of state until the dnr quits with all the regulations.Next year only 3 geese limit one has to be a other than canadian.Good luck with that in the early season that’s all that’s here.Maybe in Oct or dec.Just another regulation to follow.
I think an honest look at issue would show. The issue started with the state DNR. started giving bisness owner the right to bring in exotic animals into our state, for the sole purpose of being able to offer this animal for hunt to the people that are willing to pay.
I wounder , who will now pay the damages this has caused.
Look up the history of cwd in Michigan. (I think) doesn’t work in this situation
July 2019. Does this mean it is illegal as a homeowner to put a salt lick and apples in my yard? We dont hunt, we like to watch.
If the state is so worried about ” they’re deer” they should keep them off private property. And if the state claims these deer are they’re property then the should be responsible for any damages they do. Such as crop damage or damage to vehicles. If my livestock get in the road I’m responsible for damage to vehicles and liable for any injuries they may cause ! This state is a joke!!
You are correct my friend. It’s all about making money and keeping themselves in power. If there wasn’t anything for them to do they wouldn’t be in business and they would be getting laid off. But the bait issue and the disease issue can be solved simply by killing a deer that has the disease and the more people that participate the better it is. When you find a deer that’s infected you get rid of it and you’ve eliminated another problem. The possible truth behind the reason why they do this is because of the licensing not needed for a personal property hunting. They want you to stop the deer from coming to your property by saying a disease is the issue thus forcing you get a license to go hunt on their property and that would generate revenue by every homeowner that cannot bait deer and wants to hunt to feed their family . Whenever something doesn’t make sense there’s usually money involved to complete the equation.
Thumbs up!
16 deer out of 31000 have been found with CWD. 1) Cannot use lure UNLESS it has a “official Archery Trade Association seal of participation stamp”. Enables the Association to enhance their profit funding. 2) 16 deer out of 31000 have been found with this disease. In SOME areas. This enables population control. Look at Wisconsin,,,,,,,,,,,, scrambling feverishly now to start gunning deer after their same case as Michigan. Sounds like Democrats are lurking somewhere.
I’ve been hunting since I was 12 years old. Started in 1962. I changed to cross bow when it got hard for me to walk in the woods. I have been hunting for 57 years and was hoping to hunt a lot longer. The spot that I have hunt has given me a deer the last 2 years. That is with baiting. This year with no baiting allowed, I haven’t even seen a deer!! With the cost to hunt and the chance to get a deer that your no baiting rule has made, I am very saddened to say that after 57 years of deer hunting, you hve effectively force me out of the sport that I have loved for years! Less hunters, more deer, faster spread of sickness…
This is a joke nobody is going to follow this
Not too many are laughing. Who is going to risk losing hunting or even going to jail over baiting? Not me.
No joke! This is going to put hunter against hunter. If the neighbor is going to keep baiting then the hunter next door will make one phone call and turn them in. Level playing field without baiting…
Late Archery season (DEC) will be greatly impacted by the Feed/Bait ban, when the snow stays!! I expect less deer to hunt and less license sold over time!
Ignorant people with attitudes like yours are the reason we have CWD here now.
When will baiting resume after 2019??? Why can I only use 2 poles or tip-ups when fishing through the ice, the catch limit should be the determining factor, not the amount of equipment??? Are you trying to control a fisher persons pleasure. Why in a baiting situation do you limit the amount of bait used per day , I live down state and can only bait on weekends, local residents can bait every day . Are you prejudiced against non-local property owners. I pay a higher tax rate than a local.
You can use 3 rods or tip-ups.
Given the 50 Year Plan for MI to Battle CWD that the NRC & DNR wishes to pass in Lansing, Baiting or Feeding Deer may be extinct after 2019!
** THey’ll Ban Baiting State-wide after this, now! **
Oct. 18, 2018
** Deer tests positive for CWD in Dickinson County – Upper Peninsula of Michigan **
A 4-year-old doe killed on a deer damage shooting permit in Dickinson County’s Waucedah Township has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, marking the first confirmation of the incurable deer disease within Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The finding was verified by Michigan State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in East Lansing and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
The deer was shot on an agricultural farm about 4 miles from the Michigan-Wisconsin border.
“We remain committed to maintaining healthy Michigan wildlife for the residents of, and visitors to, this great state, now and into the future,” said Michigan Department of Natural Resources Director Keith Creagh. “Fortunately, over the past few years, with the help of hunters, the U.P. CWD Task Force, DNR staffers and others, we are far better prepared to respond to threats posed by chronic wasting disease in the U.P.”
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal nervous system disease found in deer, moose and elk. The disease attacks the brain of infected animals, creating small lesions, which result in neurologic symptoms. The disease is always fatal in animals that contract it.
To date, there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in humans.
“We are taking immediate action to address this situation in the Upper Peninsula. In the short term, stepped-up testing and active surveillance is the priority to better understand where the disease exists,” said Russ Mason, chief of the DNR’s Wildlife Division. “To do this, we need to step up our efforts to collect deer heads for testing in this area. We need to determine if this deer is an individual outlier or whether there are more deer infected in the area.”
The DNR has tested hundreds of deer from Upper Peninsula counties bordering Wisconsin. This year alone (as of Oct. 11) a total of 625 deer-damage permit, roadkill and hunter-killed deer have been tested from Dickinson, Gogebic, Menominee and Iron counties.
“It was our surveillance efforts that revealed the disease in this particular deer,” said Kelly Straka, state wildlife veterinarian. “It is now especially important that these efforts continue.”
Chronic wasting disease has been found in free-ranging deer in six additional counties in Michigan – Clinton, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kent and Montcalm. A total of 63 deer within these counties have tested positive for the disease.
The DNR recognizes that deer movements, densities and habitat vary from the U.P. into the Lower Peninsula. DNR officials will review Michigan’s CWD Surveillance and Response Plan and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ CWD Best Management Practices in considering additional measures going forward.
“For next hunting season and beyond, the DNR will discuss possible response actions with U.P. hunters and other stakeholders to determine the best approach to fighting CWD in the region,” said Chad Stewart, DNR deer management specialist.
A conference call with stakeholder groups is scheduled for early next week.
A roughly 10-mile core area has been set up, centered on Waucedah Township. Within this area, the DNR has set a goal to test a minimum of 600 deer to better determine the extent of possibly infected deer.
“We need hunters to help us reach this goal, by voluntarily submitting entire deer heads for testing. Hunters can keep the venison,” Mason said. “At this point, we are not establishing a mandatory deer check in the area, but that may become necessary, if we don’t reach our goal.”
