09-06-2006, 06:07 PM
Deer baiting is a hot topic for several states
It's fun to watch other states have their own baiting debates.
Pennsylvania, after years of debates, will allow hunting deer over bait in certain counties this fall. Mississippi, though, will not. And it Tennessee, it's still a maybe.
The Pennsylvania switch applies to counties in the southeastern part of the state, but most hunters in the state oppose baiting.
Pennsylvania appears to be the home of the last great hunters in America. But southeastern Pennsylvania has serious deer overpopulation and is heavily urbanized, making hunting difficult.
State wildlife officials chose baiting as a strategy to help hunters eliminate deer from the region. Michigan's Department of Natural Resources has claimed that baiting isn't really that much more effective than other hunting techniques.
I'm not sure their research was convincing. What's interesting in Pennsylvania is hunters haven't baited in the past. Most believe that hunting over bait isn't a fair chase and oppose the idea.
Like many regulations that conflict with hunters' values, baiting won't work as a tool if hunters won't do it.
Michigan's fall deer hunting regulations may include a shift back to tradition. After decades persuading hunters to take more antlerless deer as a primary tool in population management, the DNR is reducing the number of doe tags for the northern two-thirds of the state.
It will be interesting to see how many of the hunters who opposed killing antlerless deer complain when they can't get tags this fall.
Pennsylvania's proposed new baiting rules are more liberal than Michigan's.
Hunters would be allowed to distribute up to 10 pounds of bait three times per day during legal hours. Wildlife officials' suggestions of more restrictive rules were rejected. It's surprising that Pennsylvania is ignoring the experience of states that have rewritten rules to limit disease risks raised by baiting.
They haven't ignored them in Mississippi. State wildlife officials there aren't bending on their ban, even after state lawmakers proposed bills to make the practice legal.
Mississippi hunters, like those in Pennsylvania, have a history of opposing baiting as the opposite of fair chase. Those sentiments aside, state wildlife biologists declared the practice just plain stupid in light of studies blaming baiting for the spread of diseases ranging from chronic wasting disease to blue tongue, a nasty infectious disease that strikes domestic animals such as sheep and can spread to deer.
Meanwhile, tongues are just tired in Tennessee. Their wildlife management is set up like Michigan's. They have a Wildlife Resources Commission, like our Natural Resources Commission, and a Wildlife Resources Agency, the equivalent of the DNR.
Commissioners have moved to legalize baiting, although the biologists who work for the agency say it is dangerous and unnecessary. Before the biologists could fight the commissioners who are more or less their bosses, the commission's lawyer said they couldn't legalize baiting. Instead, only lawmakers had the power to legalize baiting.
Unlike their counterparts in Mississippi, Tennessee legislators don't seem ready to do that.
.....nu OGSÅ ejer af en 243win :-)
Favourite Quote: Vi løser ikke vore problemer ved at tænke på samme måde, som da vi skabte dem.....(Albert Einstein)
It's fun to watch other states have their own baiting debates.
Pennsylvania, after years of debates, will allow hunting deer over bait in certain counties this fall. Mississippi, though, will not. And it Tennessee, it's still a maybe.
The Pennsylvania switch applies to counties in the southeastern part of the state, but most hunters in the state oppose baiting.
Pennsylvania appears to be the home of the last great hunters in America. But southeastern Pennsylvania has serious deer overpopulation and is heavily urbanized, making hunting difficult.
State wildlife officials chose baiting as a strategy to help hunters eliminate deer from the region. Michigan's Department of Natural Resources has claimed that baiting isn't really that much more effective than other hunting techniques.
I'm not sure their research was convincing. What's interesting in Pennsylvania is hunters haven't baited in the past. Most believe that hunting over bait isn't a fair chase and oppose the idea.
Like many regulations that conflict with hunters' values, baiting won't work as a tool if hunters won't do it.
Michigan's fall deer hunting regulations may include a shift back to tradition. After decades persuading hunters to take more antlerless deer as a primary tool in population management, the DNR is reducing the number of doe tags for the northern two-thirds of the state.
It will be interesting to see how many of the hunters who opposed killing antlerless deer complain when they can't get tags this fall.
Pennsylvania's proposed new baiting rules are more liberal than Michigan's.
Hunters would be allowed to distribute up to 10 pounds of bait three times per day during legal hours. Wildlife officials' suggestions of more restrictive rules were rejected. It's surprising that Pennsylvania is ignoring the experience of states that have rewritten rules to limit disease risks raised by baiting.
They haven't ignored them in Mississippi. State wildlife officials there aren't bending on their ban, even after state lawmakers proposed bills to make the practice legal.
Mississippi hunters, like those in Pennsylvania, have a history of opposing baiting as the opposite of fair chase. Those sentiments aside, state wildlife biologists declared the practice just plain stupid in light of studies blaming baiting for the spread of diseases ranging from chronic wasting disease to blue tongue, a nasty infectious disease that strikes domestic animals such as sheep and can spread to deer.
Meanwhile, tongues are just tired in Tennessee. Their wildlife management is set up like Michigan's. They have a Wildlife Resources Commission, like our Natural Resources Commission, and a Wildlife Resources Agency, the equivalent of the DNR.
Commissioners have moved to legalize baiting, although the biologists who work for the agency say it is dangerous and unnecessary. Before the biologists could fight the commissioners who are more or less their bosses, the commission's lawyer said they couldn't legalize baiting. Instead, only lawmakers had the power to legalize baiting.
Unlike their counterparts in Mississippi, Tennessee legislators don't seem ready to do that.
.....nu OGSÅ ejer af en 243win :-)
Favourite Quote: Vi løser ikke vore problemer ved at tænke på samme måde, som da vi skabte dem.....(Albert Einstein)
.....ualmindelig velinformeret i forhold til min alder ... :-)
Favourite Quote: En humlebi ved ikke, at den ikke kan flyve......Gå ud på terrassen og vift med armene...hvis du letter må du være uvidende ;-)
Favourite Quote: En humlebi ved ikke, at den ikke kan flyve......Gå ud på terrassen og vift med armene...hvis du letter må du være uvidende ;-)