Baiting and feeding ban goes into effect in Marathon and Wood counties Dec. 15, 2008
MADISON – The Department of Natural Resources announced today that, in accordance with existing state law, a baiting and feeding ban on white tailed deer will go into effect on December 15, 2008 in Marathon and Wood counties. The action is being taken because a CWD-positive white-tailed deer was confirmed by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection on a 119-acre shooting preserve in Portage County. Baiting and feeding of deer was banned in Portage County several years ago due to confirmation of CWD positive deer on a deer farm near Almond in September 2002.
Marathon and Wood counties are within a 10-mile radius of the Junction City deer farm on which this CWD-positive deer was confirmed. State law requires that counties or portions of counties within a 10-mile radius of a game farm or free-ranging CWD-positive are included in the baiting and feeding prohibition. With the addition of Marathon and Wood, baiting and feeding of deer is banned in 28 Wisconsin counties.
“The discovery of a new CWD case in another Wisconsin county is disappointing,” said DNR Secretary Matt Frank. “As required by state law, we are extending the ban on baiting and feeding of deer to Marathon and Wood counties to reduce the risk of further disease transmission,” Frank said.
“Baiting and feeding of deer unnecessarily increases the risk of spreading CWD and tuberculosis (TB) to our wild deer herd and also spreading TB to the state’s dairy herd. Animal health is important to preserving our great hunting tradition and our dairy industry,” Frank said. TB in Minnesota’s deer herd has led to expensive dairy herd quarantines, and in just the last few months, CWD has been identified for the first time in Michigan’s deer herd.
Frank added, “Baiting and feeding also contributes to higher deer populations which threaten the regeneration of our forests and, in turn, Wisconsin’s forest-based industries And it leads to more car-deer collisions,” Frank said.
Effective December 15, 2008, hunters can no longer use bait to hunt deer in Marathon and Wood counties. The feeding of deer in these counties is prohibited as well. Individuals can still feed birds and small mammals provided the feeding devices are at a sufficient height or design to prevent access by deer and the feeding device is within 50 yards of a human dwelling.
The 28 counties in which baiting and feeding of white tailed deer is banned include: Adams, Calumet, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Lafayette, Manitowoc, Marathon (effective 12/15/08,) Marquette, Milwaukee, Portage, Racine, Richland, Rock, Sauk, Sheboygan, Vernon, Walworth, Waukesha, Waushara, and Wood (effective 12/15/08) counties.
In the past two years, the case for prohibiting baiting and feeding deer in Wisconsin has been strengthened by additional research into deer disease transmission and the behavioral responses of deer to the repeated placement of small volumes of food. Read a DNR baiting and feeding report (pdf) on the DNR Web site.
In cooperation with Wisconsin Public Television’s Dan Small, the department has also produced a short video that explores the many issues associated with baiting and feeding. For radio reporters, Chief Conservation Warden Randy Stark has recorded a sound bite on the risks of baiting and feeding on herd and forest health.
A map of affected counties and rule specifics are on the department’s Web site and will be updated December 15 to include Wood and Marathon counties.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Hauge, Director, Bureau of Wildlife Management (608) 266-2193; or Bill Delanis, Chief, Wildlife Health Section (608) 266-3143
