VanderWall’s Senate Bill 37 would allow baiting and feeding of white-tailed deer, elk
Deer hunting is an outdoor tradition enjoyed by more than 600,000 residents and brings considerable impact to the Michigan economy and the conservation of all fish and wildlife due to the license revenue it generates. Because deer and elk are an integral part of Michigan’s ecosystem and economy, the conveyance of disease among deer, other wildlife and humans should not be taken lightly.
Just like baiting, deer and elk feeding congregates animals in a manner that increases the risk of spreading diseases. MUCC’s voting delegation confirmed their support for a ban to all baiting and feeding of deer and elk in the Lower Peninsula back in 2003, and MUCC members reaffirmed it again in 2007 statewide.
The Michigan Chronic Wasting Disease Working Group also recommended a statewide ban on deer baiting and feeding after a review of the scientific literature and a symposium of wildlife scientists from around the world.
Senate Bill 37, introduced by Senator Curt VanderWall (R-Ludington) runs counter to these scientific recommendations by reinstating deer baiting and feeding in the Lower Peninsula as well as elk feeding, and making elk baiting legal for the first time in recent memory. Not only does it negate the sound science, it takes it out of the hands of the Natural Resources Commission or Department of Natural Resources completely to set ANY regulations related to baiting and feeding white-tailed deer or elk.
While there are widely varying opinions on the social acceptability of baiting and feeding wildlife, the 40,000 sportsmen and women of Michigan United Conservation Clubs believe that effective, transparent, science-based natural resource management is paramount to the collective conservation and recreational opportunities our organization supports for the benefit of future generations.
Please leave the U P out of the banned area.
The UP is out of the banned area for deer.
The State of Mi. believed it is their deer. Well if that is the case the state should repair your car when a deer crashes into it. Maybe they should go all the way and tell farmers to high fence their property. Maybe our new governor can add another 10 dollars to your hunting license to pay for it.
Again someone submitting a bill they know nothing about, why include Elk?. I am disappointed at the MUCC long time opposition to baiting. Two articles in current magazine about food plot baiting, yes I read that it’s not the same as baiting because of the area yet you can have a 10×10 plot. Ban food plots too they congregate deer. Make it fair for everybody. I am an avid bow hunter and utilize natural bait rub lines acorns and adjacent farm fields. Good Luck to your R3 program.
The new rules actualy do. They says plots can be for agricultural use only. Technically that is a ban. Obviously there’s a loophole thiugh cause all one would need to do is sell some of it to calme thats its use.
I oppose all legislation aimed at micromanaging deer regulations. It is the job of the NRC and is contradictory to Prop G. It paves the way for things like dove and wolf regulations and worse to come from the anti-hunting and anti-firearms contingent. Please oppose it.
Agree. Theres no need for wolf hunting i have friends and family in to so called wolf problem area that say everything is fine. I do think that we should have dove hunting in michigan though
I agree Jim. I thought Prop G forbids this kind of shinanigans. Keep the politics out of it.
In other words deer only get cwd baiting deer and not on food plots.cwd is 90% plus south of m55 farm ground and plots.
Hell yes we should be able to baite deer and feed the cwd is not caused by that any way mother nature will take care of it’s own don’t need no dam done telling you what u can and can’t do on your own land they should only be in control of state land and that’s it
I hate to see legislatures get involved, but I do not trust the NRC, MUCC, and DNR to follow honest unbiased scientific facts either. What has baiting, or not baiting changes in the TB area. Honest answer….nothing. people still sell and use bait there. Their is not enough info available or known about CWD, to justify no baiting statewide…Not one deer has been shown to have died naturally from CWD in Michigan. Ban baiting, and do reasearch in the infected suspect areas. Leave the rest of the State alone, until you can prove otherwise. Fear and speculation, is not science.
