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Michigan Ban on Baiting too Vague

blake

blake

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Judge: Michigan Ban on Deer Baiting Too Vague

GAYLORD, Mich. (AP) A judge in Otsego County has thrown out a case against a man charged under Michigan's ban on baiting and feeding deer in the Lower Peninsula, saying the ban is too vague.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment that it's not clear whether the ruling Thursday by 87th District Court Judge Patricia Morse effects just the county or the entire state.

Ken Borton was charged with illegally feeding deer from bird feeders. Morse said the ban was "unconstitutionally vague."

Borton said he just wanted to feed birds.

DNRE spokeswoman Mary Dettloff said on Saturday that the state was looking into the ruling.

The ban was imposed after a case of chronic wasting disease was discovered in a Kent County deer in 2008.
 
The ban there is a joke anyway. Stores still sell bagged beets and carrots, from what I hear. Don't think humans are developing a taste for sugar Beets.
 
Stores in Iowa sell C'mere Deer and Acorn Rage.Its not illegal to sell it.Its not illegal to use it.But it is illegal to hunt over it.
 
archery95 said:
Stores in Iowa sell C'mere Deer and Acorn Rage.Its not illegal to sell it.Its not illegal to use it.But it is illegal to hunt over it.
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It really is a joke here...it is illegal to feed/ give mieral to deer and elk anytime of the year in the lower peninsula. Yet every gas station and corner store sells bagged sugar beets, apples, carrots, ans shelled corn all fall long. I realize it is not illegal to sell but seriously what are the selling it for?
 
With the TB and CWD in Michigan, I would think the hunters would want to stop baiting and supplemental feeding regardless of the ban!
 
I have a feeling TB wil be there fifty years fron now. I lived there 50 yrs and read news paper clips,, that talked about TB in cattle and wildlife, fifty years before I was born. I bet CWD will always be around too. There are hundreds of high fence hunt operations in MI. At least there were before I left.
 
Man, if only IA would allow baiting, I might get a shot at a nice buck and finally IA would be good hunting like MI is! I'd love to save time from my habitat improvement work and just pay a dump truck to come in with a load of carrots! That's hunting!
 
Yeah but that's just too much work and too hard to hunt. Hunting on fields of "bait" they could come out anywhere and I have to pattern them and figure out where in the hundreds of acres they could be. Most of my "bait fields" are a half mile across VS a lovely bait pile that's 10 feet across. If I could get a dump-truck, man, I could probably get my deer finally!
 
We have been down this road before,beat this Horse before. I am not defending dumping a pile of something somewhere and calling that hunting. It rarely works anyway ecept to attract young deer and racoons. But let's face it,,man made feed is man made feed. Everything we do is done to get an advantage over the animals. I have a well used trail that crosses my land on the way to neighboring fields of manmade food. It is the best trail to hunt. always been that way. Guess sitting on it is unfare,,too easy,,maybe I should move back a few hundred yrds to make it more sporting with my bow.
 
I've heard the argument for years too. Hunting typical IA landscape is too tough for me... 20 to 400 acre fields are common in most places, unfortunately where I hunt too- many are 1 mile x 1/2 mile wide! Even an 80 acre field is 1/2 mile x 1/4 mile. If I could get a dump truck with a 10x20' pile of corn, apples or carrotts, man would I have an advantage! Hunting those fields, I was forced to guess on the 25 different trails that came out, I was forced to scout, learn where and why they were going. I'm not that clever. That's why MI has it so great, putting a massive pile of bait and hunting over it, skip those 200 acre, mile long fields that are common in IA and probably what most guys here have to deal with - get me a 10x20' pile of bait and maybe I'll have a chance, man MI has it great, best of both worlds! The guys that are lucky enough to own land or allowed to plant crops (I'd say most guys are hunting IA's typical landscape and typical farm crops/fields)- they could save days of work, save thousands in seed and fertilizer, take all those acres to use for something else, all the maintanence, etc. Think of how much time, energy, hunting skills neccessary, work, scouting, etc could be saved going from a 1/2 mile x 1/2 mile field to a 10x20' bait pile. I'm moving to another state that allows this.
 
Seems like this has become a private debate. Not sure where you are coming from?? Bait piles don't work very well. I come from Mi and know how it was. Did not make hunting easier. Deer figure the bait idea out. You have to constantly replenish and the human scent factor conditions animals. My only point is everything we have developed to make taking game easier,,High let off bows. Compound bows,scent clothing,scent killing soaps,Camo of every kind,camo ground blinds,20 ft tree stands, heated suits,food plots, decoys,,the list could go on and on. All these man-made tactics and gadgets are to make the harvesting of game easier. Some are more acceptable than others. Dumping a pile of something, in most minds is not. Only real difference.
 
2 person debate is cool with me :)
I'm from MI too. The baiting is a joke, I guess that's my only point. I would argue that it often does make it "easier". Some of the guys I knew in high-school had rich and lazy dads who would pay for WHOLE DUMP TRUCKS to bring apples to their blinds and drop them about 100 yards in front of the blind. All the guys I knew that did that shot a bunch of deer and got their buck every year. Sure, they didn't shoot mature 6 year olds BUT not because the bucks were too smart for the bait BUT because 6 year olds didn't excist there :) Everyone killed the 1&1/2 year old bucks using the bait while many others without did not (1.5 was the good standard in good 'ol MI!) and I could count on all the lazy guys I knew with money putting out their bait and shooting their 4 pointer opening day- which was most folk's goal.

My main point is: It's a joke AND it's also a JOKE to compare the commonly vast crop fields - which in MOST cases are 1/2 mile wide - to 10x20' bait piles. And yes, in all honesty, I see where you are coming from, I understand the debate, I understand someone arguing about the 2 acre clover plot- GOT IT. I understand all the gadgets to make hunting "easier" but I just firmly believe there's no comparison to the massive bait piles and those piles are just so far over the line that they are a JOKE and not worthy of comparison. Just one dude's opinion that won't change a lick of opinion of others on this hottly contested debate that's gone on for years. :)
 
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