Baiting, I know this has been discussed and discussed this is just my rant....LOL

[BenA]

Great looking food plot! nice job! Also, I see your point. Makes sense. I suppose my logic is somewhat flawed and I am not too arrogant to admit it.

That's not mine. But, I've had some plots with that much pressure. it shows how much pressure can be put on food plots. It's a good idea to put exclusion cages on plots to see what the actual usage is.

 

[SwampCat]

Looks like lower MI is making a push to legalize baiting. The lady legislator said it was about hunter recruitment. I just skimmed thru it.

Michigan total deer harvest has fallen from 300,000 to 220,000 over the past five years. Anyone have a clue the reason for this. Are there that much fewer hunters where they arent killing as many deer, fewer deer - or a combination of both?

Something else I have noticed among my era of hunters in my area. About half of them are now quality deer hunters. Like me, up until ten or fifteen years ago, we killed all the law would allow - five. Now, many of us kill one or none. I havent killed a doe in 8 years. Neither has my wife. I am fairly sure I have killed over 100 does in my life, but none in the last 8 years. Of my four hunting grand daughters, they killed one doe this year And I fully expect all of them but one to quit hunting when they move out of the house. They all have lifetime hunting licenses but will be used very little after they are 18 years old.

Do more deer need to be killed in Michigan - or is the loss of hunter numbers concerning strictly because of loss of hunters and not the herd control benefits they provide?

 

[SwampCat]

Looks like lower MI is making a push to legalize baiting. The lady legislator said it was about hunter recruitment. I just skimmed thru it.

I did a little research to answer my own questions. Michigan does have a problem. Hunter numbers have declined by over 33%. Deer numbers are increasing. 58,000 deer car collisions. 1700 people injured. Many folks on this forum forget that dept of natural resources have the responsibility to manage population numbers - including deer populations that get too high. That means reducing hunting restrictions - making it easier to kill deer. Exactly how our g&f department views baiting - a tool to control deer populations.

Michigan has a deer overpopulation problem. I doubt allowing baiting has much effect on the population - but it is something to try. The deer harvest in the early 2000’s when almost no one baited in our state was 194,000. Now when almost everyone baits - we might hit 190,000 this year - almost identical.