Several actions will be taken by the DNR including:
Providing additional drop boxes for deer heads within the area, especially in convenient, high-traffic places.
Offering disease control permits to interested landowners who have more than 5-acres of land and are within 5-miles of the center of the surveillance area.
Allowing baiting for deer to continue for the rest of this year. Future decisions on feeding deer will be based on the results of the surveillance efforts.
An ongoing DNR U.P. deer migration study will be adjusted to include the affected area within its boundaries. Deer will be collared in the area to better understand the movements of deer.
“The actions of hunters matter in battling CWD,” Stewart said. “Keep hunting and get your deer checked. Responsibly transport, process and dispose of your deer carcass. Visit the website to learn about proper carcass transportation into Michigan from out of state. Please pass these tips on to other hunters.”
In North America, a total of 25 states and three Canadian provinces have confirmed the presence of chronic wasting disease in free-ranging or captive deer, elk or moose, or both.
More information on chronic wasting disease – including Michigan’s CWD Surveillance and Response Plan, locations of deer check stations, fact sheets and testing data – is available at michigan.gov/cwd.
You and the dnr, are being paid off by these qdma groups. You’re forgetting about the little guy. If we all stop buying licenses for a year or two, we will see how fast you change your direction then, because it’s us little guys that buy most of the licenses. Why do I pay taxes on property that’s has no electricity, which means no pumps to pump water on green fields. So basically I will have 87 acres that is useless. You are making people turn to taking of deer without tags. Sure there will be fines and loss of privileges for a few years but then again it won’t matter because we won’t be buying tags anyway. As sports men and women in Michigan we need to quit purchasing any tags from this state. Just for 2 years and they will lift all such bans they cannot survive without our money. We have to hit them where it hurts the worse $$$$$$.
If we all just quit purchasing tags for 2 years they will change the rules back so quickly. They’re being paid off by QDMA groups. I have 87 acres without electricity, so no
Pumping water for green fields, so basically I will have 87 useless acres if I followed these rules. I guess they are forcing us to act accordingly and fend for ourselves. The old school way
Gerry,
The 2019 Baiting/Feed Ban will statistically fail. It has in every state that has implemented such. Data proves this. It’s irrational thinking to say otherwise. They say they’ve imposed it to slow the spread of CWD. Wake, up!! This has failed miserably and will continue to do so. It won’t work!! CWD is spread by bodily fluid exchange, any bodily fluid, not just saliva left on a beet but also buck semen, vaginal fluids, blood sucking insects and more. This regulation will not stop the spread of CWD. On average, bait is on the ground less than a few weeks a year for most hunters. Yet breeding activity goes on for 3 months a year with multiple encounters and copulation fluid exchange daily with almost all the deer involved. In the state of Wyoming Veterinarians, where they’ve never allowed baiting, they have the most extensive spread of CWD of any state. With our current knowledge there simply is no known cure, preventative or way to slow the spread short of severely lowering the deer density. This would fail, too, because it only looks good short term. Prions in the soil from CWD deer will continue to infect others!!
Not too many are laughing. Who is going to risk losing hunting or even going to jail over baiting? Not me.
Well the last time we banned baiting I saw more deer and fewer hunters. Bring it on.
I did too!!!
We must work with the science first, then review the results that will affect the entire Michigan hunter population. This is not about ‘ I but We’ the hunter conservationist of Michigan.
How did QDMA get drawn into this? The QDMA position has been not to oppose baiting where it is legal. They have supported baiting bans in disease management areas to lower the chance of disease transfer.
Qdma should not be in this at all they are a joke
I don’t understand it. If baiting is the cause of cwd spreading why will it be ok for some to bait and others not ? Bait is bait right? Most of the deer tested and found positive are already dead and age higher than the average deer life expectancy. The ones they inject with the disease are young deer and they inject 250cc of the diseased blood, way more that a deer will consume in the wild. As far as the QDMA I don’t see how they have a factor in this. The ultimate goal with them is a healthy deer heard and more mature animals and yes there will be bigger racks, that’s just how it works. In my opinion it’s my land and I pay the taxes I should have the freedom to do as I please. If the state wants to claim deer as MICHIGAN’S deer then they can start paying me for my crop damage and if one hits my vehicle they can pay to fix it. The insurance company is backing them if anyone is, in my opinion.
I am ok with the baiting restrictions in place for the 2018 deer season.
But a complete baiting ban for 2019 is totally unacceptable! For most of us who are hunting on small tracks of land in farm area, we may as well quit hunting! Because the hunting pressure is low and without some type of lure deer may never come through these areas till after dark. My trail cams support this fact. Farm land and standing crops hold most of the deer till late in the day and well after dark.
These rules will take hunting availability away from many of us who already have well established hunting leases in counties not affected by CWD, over populated by does. We should still be able to at least run a corn feeder most of which feeds the local area squirls and turkey population an draws some of the local does into the area. The does leave their scent and entice an occasional buck sighting.
I agree for outside the CWD Core & Management Zones.
I realize hunting on small tracts of land without food plots or bait in the LP make it tough to see deer when they are concentrated on 240 acres of corn a mile away. However, I fully support the banning of baiting because it will greatly improve the hunting on public land (especially in the UP). Deer can be conditioned to come to bait so easily it is hardly hunting, and young bucks are easily picked off by less than skilled hunters. This has made it hard to see mature bucks on public land. Baiting has made us think hunting is a two-hour event when it should take several weekends of scouting and perhaps 30-40 hours of pursuit before you get a shot at a nice buck. A baiting ban will help us get back to deer hunting, not simply deer shooting.
