Baiting Deer Is Bullshit That Should Be Banned

I’ve been disturbed by seeing deer baiting (by mainly bowhunters) in the woods behind my house for years now (See above).

I think it is a grossly lazy, unskilled, unsportsmanlike, and unethical practice – especially for hunting with firearms.

I mean, how hard is it to sit on your ass in that deer stand and ambush a deer you baited?

Worse, baiting has negative impacts on the deer herd and efforts to manage it:

When deer congregate together, often repeatedly at a bait pile, they come into close contact. They spread germs and diseases among each other as they lick, touch noses, sneeze, breath, urinate and defecate near the bait pile [source: Sperling]. Once these disease start to spread they can be hard — and extremely expensive — to contain.

Baiting can also have lasting impacts on the animal, causing changes in the feeding patterns, reproduction habits, overall behavior and migration [source: Sperling]. If they know there’s a bait pile in your back yard, they stop hunting for it themselves and become dependant upon you. And often, the bait doesn’t meet the nutritional value that deer need. If the bait is too high in carbohydrates or starches, as is often the case, it can cause damage to the digestion process, sometimes resulting in death.

But what really set me off was my recent experience in Baldpate Mountain in Mercer County, where the public Park is closed for hunting.

I was not aware that hunters baited deer there – especially because the whole rationale is to reduce deer herds in the park and minimize damaging deer browse. Of course, baiting lures deer into the park.

But, getting back to what really set me off – as bad as baiting is – was learning that in addition to closing the parks for hunters, Mercer County allows hunters TO USE ATV’s to bait deer!

According to Jenn Rogers, Mercer County Parks Dept.

Currently, some hunters are allowed ATVs for the purpose of retrieving deer and baiting.

NJ DEP apparently supports baiting too, and isn’t reluctant or ashamed to issue press releases touting that:

And all that, my friends, is truly disgusting and should end immediately.

Joint me in an effort to reform the Mercer County deer management plan at Baldpate.

The next meeting is Wednesday February 29, 2012 at the Mercer County Wildlife Center on Rt. 29. in Hopewell.