You sir have the smartest comment on here (no im not making a joke i completely agree)
If this keeps up how will the state handle a drastic drop in licenses being purchased due to their new law. If the hunters want to make a statement that is how you do it. I agree that there should be research and investigations done and some regulations but this is off of the deep end. The one good thing Michigan has going for it is the vast array of not only residents but our of staters coming for a Hunt and to enjoy the habitat that Michigan offers. About the CWD but as far as I know I believe it is being over reacted on. It seems also to me that most of the occurrences are coming from the deer farms and ranches. ?????????????? Also If they really want to check the numbers why in the hell do we not have mandatory deer check stations? This is the only way to find out the real numbers not estimating to a lot for how many deer they think have been taken by the number of licenses purchased. LET’S GET THE RAL FACTS!!!!!!!
VanderWalls Bill 37 needs to be passed
I will continue to provide economic stability to Farmers who grow bait and increace my wildlife sightings and harvest..Thank you MUCC for your help in sound and accurate science..Love, Oscoda Mi…
Let The DnR do their job I will not support ignorance on matters that pertain to such important matters that involve our environment. Protecting our Deer herds from baiting should be taken very seriously to reduce any decease that could hurt a healthy Eco system and natural wild life
thanks you
Craig Drouin
I agree, keep the politicians out of the DNR and NRC.
I run anywhere from 10 to 12 cameras most of the year in Michigan, I get at least 1000 pictures of deer standing nose to nose, they seem to be a social creature, the liking branch for instance, every deer in the area licks that branch. Baiting or no baiting a disease will be spread throughout the Hurd. Supposedly they have a cure for CWD! Implement the cure and let me go back to feeding my local deer at least to sustain them through the harsh winter months! They grow nicer antlers and have healthier fawns if they are fed well through the tough winter months.
I do the same and you are correct. Socially it’s IMPOSSIBLE to keep deer from licking, rubbing, fighting, foraging and etc with each other and therefore transmitting diseases amongst themselves.
A cure for CWD eh? Please refrain from spewing such ingnorant misinformation to the public. Your lack of respect for actual information and intelligent debate is appalling. Please stick to what you know, whatever that may be, and let the professionals do their damn jobs!
In all my years of hunting I have never seen any two deer nose to nose while eating. Nor do I have any pics of deer nose to nose. What I have seen and have pics of is a dominant buck or doe kicking every other deer away until they were finished. No baiting would really hurt the economy in my opinion.
If they were so bound on science, then why do they cherry pick what they support. There’s not one sciencitifically proven case of CWD or any disease spread at a bait or feeding station, let me repeat ” NOT ONE” proven published sciencitific case of any wild deer or elk contracting CWD form a bait or or feeding station. Let me go one more step there’s not one proven case of a capitive deer or elk contracting CWD at a bait or feeding station alone. This is one of a few reasons why I don’t finically support MUCC at this time. What if’s and maybe’s are not proven science!!!!! The sciencetific literature you quote is mis leading that it’s a fact!!!
No baiting in Michigan!!!
I’m no specialist but I do not agree that feed has anything to do with the deaise. Back in the day when you could feed tons at a time there was no t.b or cwd so why now. Nothing to do with feed. It’s cows and all the round up and other sprays
They want to eliminate the disease would make more opportunities to harvest more deer and possibly help eliminate the disease by harvesting more deer, removing baiting is eliminating more hunters
You can’t call it scientific wild life management when they are allowing APRs to exist while trying to rid of this disease (CWD, TB). APRs are detrimental to the growth of our sport and taking away baiting will further drive hunter recruitment down. Russ Mason and the NRC will talk them selves right of of their cushy jobs, and will be scratching their heads wondering how to recoup the dollars (license increase coming) they lost.
I am a hunter and a person in northern power Michigan
I have found 15 deer now dead in less than 3 weeks. I snow shoe every day and dint understand how one man can find this many drer with more to come and found that out of hundreds of turned in deer there are only 56 confirmed cwd positive deer. So where is really the problem. I hop this bill will pass to help our deer and wild life out. I heard the news and a guy is facing 5 years for neglecting his chickens and rabbits. What is the difference!
I can see it being enforced on public land but not on private I pay my taxes. The disease been around for a very very long time cause by man.
I applaud you for this legislation Kurt. I’ve been saying for a long time that if feeding in close proximity to one another is the danger of baiting, then late winter and early spring yarding would be devastating. But, we never hear about any information about yarding, so I call foul on the logic. Good job Kurt. I’m proud of you.