You win ! The wisest comment of the bunch. 100% total agreement . Baiting was only turned too in Michigan when the new “Archery ” craze began and few could accurately shoot the bows of the day until they were ” Improved ” over and over until they became practically a gun . Then so many boasted of the ” CHALLENGE ” of their Archery preference . But I don’t recall seeing one pile of corn in any successful ” hunting ” photos . We don’t really need bait . Let the deer go back to their old patterns and learn how to adapt to them . . You know ….. HUNTING ! As for small plots of land not pulling in the deer ? There are hundreds of thousands of public acres to hunt in Michigan. Nobody wants to admit we have been like a bunch of spoiled kids seeking our participation trophy . Instant gratification . Trophy antlers and ease of bagging our deer from heated little shacks sitting on bloated behinds has become the reality . Baiting ruined the relationships between neighbors in my former neck of the woods. I killed deer over bait but honestly I never felt right about it . I missed the way hunting used to feel. I don’t care what anyone else does or if baiting returns . I just know it held an entirely different magic back in the day when you could hardly get across route 115 the eve of the rifle opener and a kid could hardly wait to be fourteen. I have more respect for the hunter who uses an iron sighted 30-30 to bag a forkhorn on State land just watching a trail than I do some shooter behind a pay to shoot enclosure or over a pile of bait with a bow of any description . As for BIG antlers ? I want mine once in a lifetime maybe , not because some elderly hunter on his last hunt had to pass up because he could not see to count the points . I love hunting and eating venison and the tradition it a once held . I don’t really care if the industry $$$ and the real estate land plot vultures are unhappy . I want to see hunting and hunters restore their caring ovef the dignity of our game animals return and for the DNR to put the interest of the resources ahead of the tantrums of grown men and women. It would seem that the old formula of the late 60’s sure worked better than the results of the road taken thereafter . Nobody had to lure a seven year old kid out to a deer blind in 65 degree weather to recruit new ” hunters” either . Of course now our public lands have been turned into underbrush jungles from all the ” habitat improvement ” $$$ but eventually the deer will return and maybe you can find a decent place to sit where you can get a fourty yard shot . But that’s just part of the story. The DNR has made a mess of bad choices and simply needs to hit the reset button . The hunters will go on HUNTING and the ones who can’t hack it will take up badminton. All this mess was inevitable from the day we ” tweaked ” the first rules . The bow that required hours and hours of practice and a full season of patience for one shot. The black powder rifle that was much the same thing . And now look , we’re allowed to use a newly engineered ” crossbow ” the damn things can shoot out to rifle range. And Mathews solo cams hang in the pawn shops by the hundreds . You can get four of them for a dollar and we are unhappy. It has all come full circle . That iron sighted 30-30 and the wet cold button a stump turned out to be the real challenge after all .
I don’t even care a little about what other people think my hunt should be. It sounds like your hunt wasn’t what you wanted, too bad. But not everyone wants to hunt like that,we all have different needs. I need to watch football, after a successful 2 hour hunt. Ron
Ha! That sounds pathetic. I think you just helped Milt make his point.
If this Ban, can be Enforced, in 2019. Turkey and Deer numbers in the lower penn. will drop a great deal. Deer Hunting ranches will increase 10 fold..they still can feed their deer. Archery hunter numbers will drop off a great deal. What are the Laws in surrounding states, on Baiting? QDM, has already slowed interest in hunting by young people, by reducing the harvest of many deer lost in the winter die off. Banning Beets and other root foods, where more than 1 deer may eat off of 1 food source. This might Slow the spread of CWD, but will NOT stop it from happening. CWD is here, there’s no going back from it. It seems silly to me that a hunter can sit by an apple tree and hunt, but can’t sit by a pile of apples..
Like a few hunters told me, the exploding Black Bear population before hibernating will start invading landfills, dumpsters and neighborhood garbage cannisters more, without bait from Deer hunters available for them to raid. Each fall this is getting worse already in the Northern Lower Peninsula. They could issue more Bear permits than they do annually, too.
Thanks DNR—I’ve been hunting deer for 48 years. This year I will not spend $1000 on my lease,
200 on deer feed, license fees, 200 on butchering costs, 300 on transportation, 400 on supplies (not including beer). This army of 1 will cost the economy $2100 minimum. Finally I can justify not hunting deer. Thank you?
I would gladly not hunt for as long as it would take for dnr to release their grip on us . I have been hunting deer for 47 years. We as the working class do not have that much time to hunt. I am for baiting
To be able to hunt in michigan an not able to bait we are all going to need to by a farm so we can hunt over bait so that cuts out blue colar works our that are just making it by an love hunting ! An i keep heaeing its not a money game this BS . So the 1000 dollars a year i put in to licenses for my family of 6 is over !
Let me get this right, no baiting in L.P. after 1/31/19 but ok to bait in the U.P. Now doesn’t the U.P. border Wisconsin that has worse CWD than us. And you allow baiting up there. There is no facts based on your your decision. Just scare tactics.
Regulations are not always logical or practical! Lack of transparency on both sides and uniting without bias is needed.
I wish they would ban it here in the UP. To me its not so much about CWD, it simply about hunting ethics. We need go deer “hunting” not just deer shooting.
Call me crazy, but maybe, just MAYBE the ban has nothing to do with screwing over the little guy. Maybe it’s an attempt by wildlife biologists and ecologists (people that know their shit) to implement a policy aimed solely at combatting the spread of a disease that is very much affecting Michigan’s cervids. Just saying.
Has nothing to do with who pays how much for what. The only thing I don’t understand is how people fail to open their eyes to recognize there is an issue, and this ban is a means to mitigate it.
why does everyone complain about useing bait? heaven forbid we cant dump a pile of corn or sugar beets off and let the deer eat all night, stop being lazy and hunt! look for runways and bedding areas instead of belly aching and complaing the DNR and QDMA are plotting against hunters, CWD is serious and wiping deer out all over the southern states and now in our state! i knkw everyone has an opinion about it and this is just mine. just hunt!
Amen brother!
Are you all completely clueless? They should not allow any type of food plot specific to deer unless over an acre in size( for true farmers) and ban all baiting. You guys who will just keep doing it anyway or feel it is your right will have fields full of nothing in a few years as this disease spreads like crazy around this state. There is no cure, 100% lethal and lasts for years in the soil. This state has dropped the ball on this disease in fear of making you all mad! Boo-frigging Hoo!! I want deer to be around for everyone for generations to come and if that means sacrificing some “rights” to have a slim chance is something we need to do. There is no beating this disease short of killing off entire areas of deer to try and limit the spread. Good luck with the good ole boy mentality when you have nothing left to hunt.
Deer Were Meant to eat. In Genesis chapter 6 God gave the command to eat me. Since the government has regulated how many deer should be killed and Nature’s taking over and getting rid of them. You don’t have to be that intelligent to see that they are running in front of your cars and people are getting injured. Old men and women are getting killed behind the wheel because there’s too many deer and the state government will not let us kill them at the rate they should be killed. Again nature is trying to take over to get rid of them.
If I have a bait pile 2 gal. In a10 foot area the most deer I have ever had on it was 3, a doe and 2 young ones. A one acre bait pile (so called food plot) will have more animals on it at one time than I ever had! Quit the politics and be fair to everyone. We never had this problem until people wanted antlers instead of venison. I have been hunting almost 60 years and this is getting pathetic!
