De-baiting the issue of baiting

Not long after I had settled into the treestand assigned to me, three deer came into range. The doe, large for that area, and her two fawns fed on the corn kernels that had been scattered in the open area, an easy shot from my stand. The rifle did its job, and later that morning, when the vehicle came to pick me up, my host offered a congratulatory handshake and a pat on the back.

Of course, this hunt took place out of state and many years ago. In fact, in South Carolina’s coastal plain counties, baiting for deer has always been legal. Not so, of course, in New York.

New York State law prohibits hunting of deer, bear, turkeys or upland gamebirds with the aid of a pre-established bait pile, and federal regulations prohibit using bait to hunt migratory birds. Interestingly, baiting is legal in New York for hunting coyotes and squirrels.

According to Jeremy Hurst, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s deer biologist, four laws apply to baiting. Three of them address deer and bear hunting. The other bans hunting for upland birds with the aid of bait or on or over any baited area. That would include turkey hunting.

The first of the three laws relevant to big game outlaws salt licks. The second bans the placing of any substance with the intent to attract or entice deer to feed within 300 feet of a public highway. The third prohibits hunting deer or bear with the aid of a pre-established bait pile other than those areas established by standard agricultural production practices.

Hurst says, “Bait means any food or substance used to lure or attract wildlife that is deliberately placed for the purpose of or in a manner that allows consumption of such substance.”

So, why is baiting for big game legal in some states and not in others?

In many cases, it is an historical and cultural practice, and not necessarily a matter of game management.

For example, of the 46 counties that comprise South Carolina, 26 are considered coastal plain, and 18 are considered mountain, Piedmont or upstate.

Baiting was always illegal in the upstate counties, but not on private land in the coastal plain counties. Hunting deer with the aid of dogs was also a legal and popular practice in the coastal counties. As that pastime declined in popularity, however, many coastal county hunters turned toward stand hunting, called “still hunting” there. Because baiting was not prohibited by law in the coastal counties, many hunters utilized that aid.

The South Carolina legislature, not the state’s Department of Natural Resources, decided to make the law uniform, that is, either allow or ban baiting statewide on private property, while remaining prohibited on public land. Consequently, in 2013 baiting on private land was legalized statewide.

That doesn’t mean the law was adopted with the strong support of the state’s DNR.

“Whenever we had to testify on baiting regulations, we spoke against the practice for ethical, disease prevention and other reasons,” said Charles Ruth, South Carolina DNR’s Big Game Program Coordinator.

A white paper issued by the DNR expressed several concerns about baiting. Among them were the “dissemination and maintenance of disease; effects on ‘non target’ species and habitats;” and a “competitive atmosphere between landowners,” some of whom might bait while their neighbors don’t.

Furthermore, the white paper addresses ethical considerations.

“It is important to recognize that the public at large does not support baiting, and this point undermines hunting and wildlife management programs that have historically been accepted by the public.”

Ruth also points out that although many believe that baiting increases success and deer harvest rates, data collected over an eight-year period showed that in the mountain, or Piedmont, counties, where baiting was historically prohibited, hunters killed more deer per unit area and spent less time doing it than in the Coastal Plain, where baiting had been the norm.

South Carolina has not documented chronic wasting disease in its deer population. Wisconsin, however, has had widespread outbreaks. New York, of course, is dealing with an isolated outbreak within its borders.

“Prior to 2002, baiting for deer was legal throughout the 72 counties of Wisconsin,” said Jeffrey Pritzl, the state’s Deer Program Specialist. “Its legality was established by the state legislature, not our Department of Natural Resources.

“When CWD was first identified in Wisconsin in 2002,” Pritzl said, “an emergency statewide ban on feeding and baiting deer was implemented. Since then, state law bans baiting and feeding in a county where CWD has been identified, as well as in any county within 10 miles of where the infected deer was located.”

Consequently, today, feeding and baiting deer is legal in only 11 of the 72 counties, according to Pritzl.

An interesting aside is that after the 2002 statewide ban, hunters, especially bowhunters, reported seeing increased deer movement, likely because the deer were not concentrated over bait piles.

As is the case with South Carolina, Wisconsin’s DNR, says Pritzl, would advocate a statewide ban on baiting.

In New York, the DEC supports the ban on baiting and has no plans to consider its legalization. Hurst summarizes the reasons for the department’s support:

“Baiting is illegal to promote the fair chase of wildlife while hunting; to avoid negative impacts of wildlife behavior, such as intra- and inter-species social conflict, altered migratory behavior and habituation to human-supplied food; to prevent disease spread at bait sites; to prevent consumption of unhealthy foods by wildlife; to minimize competition among hunters; and to prevent ecological damage to forests adjacent to bait sites.”

There’s no de-baiting the issue.

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