Mucc and other groups dont know what they are talking about. I disagree with the un natural congregation around bait. If a tree is dropping acorns then all the deer are there. They naturally congregate to all food sources. Also you keep talking about prions. Not even important. The disease is caused by a bacteria. Ive been baiting and feeding for 30 yrs. Not one sick animal killed on our land.
I support the use of the NFAWA data developed by years of research by the entire United states, not just Michigan biologists trying to duplicate everything already done in Wisconsin and out west. Start at their base line and move forward. Don’t kill tons of deer to study what has already been verified as scientific fact. Wyoming says mature bucks are most likely to die from cwd , how do aprs correlate with this data. Other states don’t have them and they have cwd. Follow your mantra “sound science ” it has been suspect in the past.
Allow baiting!! Please!!
I personal dont like baiting . It changes the natural deer patterns. Not to mention the need to out do the nieghbor on there bait pile is very costly. I prefer food plots and timber stand improvements to support the nutritional needs of the herd.
Food plots baiting land scape improvements, all are the same thing . The intent is to lure animals into that area.
So lets be honest about it and quit fighting one another over which method is better.
Keep hunting alive!
This is why I dislike the MUCC. Right in the back pocket of the animal rights folks in charge of our DNR and NRC. Michigan is NOT following sound science. Wisconsin is 20-years ahead of us and has abandoned their bait bans. CWD is either present or you just don’t know your herd has it. Baiting is a TOOL that helps us manage the herd. And, waterhole=doe in heat=acorns=cornfield=bedding area=baitpile=BAIT.
This “sound science” is nothing more than another dagger to the heart of our hunting heritage. It’s about time a legislator stood up to the DNR and tried to help hunting, because if you’re not promoting it, you’re destroying it.
Yes pass this baitng help the deer get there winter fat to survive the long cold winter!!!
You can ban baiting but it still inst gonna stop anything!! Deer / elk still eat close to ea other An as of any animal they’ll still smell ea other nose to nose An spreading the disease .. An the disease Can’t only be here in the lower peninsula .. but yet Dnr feeds the deer during the winter months
I see a bigger problem with the coyotes that Dnr decided to plant in lower Michigan!! We use to have one of the best pheasant hunting areas in van buren co.. now we have none because the coyotes killed everyone of them an you’ll be lucky enough to see a rabbit !!! They kill so many baby deer as well as mutate deer !! We had a good deer herd before the coyotes as well. I’ve watched the deer herd drop dramatically From the coyotes an it isn’t because of any diseases!!!
I have to believe that the coyotes were planted here in lower Michigan to give hunters another game to hunt giving Dnr more revenue !!! We were doing good before hand an didn’t need the coyotes here !!
Just my input on this
There is no proof of baiting causing CWD. They swop spit on licking branches all time even when they eat farm crops so what’s the difference
About Time!! Theres MORE Opinion and Speculation regarding the Ban affecting CWD than True Scientific Proof!
The Spirolplasma Bacterium is the cause for CWD and a likely Cure is forthcoming!!! PA is already on the right track with this research and knowing the Prion Theory has failed after 50 years!!! Time is of the essence!!!
Oh come on… the amount of deer WITH CWD that y’all have spent money on testing is so low that your theory that this will stop the minute spread is ridiculous.
The current exaggerated hype of CWD definately out weighs the math regarding CWD Stats to be sure. After nearly 50 years of Failed Prion Theory Theorists pushing only a bias singular option in our faces and failing repeatedly to produce a cure, it’s about time this Spiroplasma Bacterium is recognized for the true cause of CWD!! Pennsylvania is on the right track and approach.
** To Date, More deer have died as a result of the misguided Prion theorist testing & culling than CWD has killed cervids naturally. More Deer have died from EHD & Blue Tongue Disease outbreaks annually than CWD, too. CWD is a serious concern to be sure, but given the current approach would fail to savea species and be unsustainable for State & Federal budgets.