The media hype and TV shows have contributed to this and all the product manufacturers that have come onboard for they’re share of the market.
Deer hunting was brought on for people to feed there families. They didn’t care about horn size. They just wanted the meat. If you want to cut down on cad stop bringing in animals from other states, and large food plots that attract large numbers of deer. And what about bear baiting? Bear can carry cad also.
I have yet to see any proof that banning baiting prevents CWD. In southern Michigan there is lots of farmland that attract deer as deer are a herding animal. they gather to feed in corn, acorns, grass or fruit trees etc. No amount of banning baits is going to change that. Having hunted in Northern Michigan and southern Mi, I can tell you it is harder in the big woods. Baiting does help but does not guarantee a deer, its a lot if work. Many businesses and farmers depend on bait and lure sales for their livelihood and it puts tax dollars in the coffers. Also what we talking about only less than 1 tenth of 1% of the deer herd that may have CWD. We all have trail cameras and I and the friends I know have yet to see a diseased deer. we see only healthy bucks and does. Most all hunters and those in the sporting business feel we have not been heard. Bait bans did nothing in the past. Give me scientific proof. This is utter nonsense.
Speculation says the only reason they didn’t ban the Upper Peninsula is that the wolves have reduced the Deer herd enough already. Yes, there are cases of CWD from WI affecting our herd in the UP. I suspect they(DNR/NRC) will in their 50 year plan for MI they’re trying to pass in Lansing.
Like Obamacare, they’ll pass it all first like they’ve done already before this summer, we the hunters & taxpayers have will have no clue what’s in it and how it affects us until it’s too, late.
Oct. 18, 2018
** Deer tests positive for CWD in Dickinson County – Upper Peninsula of Michigan **
(They’ll Ban Baiting State-wide, now!!)
A 4-year-old doe killed on a deer damage shooting permit in Dickinson County’s Waucedah Township has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, marking the first confirmation of the incurable deer disease within Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The finding was verified by Michigan State University’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in East Lansing and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
The deer was shot on an agricultural farm about 4 miles from the Michigan-Wisconsin border.
“We remain committed to maintaining healthy Michigan wildlife for the residents of, and visitors to, this great state, now and into the future,” said Michigan Department of Natural Resources Director Keith Creagh. “Fortunately, over the past few years, with the help of hunters, the U.P. CWD Task Force, DNR staffers and others, we are far better prepared to respond to threats posed by chronic wasting disease in the U.P.”
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal nervous system disease found in deer, moose and elk. The disease attacks the brain of infected animals, creating small lesions, which result in neurologic symptoms. The disease is always fatal in animals that contract it.
To date, there have been no reported cases of CWD infection in humans.
“We are taking immediate action to address this situation in the Upper Peninsula. In the short term, stepped-up testing and active surveillance is the priority to better understand where the disease exists,” said Russ Mason, chief of the DNR’s Wildlife Division. “To do this, we need to step up our efforts to collect deer heads for testing in this area. We need to determine if this deer is an individual outlier or whether there are more deer infected in the area.”
The DNR has tested hundreds of deer from Upper Peninsula counties bordering Wisconsin. This year alone (as of Oct. 11) a total of 625 deer-damage permit, roadkill and hunter-killed deer have been tested from Dickinson, Gogebic, Menominee and Iron counties.
“It was our surveillance efforts that revealed the disease in this particular deer,” said Kelly Straka, state wildlife veterinarian. “It is now especially important that these efforts continue.”
Chronic wasting disease has been found in free-ranging deer in six additional counties in Michigan – Clinton, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kent and Montcalm. A total of 63 deer within these counties have tested positive for the disease.
The DNR recognizes that deer movements, densities and habitat vary from the U.P. into the Lower Peninsula. DNR officials will review Michigan’s CWD Surveillance and Response Plan and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ CWD Best Management Practices in considering additional measures going forward.
“For next hunting season and beyond, the DNR will discuss possible response actions with U.P. hunters and other stakeholders to determine the best approach to fighting CWD in the region,” said Chad Stewart, DNR deer management specialist.
A conference call with stakeholder groups is scheduled for early next week.
A roughly 10-mile core area has been set up, centered on Waucedah Township. Within this area, the DNR has set a goal to test a minimum of 600 deer to better determine the extent of possibly infected deer.
“We need hunters to help us reach this goal, by voluntarily submitting entire deer heads for testing. Hunters can keep the venison,” Mason said. “At this point, we are not establishing a mandatory deer check in the area, but that may become necessary, if we don’t reach our goal.”
Several actions will be taken by the DNR including:
Providing additional drop boxes for deer heads within the area, especially in convenient, high-traffic places.
Offering disease control permits to interested landowners who have more than 5-acres of land and are within 5-miles of the center of the surveillance area.
Allowing baiting for deer to continue for the rest of this year. Future decisions on feeding deer will be based on the results of the surveillance efforts.
An ongoing DNR U.P. deer migration study will be adjusted to include the affected area within its boundaries. Deer will be collared in the area to better understand the movements of deer.
“The actions of hunters matter in battling CWD,” Stewart said. “Keep hunting and get your deer checked. Responsibly transport, process and dispose of your deer carcass. Visit the website to learn about proper carcass transportation into Michigan from out of state. Please pass these tips on to other hunters.”
In North America, a total of 25 states and three Canadian provinces have confirmed the presence of chronic wasting disease in free-ranging or captive deer, elk or moose, or both.
More information on chronic wasting disease – including Michigan’s CWD Surveillance and Response Plan, locations of deer check stations, fact sheets and testing data – is available at michigan.gov/cwd.
Special interest groups are at the very center of these issues.
Why is it that the NRC comes up with a ban to eliminate disease by banning a method of attracting deer for one type of hunter but on the other side of the coin won’t ban Food plots which do the same exact thing, which is hold and attract deer!! Is the NRC serious about this disease? To me it seems to be a slap in the face to one group of hunters and a total lack of common sense on the NRC.
Yes, the liberal media, special interest groups and anti-hunting associations are having a field day with this CWD threat and also contributing to plenty of fake data or misinformation online and elsewhere. Sifting though the whole mix of information is complicated. Purge this from the scenario and we might better understand and know what’s true and develope some trust in true scientific approach to this threat to cervids and our traditional way of life.
