Baiting Bans

The recent legislation that made changes to the deer bait ban was a terrible piece of legislation.  

CWD is a contagious disease.  The ban is a tool against grouping deer together as happens when they come in to feed at a bait pile.

All the new legislation accomplished was to accelerate the spread of a fatal contagious disease in Wisconsin.

I too find it most entertaining that some individuals cite information gathered thru DNR research to support their belief in growing northern deer herds beyond carrying capacity while minimizing the threat of CWD while concurrently dismissing information from the same sources which counters these same beliefs...

Wolves are a federal issue. I have yet to see any news article, social media post, appeals court briefs or whatever where any current or former dnr employee has not advocated for the return of wolf management to the states. Until this issue is resolved there is nothing anyone in the dnr can do. Issuing five bobcat tags per hunter won't make your deer hunting any better. Doubling bobcat tags won't double harvest. Harvest will go up some but not doubled, success rates will fall. The baiting laws were passed by the legislature and are enforced by dnr. People were unhappy with current law and successfully lobbied for a sunset provision. Baiting, in most cases, will not increase productivity outside of the neighborhood deer that get feed year round. You hold a dnr report saying in some cases baiting and feeding (mostly winter feeding) may increase productivity (along with about 20 reasons why this is a bad thing) like gospel but any report or research findings or data that say the increased risk of disease transmission is real is pushed aside as false. Plus the harvest rates in baiting counties far offset any gains (Price co up 40% last year Oneida county essentially flat) and there are doe tags. There are MORE DEER in Oneida county right now than there would have been had baiting been allowed. That is a fact. Northwoods harvests will be up significantly from last year putting us in line with ten year averages, mark my words. I'm not a fan of conjecture, but I have never seen this many deer around the minocqua and tomahawk area since I've lived here. But for some people it will never be good enough....

I'm not buying the fact that the predators take more deer.  I have buddies that hunted Vilas for 30 years.  Shot ton of deer every year.  plenty for their group of 12-14 guys.  Smallest fawn contests,  running deer contest they would all open up.  longest shot competitions.  they had zero respect for the animals.  Now, they see nothing.  in the last few years it's been better but they take full responsibility for it's decline in the area.  They don't blame the wolves like everyone else.  when you shoot ma and both babies yearly,  where do you think that gets you???

If the wolves leave.....then you better understand the deer are gone.  If you say you have a wolf problem,  there are deer around.  Pretty simple stuff.

BTW,  i really don't consider those guys buddies outside of talking and drinking beer together at times.  i have little to no respect for their slob practices.

Predators most likely take many more deer than hunters do.........at least in the Northwoods.

How many deer do predators take then? Certainly by making this claim you could certainly back it up with facts rather than conjecture. 

That's been our WDNRs plan all along. Bait or feeding or neither ,that won't change with how badly our predators are currently being managed in Wisconsin.

Harvesting more bears than MN and MI combined, doubling bobcat quotas, 24/7 365 coyote hunting isn't enough? 

All a bait ban would do is make the deer herd much much less productive. Check the Northwoods doe to fawn ratio versus southern Wi .

Does winter severity and quality of habitat (ag land) have anything to do with this?

Lowering the birth rates just a smidge would have catastrophic results for hunters, recreational landowners, small business owners etc etc in the Northwoods. 

Sorry but he business lost during the nine days is a drop in the bucket. Try to go into a bar in the northwoods and get a drink on a Saturday afternoon in January and February.

Thanks for sending your inquiry into the CWD Alliance! Your question is a good one and is also one that has sparked debate among biologists and hunters for many years. To answer plainly, any situation, whether created by natural or artificial means, that causes wild animals to congregate at or regularly revisit a specific location, has the potential to cause an increase in animal to animal contact and environmental contamination that can potentially spread disease and/or parasites. CWD is only one of many diseases that can be spread and propagated through the congregation of animals. There is no doubt that if feed plots were being used in an area where CWD was present in wild populations, the risk of spreading the disease at that site would increase. Based on studies from the University of Michigan, risk of CWD transmission at these sites may be even higher than most diseases since the prions likely responsible for transmitting the disease persist in the soil for several years. These finding have been anecdotally verified at the Colorado Division of Wildlife Research Facility where CWD was first identified. Over the years, repeated attempts at sterilizing the facility and its grounds have failed. Every cervid that has been housed at the facility has contacted the disease seemingly from the environment (likely soil).

To my knowledge, no one is presently conducting a study specifically on feed plots and their potential role in spreading CWD. While such a study would be interesting, the ongoing environmental contamination studies of CWD will likely yield the results needed to help wildlife managers regulate the issues you have identified.

I hope I answered your questions. If not, please don't hesitate to contact me so we can visit further.

Best Regards,

Matt Dunfee

Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance Coordinator

Wildlife Management Institute

Post Office Box 33819

Washington, DC 20033-0819

If you are so worried about disease spread, it seems to me you wouldn't be accidently dropping alfalfa bales to congregate deer.  That is no different than baiting, and the arguments against it to stave off CWD transmission.

"What, maybe hire a person to study google earth? LOL.  "

WDNR and the Army Corps already have paid staff that do this to check for wetland impacts, illegal dams, etc.  I am sure wardens do this frequently when following up on cases.  

Found this tidbit regarding food plots:

Yeah whatever,  this thread is pointless.  Ban baiting and food plots,  I couldn't care less.

And also,  the DNR has no money,  if they did they would properly staff the counties with wardens,  give money to resources where needed.  

Are they going to find my alfalfa bales with their helicopters?  LMAO.  Stupid people worried about stupid crap that will never happen.  That's why I called it Republican Jargon.  You ain't losing your guns and hunting will not be banned in the free world.  Start worrying more about things that matter...  they'll also never make food plots illegal.  How could they? Are they going to fly their helicopter again?  What,  maybe hire a person to study google earth?  LOL.  SMH...  they are going to out law farming too, right???  Some guys just love to dwell and worry about everything.  