Year around man-made Food Plots is in it’s true intent – Baiting! Natural or Artificial Water holes, Winter yarding or bedding areas and such are also a source that can congregate Deer and influence the spread of possible infection base on the unscientifically proven theory behind the current band.
The very method they’ve banned maybe the ideal instrument to inoculating/treating the deer in the wild with the cure by means of treated mineral blocks or feed in spin-cast feeders!!
For Handicap/Disabled Deer Hunters, the MI-DNR has been pathetically slow and delinquent informing them as the supposed new rules and qualifications that must be met to qualify to continue legally feeding/baiting under the current ban!
The DNR is unwittingly catering in their current approach & response to CWD to Animal Rights groups and agencies with their anti-hunting agendas more now than ever. The majority of hunters are ignored and unheard beyond a few staged public forum meetings they only accept our voices to be spoken in.
CWD has definately put the bias agency of theMichigan DNR & NRC in the spotlight and reinforced the majority of MI Deer Hunters consensus & disapproval to be sure!
Yes thats right matt wheaton. Spiroplasma bacteria is tick born. Slovakian lxodes ricinus ticks. Bait bane is a true reflection of incompetence in the DNR. Or worse.
Yes thats right matt wheaton. Spiroplasma bacteria is tick born. Slovakian lxodes ricinus ticks. Bait ban is a true reflection of incompetence in the DNR. Or worse.
I have a lot to say about this, but I’ll just say there are 14 deer in my yard right now eating on my Apple trees and ceader trees and pine trees, they lay together touch noses exc. Now I hunt from October first to January first and never seen more than two at a time at my bait pile. .So nobody can make me belive baiting caused this wasting dease. There are just people wanting to be big shots changing laws makes them feel powerful. Your write in trying to put it back the way it was I’m with you all the way.
I left a comment. Why dosent it show ???
Absolutely true. Spirolplasma bacterium is also linked to Parkinsons and Alzheimers. CWD will have a vaccine within 2 years.
I am all for allowing the People of Michigan to Bait for certain game at certain times of year. Some Sportmen don’t have the time or resources to Hunt for the extra days it may take to harvest an animal. Taken away this option of baiting will drive away hunters. The result will be less funds in the budget due less licensing fees. The impact on the States economy is great as well. Many small businesses sell leftover crops to help in the winter months when things are slow. I am for this bill and keep anti hunting scientists outa the discussion. CWD is a natural occurring issue. Man kind needs to let nature figure it out without our interjection.
Baiting allows hunters to see if there are any sick deer in there area then DNR can take proper steps
Allow baiting
Deer will communicate by touching noses wether there is bait or feed . Baiting has nothing to do with CWD . Stop the bringing in of deer from other states and stop the deer farms from getting them. That is where this all started so why punish everyone for what a few done.
MUCC should support this 110% Support what hunters want or they won’t support MUCC
What makes you so sure about the spiroplasm theory Matt Wheaton? There are a lot of people who raised eyebrows at that article… Especially the timeline given. What do you know that Phd’s don’t?
Omg! Get out and Hunt, you lazy pieces of shit, who you call yourself sportsmen! Wow! Using food to entice deer, to shoot, is the most unethical way to harvest deer!
Not ‘hunting’ at all. It’s ambushing….you don’t invite someone to dinner and then shoot them….
Maybe if us hunters do not purchase any type of licenses they will get the message!
I would vote for baiting n veiwing I think if u put it to a vote by lower pennsula hunters u would have a unonomus vote for yes let’s bait.
There was a study I believe done in Wisconsin. That debunkd cwd was not tramitted by nose to nose but from a virus strain
Right on Matt. Baiting or feeding in small(2 gallons) spread out will not effect transmission of disease. I hope our DNR look at the Pennsylvania video and learn something from it. Thank you Senator Vanderwall. Hope it passes.
Where was the DNR when CWD was discovered in the western UP by Wisconsin years ago?
In January of 2018 I wrote a several page letter to Mr. Chad Stewart and copied MUCC requesting sound data on CWD and testing. Mr. Stewart nor MUCC didn’t replied. The DNR is supposed to use sound data in making all of their decisions as permitted by legislature action years back. Reviewing scientific literatures and symposium of wildlife scientists from around the world is mere propaganda being promoted by MUCC and DNR. It takes data to prove out theories. They are totally ignoring life time deer disease studies by Dr. James Knoll and Dr. Don Davis.