Some of you guys are just plain laughable! ( Gerry ) So just who is being paid by QDMA groups? How does that work? Are you talking about the fee that a group has to pay the DNR to do a survey on APR’s? That was part of a deal 15+ years ago that non apr groups wanted to make sure the DNR wasn’t using taxpayer/hunters money. Along with the 66% approval vote. And do you honestly think QDMA members don’t buy tags? “Us little guys buy all the tags”. WTF are you talking about? Your frothing at the mouth and demanding nobody buy tags for 2 years is the joke. Go ahead Gerry, take a chance. You sound like the type that has probably missed a few years of buying tags already. And just what does not having elect. and water have to do with taxes? Me, I live in the CWD zone. We shoot an appropriate number of does, not all of them. We shoot nice bucks too. And not all are 2.5 year olds. We have a QDM co-op. Many of us are QDMA members.We talk about how many does we’re going to shoot each fall. We don’t “shoot em’ all” just because the tags are available. Maybe you should actually look into QDM and the QDMA before you go off on your next tangent.
How do the deer know the difference between which hunter is disabled baiting and which hunters are not disabled? Are we putting signs up for the deer to read to know not the spread their disease if they eat from the “exception” rules bait piles? I am not at all against disabled hunters being given a boost in their chances, as I myself have disabling limitations, please don’t misunderstand, Just want to be clear. Cause you know, the deer are probably holding meetings, discussing which piles they should be frequenting… “hey Elmer, don’t forget to just hit those 2 piles on the river road tonight, but remember! Don’t go the those ones by the barn. That hunter can walk just fine.” Lol seriously. Can’t we just limit piles for us all with zero exceptions? What am I missing here in the difference of that exception?
My other question is why is the Archery Assoc the only officially accepted lure urine allowed? Was there a study done that shows theirs is the best or do they have a state contract to supply it? Other lures aren’t acceptable based on what parameters? Why can’t we use Aquavelvet if the lure urine is manufactured anyway? I am curious to understand these rules better and the why of them.
I’m of the mind also that maybe it’s time the state recognizes that what they’re doing is hurting it’s own citizens and landowners with arbitrary rules including the excessive doe permits being issued and early youth hunts that parents are absolutely benefiting from over single non-parent hunters. We all know those kids are not using 100% of those tags. Is it just me or does it seem like the state is just trying to kill off the entire species to lower insurance companies costs? The deer population has been seriously declining in the last 30 years. What happened to the tag lottery? We should go back to the doe lottery with only 10 days to use it as well as only being allowed one doe one buck.
As far as the “healthier” stock being promoted, yeah, we are also quite aware of how much those bigger antlers go for.
The fight against CWD is financially unsustainable long term for each State. I’m sure there will be a plea for the FED’s to step in and make it worse. The negative impact for hunting over time will be a loss of revenue for the DNR & NRC and less license sold because of less uncontaminated Cervids available to hunt by either CWD or the chulling .
ATA lure products are the only ones allowed so far besides synthetics. They took it upon themselves to address the CWD issue and help protect cervids from the spread of CWD.
In short, leadership is in a panic because the issue is growing and they honestly don’t know or have the ability to reverse it, so hysteria sets in and regulation pile up that become coutner productive possibly in the long run.
Just how does a QDMA group “pay off” the DNR? Are you talking about the mandatory fee that a user group must pay to have the apr survey done? That was asked for by non-apr groups to ensure that hunter/taxpayer money was not used to pay for them. And what is this crap about “us little guys buy most of the licenses”. No you don’t! Everybody buys them, big guys, small guys, black and white, everybody except the guy that thinks he’ll “fix them” by not buying one for 2 years. The minority here is not people who practice some form of QDM. ( which according to statistics is well over 50%) It’s the old school, out of touch, traditional deer management folks who think they know better than a trained deer biologist. Those are the ones that will fight science and logic until “they pry their cold, dead fingers from the gun”.
Why the distinction of defining single bite bait? Does that mean that single bite bait will not be outlawed? Does that mean that shell corn will still be allowed? If not, then the definition serves no purpose…
It is the only thing approved for hunters with disabilities in the CWD and TB areas during the Liberty and Independence hunt only. There is no scientific evidence it will be less likely to transmit disease, but this was an NRC amendment.
Why the Ban in counties outside the CWD management zones & TB zones? Sounds like their strategy to contain is not fool-proof!
There seems to be very little proven data that Bait/Feeding Bans have had much of any greater impact of reducing the spread of CWD long term any more than those states that never had baiting allowed have slowed the pace, like out west with Mule Deer. It continues to spread and it’s wishful thinking given the current data and science, that we will come up with a cure anytime soon in the next 50 years given our approach. Then given the CWD prions in our soil supposedly that last for 20+ years, it will be impossible to completely eradicate ever.
If a cure, solution were discovered, how would it be administered to free ranging cervids?
There’s too much outside influences contaminating the current science, research and timeline to win the CWD battle. I believe we’ve given it too much, too late to win this battle of nature versus science.
Is it true that the NRC & DNR shut out the MUCC from contributing their input regarding the NOW implemented CWD regulations? I seems their minds were made up way before any other groups like MUCC could voice their opinion and input and the vote pushed through!! It’s scary to think what their 50 year plan and added regulations will be once they get that voted in without the hunters and MUCC input also?
@Matt Wheaton, MUCC staff were very much engaged in the discussion over the course of several months. We asked that they implement the baiting ban back in the winter, so to avoid farmers planting the annual crops to grow bait products. The NRC did not do so and instead chose to wait until August to implement the ban in the CWD Zone, and delay the Lower Peninsula until 2019.
As to the rest of the regulations, again, we were in the thick of negotiations and some but not all of our recommendations were accepted…for example, the loss of the APR on the second tag of the combo was a huge surprise, as we didn’t consider there was any support for it. We did oppose the original October firearm hunt and that was removed from consideration.
Scientific references for those of you willing to review the support for the baiting and feeding ban:
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/mi_dnr_cwd_scientific_references_633867_7.pdf
” …. a ban on baiting and feeding deer so as to reduce the risk of human-assisted transmission of disease.”
If this is true, then why the exception of the Upper Peninsula? In theory I understand their attempt to slow the spread, however, actual data over all since the 60’s has not really proved it makes a significant difference as much as reducing the herd density would!!
This statewide Ban will reduce the number of Deer harvested by Bowhunters to be sure, unless firearm season is extended to compensate. Banning all bait except corn for spin-cast feeders would’ve been better for bowhunters.
I have yet to speak with a hunter in Northern Michigan that’s delighted by a decision that has been made for them and for counties where CWD is not detected or an issue!
