Despite a new, more restrictive baiting law, more Minnesota deer hunters are hunting over piles of corn or apples this fall. Incidents involving baiting were sprinkled liberally through this past week's conservation officer reports from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
"It's epidemic," said Al Heidebrink, operations manager for the DNR's Division of Enforcement. "It's just running rampant."
Many conservation officers are getting tips about baiting from hunters or landowners, Heidebrink said. Officers followed up on those complaints during last weekend's opening of the Minnesota's firearms deer season.
Keith Olson and Kipp Duncan, conservation officers in the Duluth area, took to mountain bikes to forge into country inaccessible by vehicles. They were specifically checking hunters suspected of using bait. Often acting on tips, they checked 10 sites but wrote no citations.
"Either the bait was gone, or nobody was hunting in the stand," Olson said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Besides raising the issue of fair chase, baiting causes other problems, Heidebrink said. It congregates deer, increasing the chances of transmitting diseases such as tuberculosis or chronic wasting disease. It also can serve to concentrate predators such as wolves and dogs, Heidebrink said. And baiting disrupts the normal travel patterns of deer, often resulting in more car-deer crashes.
Baiting has been in the top 10 among deer violations in past years, and Heidebrink thinks it will be in the top five this year. The majority of landowners and hunters oppose the practice, he said.
"I've had only a handful of calls in favor of baiting," Heidebrink said. "Between my e-mails and calls and conversations, the majority of people don't like the idea of baiting."
The fine for someone convicted of baiting is $100 plus costs, and costs vary by county. A typical fine might be $150, Heidebrink said.
Here is a summary of the baiting law, provided by the DNR:
* Baiting is prohibited and a person may not hunt deer with the aid or use of bait.
* It is unlawful to hunt where the person knows or should have known there is bait.
* It is unlawful to hunt where the person has placed bait or caused bait to be placed within the previous 10 days.
ADVERTISEMENT
* Transportation and placement of food items capable of attracting or enticing deer are prohibited.
* Bait does not include liquid scents, salt or minerals placed for deer. Bait also does not include food resulting from normal or accepted farming, forest management, wildlife food plantings, orchard management, or other similar land management activities.
Wisconsin
bow season closes
The early portion of archery deer hunting in Wisconsin closes Thursday and reopens for the late period Nov. 27 to Jan. 7, after the traditional nine-day November gun deer hunt, Nov. 18-26.
Who's on first?
Sam Hunter, a Minnesota Department of Natural Re-sources conservation officer from Grand Rapids, came across an unusual and dangerous hunting situation in her opening-weekend rounds. A hunter shot a deer from a road right-of-way, through a chain-link fence. The deer was standing on the pitcher's mound of a baseball diamond adjacent to a park near the Wabana Town Hall, Hunter said.
The hunter was charged with possessing an untagged deer and shooting from a road right-of-way, Hunter said. He also was warned about trespass because he was within 500 feet of a residence.