In June 2017, Dr. Davis compiled twelve years of CWD testing in the US. Total tested specimens were over one million with 4003 testing positive which correlates into four tenth of one percent (0.4%). In other words: 4 deer per 1000. Using the December 29, 2018 DNR testing report of all the deer tested (24778 tested with 55 supposedly positive) which correlates into 0.2 percent or 2 deer per 1000. This is hardly an epidemic.
I have made two presentations to the NRC and had two editorial published in other magazines. My handicap person also made a presentation for baiting for wheel chair bound people. The DNR didn’t listen. Baiting on a couple weekends is not baiting for a true handicap person. Personally I don’t need to bait. MUCC has done more damage than good for the hunters when they assume that all 40000 members support there inane agenda. There are two other real magazines that support the hunters 100%. Not only should the Senate Bill 37 be passed but investigation into the DNR and there lobbyists (insurance companies) for any wrong doing. I have hunted for over 65 years. My wife and I didn’t buy a deer license in 2018 and probably not 2019 in protest of MI-DNR stupidly. We hunted in Nebraska. If the baiting ban holds we hope many other hunters will join in.
Thank you Curt Vanderwall! The DNR has no sound evidence or they wouldn’t being baiting themselves as seen on Michigan out of Doors TV show. It’s time they lose there power on certain management practices. Past due!
I believe in allowing baiting & recreational feeding of Deer & Elk. One thing that I have notice & witness weather it is in a farmers field, a bait station or recreational feeding. Deer them selfes are very social animals, They will sniff, lick, scratch & everything in between to each other to pass on there saliva or other liquids. I do believe the DNR. Is very wrong in not to allow baiting or recreational feeding of Deer& Elk.
They do need to quarantine everything this is in the CWD area that is raised. Weather it is hay, straw, wheat,corn, beef, pork,etc.
The CWD response plan also specifies, Targeting young bucks to prevent the spread of CWD through dispersal. Currently the DNR/NRC is moving forward with Antler point restrictions in the thumb, as well as a antler restriction test in the CWD zone, despite the fact that the data to be gathered could be done outside the zone, or they could use existing APR data.
Will MUCC stand up against these 2 transgressions of the CWD response plan of 2018, as strongly as you do against baiting in areas not affected by the disease ?
Baiting doesn’t affect these diseases one bit, bunch of BS. I see deer walk out on a food plot and walk right up and lick each other. Also many rubs and scrape over hangs get licked. They even have licking branches they use. Funny how dumping out a pail of corn bad but a corn field left for deer is OK.
And is the MUCC is standing behind APR’s with the knowledge that allows for the increase in transmission of disease?
You can’t be behind one and fight the other.
Finally someone with common sense the baiting and feeding ban will NOT stop the spread of CWD. The close contact and congregation of deer around a feeder or even a small bait pile is no different than the close contact and congregation of deer in a food plot, bean field, corn field, sugar beer field etc. The diease is spread thru saliva and is active in the soil long after the infected animal leaves the area. So again the baiting feeding ban still will not stop the spread nor will it even slow it down. The NRC and DNR have no scientific proof that a feeding/baiting ban will even be effective in slowing down the spread of CWD, they are pulling at strings.
It appears that those who originally passed the ban should have investigated further to determine the actual cause was not that which they based the law on. Consequently people have suffered economically and Michigan Commerce has lost out in sales of food and feeding supplies. Is it too much to ask that our representatives follow the medical theme. “If you can’t help at least DO NO HARM”.
It was recently reported by Ken Borton that the Snowman Cam liver Camera Feed had over 20,000,000 hits. These represent viewers worldwide who get a small glimpse of the wonders of Michigan.