The direction we’re headed as a state regarding CWD will be quickly financially unsustainable before the 50 Year Plan/Goal is half underway!!
So called Prions in the soil will remain for years and always be a threat! Why was Dr. James C. Kroll ignored regarding the matter of CWD?
Will Deer Feed/Bait be illegal to purchase or sell in MI starting in 2019? Will Feeders be legal to sell in MI?
If so, doesn’t this contradict intention of the ban?
Do you think all these regulations will really work and reduce the threat? The results will be slow and less than the impact to hunters and hunting it seems. We cannot preserve a heritage passion for the future ultimately when we cannot begin to fix it.
I expect increased regulations given the current approach will grow in number and continue to annoy hunters even more along with increased cost and short results on a solution. All the strategies implemented to reduce, fight and prevent CWD have come up very short given the time so far. I see no strong evidence we can win this, only projected theories and increased researched coffers trying!
What’s the so called “MI 50 year Plan” being pushed and needing approval and to be signed?
CWD Guarantees One Thing For Sure: “Our Deer Hunting Tradition will NEVER Be the Same Again!”
More hunters probably would be onboard supporting the ban if proven evidence outside of labs and farms where this has been done is truly proven to have a major impact. However, most hunters don’t trust the research since it looks better on paper than in reality.
Bottom line, researchers cannot explain how it is spreading truly, (How did it reach Finland & Norway?) because of the nature of this disease being what it is. Can we defeat this without nearly eliminating the Cervid’s in the process? So far, we’re failing where it’s been found.
It’s too bad they’re only test is post-mortum and even that isn’t absolutely 100% fool-proof. If a better test isn’t developed soon, the legacy of Deer we’ve killed to test versus what has actually dies in the wild from the disease will be astronomical!! We maybe worse than the disease itself.
Given man’s results from trying to defeat CWD so far, maybe Nature’s approach to it is inevitable!?
I cannot help but see the issues of Deer supposedly infecting each other at Feeder sites or baiting areas, no different that where I see the same amount of Deer under (Nut Trees)Oak trees after acorns, Fruit Trees for fallen fruit, or when they yard up in closer proximity with each other in the winter. Does lick fawns and with Deer being very social, controlling their nature in the wild is impossible. CWD Prions will be left in the soil for years to come at these areas continually. Controlling hunters is only happening.
Free ranging Cervid’s cannot be controlled as easily if at all possible like captive ones on farms!!
I question the reality of are limited understanding of CWD and how we can adequately control and defeat it, when we have mastered understanding it fully!?
Since they limited how many we can kill and deer were meant to be killed and to feed your family, nature is taking over to manage the deer population.
Just stop hunting go to McDonald’s and eat their processed foods then go home sit on your butt watch your programming go to sleep and go to work pay your taxes. mmmmmmkay!
I have been saying for years that most people that bait deer are crazy and these comments bear that opinion out. They will fight with you if you accidentally get too close to ‘their’ bait pile on ‘their’ chunk of public land. It NEVER should have been allowed in the first place. I have never baited and up until the last 5 years always hunted public lands. I have taken numerous deer. I saved my money and bought a small place of my own, finally, at 52, and Thank God I don’t have to put up with them any more.
Baiters arent crazy,these comments tell you they are extremely ignorant.Educate yourselves about CWD.If you could imagine the worst thing that could happen to our deer herd,this is probably it.I have been hunting deer for more than 50 years and baiting was illegal for the first half of those years,and it never should have been made legal.People that dont know how to hunt bait.Watch Joe Rogan #1154 on you tube,it will be a great start in your education
I hunt private land and believe a landowner should not be bound to the same regulations that restrain those using Public land!
As for baiting, I am more in favor pf spin-cast feeders versus dumping piles of raw vegetables or grain in piles. For None-Baiters, if your method is better, enjoy it! No one is dictating you have to bait or feed!!
As for the bait ban slowing the spread of CWD. There is NO unbiased proof & data indicating it makes any real significant impact on accomplishing that!! The bans usually include banning minerals & supplements. This will reduce the antler size of Deer to what they were before we did this! Food plots will not compensate!! Minerals are vital for antler growth and deer health.
Word has it that even food plots might be regulated or banned if the DNR are allowed to control more…!
CWD cannot be controlled or slowed by regulation! Where they get off thinking so is delusional… Since it’s discovery it has not been proven otherwise.
I don’t think Prions are spread by the limited means they claim alone! Finland & Norway prove this!
My question is this, what are they doing to prevent prions in the soil from their vicious cycle of recontaminating Deer?
All Licensed hunters should of had a VOTE,only hurts the state land hunter!( most cases)Food Plots are excepted! Comes down to the HAVES and HAVE NOTS! Hunted state land this year without bait,(trying to adjust for next year) haven’t seen a deer! I know I need to get my LAZY,65 year old AXXS up and find a better spot or MICHIGAN lotto ticket!!! P.S. Maybe it’s too late?
I may be wrong, but I thought cwd started in colorado when when scrappy (a neurological disease infecting sheep and goats) species jumped to deer. I also read to prevent, or at least reduce infection, ranchers give sheep and goats copper supplements. Deer? Trace minerals?
Famous last words: “I’M FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND I’M HERE TO HELP “.
Offering a question with regard to food plots. Does it make sense to legislate plot size? Perhaps 10 or 20 acre minimums. Allow deer the ability to move about as they browse rather than condense, doing so would also drop percentages of ingestion of host intermediaries for parasitic infestations. As an aside , in my opinion only, I don’t think anything but time and genetic predisposition will truly solve the CWD quandary. As a student of Dr. Giest, and his theoretical thoughts on cervid management I offer that we now stand on a slippery slope that feels much like wildlife management by corporate interest rather than science.
Deer hunting in MI is becoming a sport for the wealthy antler hunters only. The old days of being able to find quality private land to hunt are over. Most quality private land is leased for thousands of dollars and public land is limited and over hunted. The baiting ban is just another way to further this. Multiple small food plots are basically baiting but is the bait of the wealthy landed class so it is allowed. License sales are declining at a dramatic rate and this will continue at an accelerated pace due to CWD and non existent deer on public land. I believe the deer herd is already dramatically smaller due to the over harvesting of does on private land. The mantra shoot the doe instead of the small buck has taken a toll. Deer hunting will one day be a sport for the elite only like in European countries.
I hope they ban baiting statewide. Make people hunt the way it’s supposed to be. Put in the work or get out of the woods, enough said.
