Feeding deer banned in Shawano and Waupaca counties

[Dewey]

News Release Published: February 6, 2014 by the Central Office
Contact(s): Jeff Pritzl, Northeast District Wildlife Supervisor, (920) 662-5127
MADISON - The baiting and feeding of white-tailed deer is now banned in Waupaca and Shawano counties, the state Department of Natural Resources reports.
The ban, required by state law, went into effect today. The action was spurred by the discovery of a CWD-positive white-tailed deer in November on a privately owned captive deer farm in Marathon County. Implementation was delayed to avoid interference with deer hunting during the ongoing 2013 deer season at the time of discovery.
Shawano and Waupaca counties are within a 10-mile radius of the Marathon County property on which this CWD-positive captive deer was found. State law requires that counties within a 10-mile radius of a game farm or free-ranging CWD-positive are included in the baiting and feeding prohibition.
The baiting and feeding of deer is now banned in 35 of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
"We understand that this may be disappointing news to some who use bait for deer hunting or are feeding deer for enjoyment or because they are seeking to help them through this winter," said Jeff Pritzl, DNR wildlife supervisor for northeast Wisconsin.
"Supplemental winter feeding of deer unnecessarily increases the risk of spreading CWD and other diseases by concentrating deer activity at one spot. Long-term herd health is important to preserving our great hunting tradition. It is a foundation of tourism and vital to local businesses. This outweighs any possible benefit to individual deer or deer watchers provided by feeding."
For more information search the DNR website for "baiting and feeding regulations."
Individuals can still feed birds and small mammals provided the feeding devices are at a sufficient height or are otherwise designed to prevent access by deer and the feeding device is within 50 yards of a human dwelling. This ban does not affect the use of bait for hunting bear or training bear dogs.

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[BassBoysLLP]

I'm surprised they haven't moved to a statewide ban.

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[wmahunter]

They have a ban down here in florida on feeding bears due to a few bears having aggresive interactions with humans. In fact an 80 year old lady is in jail right now for continuing to feed bears when they had already told here to stop.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... 0590.story

[Czabs]

Whats everyones take on it? Not a big deal for me.

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[Kraftd]

Shawano County is our home base and I couldn't be happier. My only fear is that I have a hard time seeing it ending baiting. We're in the northern half of the County that is kind of the bridge between big woods and farmland. It seems the deer get more and more nocturnal every year. Baiting is still a preferred tactic in many of those areas.

No personal issues with it, my dad puts out some corn and apples during bow season but he's closer to 70 than 60, so he's not quite as mobile as the past. If people follow, this will make hunting much more enjoyable to me, since it should increase more natural deer movement.

[Bowhunting Brian]

wonder how long it will be before they ban food plots. that little roll out Magic Carpet food plot is pretty small. not much different than a bait pile.

[Dewey]

The season that baiting and feeding was banned (2002?) really opened up my eyes how much the practice affects deer movement. That season our group saw MUCH more daylight movement by far than we have ever seen in the northwoods. It was crazy how much better the hunting was that year. The deer were forced to be on their feet more browsing naturally instead of bedding by the nearest bait pile and then filling up after dark.

Not sure how much baiting and feeding goes on up in Shawano or Waupaca counties but it will only make hunting better in my opinion.

[Czabs]

I hunt in both Waupaca and Shawano, I'm glad this is happening. The reason for the ban is pretty dumb though in my opinion.

[Dewey]

I hunt in both Waupaca and Shawano, I'm glad this is happening. The reason for the ban is pretty dumb though in my opinion.

Much better than the alternative of creating a CWD Zone. I live and hunt on the edge of the current zone right now and worry every year it is going to be expanded to my county. So far it hasn't affected me.
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[Czabs]

I hunt in both Waupaca and Shawano, I'm glad this is happening. The reason for the ban is pretty dumb though in my opinion.

Much better than the alternative of creating a CWD Zone. I live and hunt on the edge of the current zone right now and worry every year it is going to be expanded to my county. So far it hasn't affected me.
[ Post made via iPhone ]

You are correct, I am grateful. CWD zones make no sense to me.

[Kraftd]

My read is that they were probably looking for a reason to ban baiting and this presented something with at least some kind of explanation. Baiting is still pretty prevalent in our area, but I wonder how much this will curb it. I have a feeling there are plenty of piles much larger than two gallons out there as it is.

Agree on the CWD comments though. Even in Shawano County I worry that eventually it will hit us before the adjust the approach.

[ihookem]

For the life of me I don't know why a hunter would have to bait to get a deer there. DNR says there are 134 deer per sq mi. in unit 62b. I don't see bait being effective with all the corn, food plats, and oak trees anyway. I hunted unit 62 b ( waupaca) and 47 ( Shawano) I even had no problem getting a deer and I'm the worst hunter on this sight!! At least I'm number 1 in something. It is becoming a huge QDM area anyway and trophy bucks skirt bait piles 100 yds down wind anyway . My take on baiting is much like Dewys. If we get the corn out of the woods the deer browse half the day or so. With corn they sit under pine trees in the sun and sleep all day. Tril cams prove deer movement is way down on weekends when the deer hear Atv's s. A deer camp runs ATV's on 175 ac. of their private land and also into public land feeding corn every Friday afternoon. That is ussually when we pack up and go home cause we see a fraction of deer movement with corn in the woods.

[trad4life]

Get rid of baiting statewide. People need to learn how to hunt.

[Kraftd]

We're 62B and 47 too, we have also noticed the movement dying on the weekends even during the rut the last couple of years. Unfortunately I planned my couple of days away from a 1 and 2 year old last year for a weekend. Should have stayed down south for the weekend and gone up Monday evening. My dad stayed north all week and went from no bucks sighted Friday pm through Sunday with no new rubs and no scrape activity to things bouncing back to normal by Monday pm. Better planning next year, and more time with the kids being older....

[ihookem]

And the truth is bait makes deer so tame over the years. We put out a cup of corn, maybe some old cereal and they come right in. They are not even scared around the cabin. If I go 100 yds in the woods and put out corn they are almost as tame. I have even talked to bucks already while eating corn while on the deer stand. They don't even care. Step on some leaves though and they take off. For the most part you can condition a deer to almost walk up to you if they get used to you . We go to our cabin only a few times in the fall and they get this tame. I am sure I can get them to feed out of my hand if I lived up there.