Hunters still breaking deer baiting laws

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Despite increased publicity and harsher penalties, hunters still breaking deer baiting laws

Written by Glen Schmitt, St Cloud Times outdoors writer
Nov. 30, 2013

With the firearms deer season complete, it was quite evident that conservation officers (COs) once again were kept busy tracking down hunters that illegally baited deer.

Throughout all three weeks of the gun season, CO reports across the state were littered with illegal baiting activity.

Enforcement officials with the Department of Natural Resources were hoping that the practice would be less prevalent this year given the publicity illegal baiting received at the end of last year, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Last year, COs issued 166 citations and 49 warnings for hunting over bait. They also confiscated 135 firearms and bows during the 2012 hunting season — the highest number of baiting citations and confiscations issued since the DNR began tracking these violations in 1991.

Although official citation totals haven’t been released for this season, DNR Enforcement Director Col. Ken Soring said it appears baiting was “quite prevalent” again this fall, despite the fact that penalties were increased prior to last season.

“It was an issue again this season and we continue to see increased numbers of convictions for deer baiting, while at the same time the penalties have increased,” Soring said. “It was apparent that a fine and forfeiture of a firearm or bow was not enough to curtail the activity.”

Common illegal baits being used include grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, hay and other foods capable of attracting deer.

This year, COs also encountered a fair number of attractants that were purchased from stores.
Liquid scents and sprays such as “doe in heat,” salts and minerals are not considered bait if they do not contain liquid or solid-food products.

But Soring said if a store-bought salt or mineral product has anything other than salt or mineral in it, it is illegal to use for hunting, and many hunters apparently weren’t reading the labels of those store-bought products closely enough.

“There are still people who think that just because they can buy an attractant off the shelf, then it must be legal in the state, and it’s not,” he said.

“They have to read the ingredient label on all products prior to use, since many of them contain food or attractants such as grains, fruits and sugar derivatives.”