That sounds great if you’re a young man. Do you know how many people up in age have heart attacks from trying to walk through the woods to hunt because you’re not allowed to bait on their own land. Let’s get the picture here. An old man has trouble walking wants to use his crossbow to hunt Shelly has to climb Hills and cross streams and stand up with the tree and freeze to death because he’s not allowed to bait on his own property. At least they let the handicapped people hung out of a car window with a crossbow or a rifle. Have you ever tried that. When are they going to start loving people more than animals to collect money.
It is time to buckle down and hunt within the new regulations. Supporting the states efforts for a healthy herd will require everybody joining in. Lets reduce/knock this CWD out. In the meantime hunters will enjoy researching deer patterns, looking for oak mast and the other 150 browse that deer eat in a day. You will be surprised that deer will have to spend more time in motion to get the caloric intake needed to survive. Expect deer that used to spend 1/2 an hour five times a day will now be increasing time looking for food during deer hunting seasons.
Expect deer to utilize normal patterns all year. Find a game trail, catalog pics from trail cam, utilize hunting old/new hunting tips.
What is the DNR going take form us next. They have antler restrictions , no baiting what’s next. If you want to cut something , make it one buck only. And make the licenses back to bow and arrow separate from gun/ blackpowder hunting like it was.
To the DNR, I have been in the sporting goods industry for 35 years promoting hunting and fishing. When you ban baiting next year you are going to loose 30 to 40 percent of hunters in this state the first year. I can tell you this because I handled all the sporting good accounts in northeast Mich when you band bait there. I seen how sport shop closed, restaurants, bars, small hotels closed. How hunter quit archery hunting. I seen that most private land owners still baited or put food plots in. I had one account who brought 70k in archery and hunting accessories every year for first 10 years I served them. In 2006 it had gone down to $1000 dollars. I asked him his thoughts ” quote: ” there is no one hunting state land during archery here its done”. Hunting and fishing revenue account for close to 4.6 billion dollars in business in this state. That is all agriculture, milk, beef product sales combined. Think about this DNR. My second point there has been disease in deer forever hate to say this MDNR this is a fact! YOU CAN NOT CONTROL NATURE! YOU CAN’T! If you are serious about try to control any disease that are past threw contact then ban all food plots, clear cut all oak stand and cedar stands, allow no corn, soybeans, alpha fields, anywhere were deer are nose to nose. I am handicapped why is it alright for me to bait for a two day season. These diseases are not man made it occurs in nature. I find it truly funny that banning bait you think is the answer. MDNR BIOLOGISTs deer are nose to nose everyday, If you get out from behind your desk you would understand. I base this on what a retired MDNR told me! The more you regulate the more people quit doing it. I would love someone in MDNR challenge me on what I have stated. MDNR is only worried about budget managing our deer herd. In closing , I have killed deer over bait, and not over bait. What archery groups don’t seem to understand hunter dont have time to spend in woods, they throw bait down so they can see deer and other wildlife. If you take a kid on state land and they hunt 4 or 5 times and dont see a deer you lost a hunter for life. This same thing happened in fishing ,young went out and didn’t catch fish and took up golf or play station. Next year you will have hunters fight over spots to hunt where oaks are or food areas state land in northern Michigan. Or they will stay down state to hunt crop field. Traditions are going to come to a end. Sad
This is my 50th year deer hunting in MI. CWD, baiting, QDMA, food plots, wealthy, snobbish, know it all land owners, and hunting accessories priced beyond my fixed income may have finally broken me from ever being able to again enjoy this sport that my father and his father had passed on to me!
I understand that disabled people with a permit to hunt from a standing vehicle are exempt from baiting for deer ban in 2019. They just have to follow the 2018 deer hunting rules. Going to be a lot of hunters heading to the doctors office before the 2019 hunt!
The only mistake the NRC made was not making the baiting ban forever permanent and statewide.
As far as banning baiting ruining Hunting, I truly believe that allowing baiting was ruining hunting and would further suggest that if you had to rely on bait to “hunt” you weren’t really hunting anyway.
Obviously banning baiting will not, in of itself, totally stop the spread of CWD, it is rather only one “tool” of many that will be used by the NRC and game biologist in an attempt to manage the diease now that is on the Michigan landscape!
Cwd isn’t a fast a disease. Its slow over time. Many more deer have died from ehd than cwd. 31000 deer have been tested for cwd 60 confirmed cases. What are you going to do for ehd spray the whole state in insecticide (impossible). Make baiting illegal because it’s a small step in many that can be taken for cwd (ok). A lot of people are freaking out over cwd. Just like they want you to.
RE; Bait?Feed Bans:
Once again, there is NO substantial unbiased Scientific Data proving Bait Bans have any impact on slowing or enhancing the spread of CWD in almost 50 years!! It’s strictly theory and speculation by the experts who cannot even agree together on anything!
My Question is can I feed my deer corn in st. Joe county just to watch them for my enjoyment?
People I’ve heard this argument before. It started with salmon fishing. We’re people wanted to impose their views and their way of fishing on everyone else. Results of that were snagging was banned. We have now fly only stretches of pristine river. So nobody else can enjoy their striper fishing anywhere in that area very elitist. I have fished rivers all over the state of Michigan and I can tell you personally that you can find a spot to be alone and fly fish all you want.
Now I am seeing this happen with deer. The quality deer management Is fine when you have a considerably large amount of area to control the deer herdsSuch is the case in Texas. Take lower Michigan for example. Lower Michigan on average has at the most 20 to 40 acre plot, unless you’re a farmer. To say that you cannot shoot younger deer because you need their antlers to grow is silly. A male year and a half year-old dear will travel anywhere from 2 to 5 miles from where he was born the patriarch doe will run him off. She’ll keep her doe fawns with her throughout her life, and that creates the doe family unit.
This works in Texas because of large tracts of land of 10,000 acres 5000 acres or whatever the acreage happens to be. But when you on 15 acres in Lapeer County how in the world are you going to control the deer population on that particular plot of land.
The second issue is it with this elitist horn nonsense. I have personally took part in an outdoor show that was very popular in Michigan. I observed people shooting deer in enclosures that were probably 10‘ x 10‘ just so they could take big horns home and enter them in big buck contests. They would do it for a multiple of reasons either to get them selves on TV ,or there was a prize to win.