MI Deer Hunters should contact Senator Vanderwall’s office and thank him for supporting us and giving common sense a chance regarding the hasten decision & regulations by our DNR & NRC. Hunters encourage your local senators and those voting on the submitted No. 37 Senate Bill our support and encourage them to vote “Reversal” on the current Bait/Feed Ban!!! Flood the Committee on Natural Resources office with letters supporting the Bill No. 37 decision!!!
High volume agriculture & livestock regions seem to produce greater conditions for spreading diseases in wild species than in wilderness areas with far less agriculture and livestock influence…
There is no logic in this bill. Whether you are pro or con on the issue if baiting resumes, make it state wide, not just on private land. If, in a dry year, the state puts a ban on any type of burning on state land but allows it on private land, a forest fire started on private land may well spread to public land as fire knows no boundaries. Deer do not know boundaries either.
Everyone contact Vanderwall and your representatives by text, email, letter, fax or phone. Give your support and thanks. Spread the word.
I live in his district and voted for Mr. Vanderwall , he is not a deer biologists. He needs to stick with something he knows about. Like erraticating ground moles. As far as baiting is concerned, everyone should just bait in their backyard. Then you won’t have to get dressed and leave your coffee pot , as some people I know do. Unethical (yes) sportsman (no) call that hunting ( no) . If the most work you put into taking a deer is carrying a bucket or bag of bait into the woods, WHEW please don’t over exert yourselves just so you can sit over a pile like a vulture. That’s not hunting as I know it , in my over sixty of enjoying it. And yes myself and my family are very successful at it. ( LEARN TO ACTUALLY HUNT)
Way to go Kurt ! We need to overturn this ban on baiting!!!! Support this bill 100% it’s our heritage and helps the herd survive harsh winters and helps our local farmers as well.
Why does everyone take a all or nothing view on baiting? Will outlawing baiting stop the spread of CDW, no. Will it slow it’s progress and possibly the spread to all areas, absolutely, There is no sure for CDW and it is one mutation away from being transferable to humans. Anything we can do to slow or stop the spread should be considered asap.
Fair chase… BAN baiting/feeding. Those that bait deer and hunt over bait piles are just plain lazy. Just hunt! Do the work! I’m successful almost every year and the years I’m not, well that’s ok too. Be a real hunter! Not a lazy ass hunter! Stop baiting and feeding deer… it’s making deer hunters look like a bunch of lazy asses so the anti-hunters can point fingers.
20 years of TB Zone in NE LP with no bait restriction has not eliminated TB. The western states have had cwd showing in the herds for years with no huge impact on the population. This along with APR I feel is an effort by elitists to push the common man off public lands. No different than TU trying to turn every puddle into a trout stream. Once the user group is small enough, they’ll outlaw the activity. Fisherfolk and hunters will soon be an endangered specie just like sourdough gold miners are now. Allow the baiting. Dont push the weekend warrior off the hunting grounds.
The time, effort, and dollars spent to enforce, should be used elsewhere. The ban will be nearly impossible to enforce.
You can not support antler point restrictions and ban baiting. Its biased based science. Not true science. There is ((more evidence against antler point restrictions)) and older age classes of deer then baiting, when it comes to cwd findings. Stop the half truth agendas.
Baiting had nothing to do with CWD. JUST PASS THE BILL 37.
it will never pass. our governor will veto it.
We shouldn’t legislate wildlife decisions. Hunting should be more than sitting on a pile of bait. Baiting totally screws up natural deer movement. Let the DNR and NRC do their job.
They have found a statistically insignificant number of infected deer. They don’t know 100% how it’s transmitted, or that the prion theory is correct. They are wild animals and will come in contact with each other from social behavior and common feeding areas anyway. The bait ban is just a knee jerk pc reaction that is going to hurt a lot of people’s livelihoods, and hunting habits. I also agree you can’t argue for APRs while at the same time arguing against baiting. If you don’t like to bait then don’t bait, but you hunt isn’t someone else’s hunt and their hunt isn’t yours. They should be focused more on studying the disease before they decide on a course of action. These same actions haven’t worked in other states, so why repeat failed actions. You watch how fast this ban gets lifted when license sales drop off, like everything else in life this is all about politics and money.
It is the Dnr and nrc job to manage our regulations not politicians with agendas. Do your job and let the Dnr and nrc do theirs.
