ORIGINAL: Germ
ORIGINAL: MichiganArcher
I am in Flushing, MI and down here in mid to southern MI we really don't need bait to harvest deer however up north just south of the bridge you'd be hard pressed to harvest one without the use of bait. There are just too many game trails and miles upon miles of woods to "hunt" them. If you can get on a farm up there you're golden but in the timber the odds are against you. I am personally just planning on hunting down here this year. I have permission on two farms and working on my third. I understand what the DNR's concept is but the deer was in Kent County and is an imported animal which makes no sense to me. They are going to damage the already failing economy more than anything. Farmers, bait markets, gas stations and the such may as well close up shop.
I agree with you on some points, I will disagree on hunting the big woods of NLP and UP without bait. I have been successful without it.
The plan was put together 6 years ago, it's extreme for very good reason. It's a 6 month plan(ban on baiting), at end of the 6 months the NRC will vote to keep it or reinstate baiting.
The real scary thing is out of the 40 deer at the farm, she was the only one that had CWD. All other deer tested negative, so where did she get it?[&:]
You may have had success but all in all the odds are against you in comparison to down here. Last year in Shiawassee (however it's spelled) I let 17 deer walk through my kill zone before stroking the release (not a trace of bait). I've hunted 20 years in the northern lower and never came close to the same experience. It can be done but not with regularity. IMO less baiting means less dead deer which means potentially greater numbers of infected deer. with CWD or TB. Though I don't bait at all here in my area I can see where it helps keep the numbers in check. One full season of no baiting has the power to dramatically increase car/deer accidents also. All things need to be considered, not just the "hypothetical" spread of CWD.