I had a friend who owned a deer ranch and he brought a couple people back to the lodge for we were staying in hunting pigs and they started giving us the story about how they got the deer which was totally false because we found out later that they shot him in a 10 x 10 enclosure And tag them with their deer licenses. I would hear during the big buck contest that we would show that I know this deer this came from there, I know this deer just came from there, and as it turns out probably a third of the deer at that time; and that was 20 years ago,were shot in game preserves.
The emphasis put on Horns is not the reason we hunt. We hunt to control the population; to prevent nature from stepping in and controlling it her way. Her way is disease death and starvation. So we hunt to be ethical and to control the deer population. I hear the same arguments with bear hunting with bait. Some people use dogs some people use bait and They argue back-and-forth and give the anti-hunters more fodder then they could look up themselves. We argue over compound bows against long bows. Muzzleloaders between flintlocks in modern muzzle loaders. You know the big argument is crossbows it’ll never end. I want to write an article that said I like to hunt deer from trees; only with a loincloth. Then I take a big knife, jump from the tree onto the deer’s back and cut his throat. The moral of the story is be careful how much you restrict other people because someday the person doing the restriction maybe me. I will Get laws put into place to make you hunt my way.
I don’t think it can be any clearer than the statement I made about hunting my way. It’s sort of like the whole story when they came for this group I did nothing, when they came for another group I did nothing, then there was nobody left to come after but me.
People hunt for venison God bless him. People like to hunt horn’s and find it have a great challenge. God bless them. Then there’s always the boy or a girl who went out for the first time. They may have shot a yearling spike, they may have shot a fawn or “button buck”. That does not make him any less proud of his accomplishment. I once witnessed a man at a gas station, while I was admiring a boy’s first deer.He walked up to the boy and told him he shot a baby deer and you should be ashamed of himself. Have we broke down and fell to his knees. Is this what we’re coming to?
In the days to come our sport or past time will be greatly assaulted By anti-hunters and uninformed people. I don’t think we should sit here and argue with each other and give them a reason to ban hunting.
I have hunted since I was a small boy. It was a family affair with my grandfathers and uncle’s,father, and my cousins. It was a family affair and it was something celebrated by meals the hunt and by family. I am so tired of elitist people trying to make everybody hunt or fish their way. Let people be. Let them hunt their way if it’s legal. If they need to beat so what that’s less that would be taken from the food stores that they need in the winter. I have been paralyzed and now I watch deer out my front window in our room I can’t leave. Now you want to take away my deer feeder so I can’t see where I used to lob I don’t hunt from the feeder I just like to see deer, squirrels, birds. At my cabin I can’t even feed the birds because somehow it’ll draw into here and spread disease give me a break. They allow you to use bear baits with green in them as long as it’s surrounded in fact. I don’t see the damage of hanging the suet block up at my cabin so I can see the birds I don’t see the damage of putting some sunflower seeds in a feeder so I can see the birds that are different from where I live.
But all I see above his person after person criticizing the other person because nobody wants to hunt their way. We hunt to control populations it is ““ a tool“ to manage wildlife. In Canada everyone is issued a calf permit. If you want to shoot an adult moose you have to enter the The lottery or pay an outfitter. They shoot the Cavs because they are the least likely to survive the winter. That seems like it follows along the ethics that we say we hunt. Granted the calves are 400 pounds. The principle is the same. A Spikehorn is not going to stay on your property. Unless you own a vast tracts of land, Or you work with a cooperative between multiple clubs and create that vast of land. We have voluntarily had a six pointer better rule in the club for several years. On our own without the government telling us we had to.
Be careful when you look to the government to enforce your way of hunting someday it may be another’s way of hunting that they enforce it on you: that you hate. I guess the moral of the story is let bygones be bygones and we’re all Gods children and God provided the animals for us to consume. I don’t think people back 100 years ago cared much about the horn‘s. They were a form of food and are still considered such today. All I’m saying is hunt animals harvest them responsibly, ethically, and by the law. Please don’t let the government create new laws! Besides cars killed more deer than we will. Disease will kill more deer than we will. And I don’t think nature cares much about the horn size. If you do great manager heard the way you see fit. But if a guy wants to go out and shoot a Spikehorn for the food. The quality of the meet is far superior. A large deer is tough and they taste very gamey. I know my wife or my daughter will not eat venison. And this is because of the gamy taste. If a person wants to shoot for food a Spikehorn a yearling, or a 2 1/2 year-old. Or whatever they should be able to. You Hunt your way and let them hunt their way. Will all get along. The government won’t be interfering with our hunting . And we can have a game that’s healthy for generations to come.
Use your head quit arguing and look at the big picture. The chronic waste disease is serious ,however I think the drastic measures that are taking place have another agenda. And now you’ve let the government and ball itself. Good luck!
Had a little down time, and stumbled across this site. WOW! I’m in my late sixties, been hunting my whole life. Took my first buck at twelve, with a recurve,not a monster but I was proud of him. Bent and broke the game laws to feed a family. Not proud of it. As a reformed poacher I’ll call on any violation. But I learned to actually hunt not sit over a bait pile to just kill something. Read sign,learn food sources , where to set up. Broke my sons off baiting twenty five years ago , to hunt mature bucks. We’ve taken bucks as old as nine and a half, just as good eating as a yearling . You are what you eat ! Took a seven and a half , the dogs wouldn’t eat that swamp buck . Big body doesn’t always mean monster racks. But there is satisfaction in taking a mature buck . Learn to HUNT,not sit over a bait pile like a Vulture, taking a deer over bait has nothing to do with being a sportsman or actual hunting. What did you do to earn that deer? Carry a bucket ? WOW. After sixty years of hunting and seventy three bucks and bulls in Michigan,Montana, Ohio, and Quebec,all fair chase ( no game ranches) learn to hunt , read sign, figure out the setup, find the best spots, become a sportsman! If you have five acres , use food plots ,hunt the runways leading to them. For all the true sportsman and sportswomen out there, remember you can fix stupid. Make the call , turn in the cheaters. They are trying to kill the sport.
Well I see that the farmers will not have money in the pocket and with no baiting the crops will be destroyed.
I believe people who hunt and fish need to find away to come together instead of bickering about their method of how they practice their sport .I feel there is a lot to learn from our elders .In michigan I feel many people hunt for good meat something they can harvest not just a big set of antlers . I also am a firm believer in less government involvement as long as people use good practices that are legal.there is a lot to be said for the guy or gal that goes out and does the work,like scouting and paying attention to sign,but in my opinion I think that if you condem or criticize your fellow sportsman on his or her way to harvest a fish or deer you could be harming the very thing we love, just saying.