"probably not but neither is hunting past legal shooting hours which 99% of public land hunters do."

I am sorry, but that is ridiculous.  Public hunters are violators?  Really?  Wardens love to patrol popular public land areas.  The guy that hunts behind his house rarely gets checked.  More than 1% of public hunters are law abiding, that I CAN assure you.  I wouldn't say that public hunters sit longer than private land hunters, that is insane.

Who cares about the slob public land hunters anyway right?  The public guys will get the raw end of the deal with any baiting ban, as nearby private land hunters will see benefits when less food is available on public land.  There are not as many public land only hunters against baiting as compared to private land only hunters with food plots or ag fields.  There is a reason for that obviously.  Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Putting in a food plot is illegal on public land.  I wouldn't want to be caught doing so.  To plant a 20' x 20' plot of winter rye as suggested doesn't seem much different to me than scattering my 2 gallons of corn near my stand in regards to the argument that baiting is much worse for disease transmission than a food plot.  

I use both bait and food plots, and I use them both in the same regard....to hunt either on the food source or trails leading to it.  I do the same thing when I get the premier condition of having a few hot oaks producing acorns, hunting near ag fields, and when hunting natural pinch points.  They all concentrate deer movement.  I use baits on the large tracts of public land I hunt that have no natural funnels, low deer population, and little in the way of available food.  Every method has its place, and depending on the location all have their advantages and disadvantages.  I agree that food plots are way less work than baiting, but hunting public land restricts me from installing food plots in strategic locations like what you can do on private land.

I know I know, the great hunters refuse to rely on food plots, baits, natural pinch points, ag, or oak trees to hunt deer.  A real hunter doesn't need to hunt where deer congregate.  I am not a real hunter.

Are plots legal on public?  who knows.  probably not but neither is hunting past legal shooting hours which 99% of public land hunters do.  Cutting a branch,  using a screw in step....speeding on the highway....

I'd take my chances on a little food plot in hundreds of thousands of acres of public with 1 warden a county.  If you get caught,  go buy a lottery ticket.

Plus,  you're less likely to give up your spot to someone else.  Walk in,  plant,  leave to never come back till you hunt.  People like easy walking and like to see trails.  Go in once,  plant,  hang a camera and leave.  When you come back opening afternoon you check your camera and realize the plot was the best thing you ever did.

Right,  lot's of people feed deer.  Feeding deer outside of your house all year long is still not baiting in my eyes.  Placing food in a spot and the sole reason is for harvesting animals is what i'd consider baiting.  If the deer were not fed in many spots in the UP,  they would not survive some years as many have found.

That said,  the guys driving 3 hours to hunt public are NOT running up to the norfwoods every day muchless every weekend....and that's what it would take to actually help a deer in Jan-march.  

My point is,  if baiting was banned,  there will always be feeding going on.  it's how it is...and it will never change.  Baiting to kill and feeding for survival is two different things.  your baiting in the late summer and fall is doing nothing.  there is so much browse the deer don't need your corn,  it's just an easier meal.  Deer will travel 1-2 miles to food each day and browse on the way.  So people need to stop beating a dead horse and justify their baiting ways.  It's not doing a darn thing besides making deer depend on your placed food that is not self sustaining.  

I can respect the bait station guy that says,  "make no mistake, I dump corn every day to kill,  period".  he is not candy coating it and justifying his practice.

Does anyone know how easy it is to make a food source in a woods?  Take a rake,  buy a bag of winter rye and spread it.  56 lb bag of Winter Rye and throw it on the ground.  You want a 20 x 20 yard area of green that will be sought after come middle to late Oct through the season,  there you go. 3- 6 hours of work tops.   Sure beats the gas, travel, corn prices etc.  plant oats or rye.....maybe even plant clover,  find a spot that has 50% sun and do the same thing.  people don't do that cause it's not easy....but in fact it is easier in the long run.  Establish a clover plot,  small one and the deer will keep it down.  

Someone reading this today has plenty of time to do this year.  Get oats,  winter rye,  go make yourself a plot on public.  it's not expensive.

JC,  I don't argue that fact.  Feeding deer in the winter helps them,  it would take a moron to argue that principal. 

I don't bait,  but I feed the deer in the winter.  I don't throw out corn or apples in the same spot though.  

I drive through land and some how those high moisture alfalfa bales fall off my truck every three weeks.... :)   Very weird considering they are about 1200 lbs a piece.  

I also plant winter rye about 4 acres of it and have my neighbor plow it to expose the green when we get a lot of snow. So yes,  of course food helps the deer in the winter and spring.

"I do not buy the increased productivity argument one bit outside of the neighborhood deer who have access to food year round."

Then you are calling WI state biologists and the DNR liars or ignorant.  This has been the premise to outlawing baiting by WDNR for almost 2 decades. 

How hard is it to understand that the more fat a deer puts on in late Fall helps winter survival, and increases fawn production?  Why is it that when good acorn mast years occur in Fall, increased fawn production is correlative?

"Essentially you're contending the young, the old and the poorly motivated won't hunt without the ability to bait. I think you're underestimating the level of motivation for most in the hunting community."

A significant contingent will quit hunting as was proven when baiting was banned statewide 15 years ago.  I know many people in my home county that quit hunting when baiting was banned.  These were some of the older guys who weren't really serious hunters anyway.  I don't know what the decrease in license sales was when baiting was banned in NE Wisconsin, but the deer kill during bow season signifies many less archers participated.  Of course, those with their own land with food plots or with land adjacent to ag land likely were happy with the ban on baiting.