Michigan Baiting
 

Here in lower Michigan, baiting has been baned for this season (CWD). Now I know that we can not "bait", but what about attractance? Can "deer crack" still be used, salt blocks, etc.

Has anyone here in Michigan looked into this?

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Generally, nothing can be used to attract, lure, or do anything with something they eat. In IL there is no baiting, and also no minerals or anything else, regardless of during season or in the off-season. Sorry dude.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Here you go

• Will things like salt blocks, mineral licks and attractants like C'Mere Deer be legal?

No. Anything that's designed to draw a deer to eat or lick it is banned. Attractant scents like doe urine and doe-in-estrus are legal.

• Some people like to feed deer just to view them, not to hunt. Is that still legal?

No. And food put out for other wildlife, like turkeys, is legal only if it is made inaccessible to deer.

• Why isn't baiting banned in the Upper Peninsula?

The CWD plan says that baiting will be banned if an infected deer is found within 50 miles of either of Michigan's peninsulas. The Kent County deer was 250 miles from the UP.

• Food plots are still legal. Aren't they just as likely to spread disease as bait?

Many studies have shown that concentrating bait in piles is far more likely to spread deer disease than food plots. The science is sound on this. In addition, the DNR has no control over agricultural practices and can't legally stop people from growing crops.

• Bait is still being sold by a lot of stations and mom-and-pop stores. Why doesn't the DNR just ban the sale of bait?

Once again, the DNR has the authority to regulate the method and manner by which we hunt deer. It doesn't have the authority to regulate commerce and tell stores what they can sell. It's up to the hunters to end those sales by refusing to buy bait.

• I see deer licking each other all the time. Won't that spread disease?

Deer are social animals and tend to move in groups of three to eight that usually are related, and they do lick each other. What bait piles do is draw in a lot more unrelated deer and increase the amount of contact between them. Bait piles also increase the amount of urine and feces dropped in a small area. Just as a hospital full of sick people is a good place for humans to pick up an infection, a bait pile that draws sick deer is a way to increase the chance of disease spreading among animals.

• If I unknowingly eat venison from a deer with CWD, can I catch the disease?

CWD infects deer species that include whitetails, mule deer, elk and moose. Other mammals, including humans, apparently are immune. However, erring on the side of caution, scientists recommend that people avoid eating meat from a deer known to be infected with CWD or that they think may have the disease.

• They've found a couple of dozen dead deer along the Clinton River in southeast Michigan in the past couple of weeks. Could they have died from CWD?

The DNR is investigating those deer deaths, but tests so far have ruled out CWD, bovine tuberculosis or any other known disease. Biologists are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to see if the deer were poisoned by something in their environment or in the water.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Thanks Germ!!

So you can hunt over food plots and fields but, no feeders or bait piles. I assume we are still able to use items like buck bombs and attractance.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Have they cancelled the rut? Cause we all know that there is going to alot of deer lickin each other at that time;)[:-][:-]

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Thanks for the info! I was wondering the same thing. We don't need the bait, we've got one of the best deer populations in the country ;). Havea goodseason Michigan guys and good luck!

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

I was recently in Meijer and the hunting section with all the mineral licks and the C'mere Deer was stripped.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

sands the DNR reason for baiting banis this and it makes sense. Deer travel in small groups, these groups are very social. Bait brings more "groups" of deer together that might not be together if it was not for the bait. The bait brings these "groups" close together.

I am not against baiting at all, but I understand what the DNR is saying and trying to do.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

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.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Scott:

I've noticed that too. I was curious as to if they would do that or not. I walked into Wal Mart early this week to find that the shelves of attractants had been replaced. The same time last week there was a whole section full. Better safe then sorry I guess.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

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?[&:]

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

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.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Well being we cannot afford gas anymore the deer are safe[&:] I guess we should look behind 2008, a herd with CWD in the wild does no one any good.

I have more faith in hunters of NLP, I bet some find as I have it's easier. You are correct in SLP we have more deer, and differnet terrain which makes it different.

I think we are going to fine, I look forward to hunting NLP this year:)

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Amen on gas. It's sad when $3.65 is a deal. You have me intrigued when you say it's easier. When you're hunting the timber in northern MI with no bait what are your tactics? I may give it a try after all based on what you're saying. I agree CWD needs to go but 1 deer in a confined area and no others are infected. Something stinks in suburbia :).

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

What I question is this rule. Illegal to use attractants to lick. Ok to use attractants as urine and estrus. Did manufacturers cross a fine line when they started making food attractants and the game commissions just haven't outlawed them yet? Sure you're 20' high in a stand and the deer aren't gathering up to eat. But an apple scent is an apple scent. The deer still think they're coming for food. Any idea why that's notconsidered baiting? Or is this only in PA andyou guys up there incrazy Michigan don't have these food scents?

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

The strange thing, I went to Dunham's and they had all their attractants/etc still on the shelf. All the scent attractants and what not are still in Meijer, as well as other places.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Here's what I do

I find beechnut or acorns that are dropping. I hunt a trail near there, as the deer move to the next area where mast crops are droping I move with them.
I also look for places with water and the access is hidden.

When I talk "easier" I am talking about shooting of the deer. I can remember my first deer tha came into my setup when I was 12. She looked at me entire time in the tree. Eat an apple, look in the tree, eat apple look in the tree. I ask my Dad and gramps, what is up with that? I never used it again in NLP.

I think a better way to state it, and I think you will agree.

With Bait easier to "find deer" harder to shoot
Without bait harder to find deer, easier to shoot because they are not on alert.

Here is the buck I will be hunting in NLP this fall. I walked a lot to find it;) This is a NLP buck


Now if my dipper as I call them are still there[&:] I have setup what some call scent traps/scrape traps. I have mock scrape/old scrapes I think he uses and have been keeping them fresh with sent since May. Will see if it works

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Really? Even before TB? I grew up hunting Alcona County and I had many days of seeing 40+ deer in a single sit. Especially in December and without bait. I know things are different now but it was WAY overpopulated within the last 20 years. Even very marginal habitat was holding plenty of deer.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Germ, I agree 100%. It's much easier to shoot a deer that is unsuspecting and every deer up there that comes into bait acts as though they're entering the firing squad. Keep me posted on the dipper, I'm interested. I tried a couple up there last year and had them ripped down by a big nasty bruin. He didn't like me.

Vito, I've seen lots of deer up there also, I'm talking within bow range. Up there I've sat for days and not had one pass within my 30 yard range and down here I don't sit a night without at least a doe if not a spike or small buck walking within range. Down here I hunt farm land fence rows and ditch banks where my cameras show me they are moving.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

I hunt a farm along the Flint River near Montrose, and most of the deer I see travel along the river to the soybean or corn fields, then back to their beds deep in the timber. I also hunt in big woods in the TB Zone which is no baiting, and I actually see more deer up there. I think the ban on baiting causes them to move more during the daytime. They have to graze to find food instead of gorging themselves on a bait pile at night and bedding down all day.

I also think hunting pressure has alot to do with it. Down here, I hunt a farm that gets hunted by at least 7 other guys, which sucks. Up north in the no bait zone, there aren't many bow hunters.

RE: Michigan Baiting
 

Where to you hunt at up north? We hunt around the Onaway/Cheboygan area. Our biggest problem up there when baiting was black bear. My family has taken a number of nice deer from up there but always over bait. I may just give it a shot for a couple weekends up this year now that there's sure to be less hunters and see if I can't settle in near some nuts or a water source.