It is the Dnr and nrc job to manage our regulations not politicians with agendas. Do your job and let the Dnr and nrc do theirs.
For those who want Anti-Baiting to win…then live bait for Fishing should be banned in principle, too!!! Live bait is baiting.
There is NO comprehensive unbias, bipartisan scientific Research verifying Baiting contributes to the spread of CWD!!
MUCC is in bed with the DNR supporting such pathetic theories! You can thank them for pushing the Ban thru last year!! Boycott the MUCC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jesse Levora, you are absolutely right!!
Wake up Deer Hunters!!!! The Bias MUCC has declared an “Action Alert” on Baiting in MI and fighting the Senate Bill No.37 that is created to REVERSED the ridiculous Baiting Ban!!!! They are not for us, but against us!
I have small acres in northern mi… know from past experience if i don’t bait not going to see any deer don’t shoot everything that comes in try for buck but sure nice to see a few deer ..no baiting law stands would sell my property ..
I’m a MUCC member and I support SB37 and end baiting to be legal. A recent DNR poll showed that 71% of hunters support baiting deer. By saying that your 40,000 are against this bill hou are being dishonest and misleading.
71% of Michigan’s deer hunters support baiting and only a small minority want it banned. MUCC is being disingenuous at best when they say their membership supports a baiting ban. MUCC is now acting like an anti-hunting organization. If SB37 does not pass, then deer hunter numbers will certainly plummet and the deer kill will go way down as a result, which is will be disastrous for deer management in this state. It would lead to CWD spreading worse too. MUCC should be supporting SB37, but instead they are going against the vast majority of their membership and opposing this bill which is sad. If MUCC persists, then their membership will drop once again as a result of their bad decision, which is to bad because this state needs a strong organization to fight anti-hunting measures. Now though hunters are fighting against an anti-hunting MUCC. Very sad.
What do you mean don’t get politicians involved? Who do you think the DNR is! The new Guy in charge does not seem to be on the side of the hunters, I heard him on mi. Outdoors So far gaining any better hunting rights with this guy is not going to happen. We are losing hunting rights, camping rights, and others. Hunters, Fisherman, Trappers & State land campers, step up call your rep’s DNR heads tell them to stop the diminishing our rights. It appears the Anti Hunters have control of the DNR. Or hunting will be gone.
Mecosta, Montcalm and Newaygo counties have numerous dead deer laying on the shoulder of roads.
I thought the DNR was suppose to be testing these deer for CWD? Pretty sure this communicated to hunters as a plan to test deer starting last fall. Obviously this is not happening. This tells me there’s really no concern and the DNR is just blowing smoke to ban baiting permittly. And obviously, as mother nature’s animals and birds enjoy these dead deer as a snack, nobody seems to care if they get the disease.
So what’s next are farmer’s going to have too put up thousands to put a high fence around there crop fields? Ridiculous!!
Senator banning baiting will not only cut down on hunting, but a lot of business will lose money. This is good revenue for the state of Michigan. If the deer get chronic waste disease its not from baiting..There needs to be a bigger and better study of how the deer get c w d Im all for the D N R but in this case there wrong. Reverently Yours Howard
I’m a Mississippi Wildlife & Fish officer, for the last 19 years. I’ve seen this literally come from nowhere & put a black cloud on our Whitetail deer population. I can’t tell you how many 4ft high mounds of corn I see with multiple infected deer feeding & working with state biologists & experts, the answer is pretty uncertain. As law enforcement its disheartening having to enforce laws that may or may not be passed that effects law abiding hunters negatively but we are also here to protect our wildlife for future generations of hunters.
Wow no baiting in the lower.Good thing the up is out of the no baiting zone.They would never kill a deer up there without bait.I know I hunt naubinway .also I hunt Texas and all the ranches have at least 5 feeders going at a time you got deer, turkey,hogs,axis deer .Guess what yep you guessed it no CWD.Hmmm whats up with michigan.No baiting easy solution hunt out of state till the state comes in support of their hunters..
When is this being voted on?
Baiting is just waiting….not hunting