| Subject: Baiting Bill Introduced for Georgia |
Author:
Glenn
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Date Posted: 13:39:41 01/26/02 Sat
On January 23, a bill to legalize the hunting of deer over bait was drafted in the House of Representatives, the first new attempt to do so since 1994.
House Bill 1095 is sponsored by Rep. Austin Scott, a Republican from Tifton. Co-sponsors include Democrats Jay Shaw of Lakeland, Chuck Sims of Douglas, Terry Barnard of Glennville and Johnny Floyd of Cordele.
The bill would make it legal for licensed hunters to take deer or hogs around a mechanical feeder so long as the hunter had purchased a license to hunt over the device, such license not to exceed $25. The license, according to Rep. Scott, would be similar to a boat registration tag and would be physically applied to the feeder. Each feeder being hunted over would have to have its own license; feeders not being hunted would not require a license. The only type of feeder eligible for the license would be battery-operated, spin-cast type feeders. So, troughs, tubes, fake stumps, and hand-scattered grain would not be eligible for the license and could not be legally hunted over.
“I think this is a reasonable compromise between DNR’s position of absolutely no baiting and what a lot of sportsmen want with just wide-open baiting,” Rep. Scott told GON. “I don’t agree with pouring corn on the ground, because when that corn gets wet and mildews, that is not good for deer, turkeys, or anything else that eats it.”
Rep. Scott said one intent of the bill is to help more people get involved in hunting by making it easier for them to see deer. Rep. Scott remarked that he had seen 65 deer this season himself, and GON pointed out that it hadn’t been too difficult for him to see deer without legalized baiting.
“No, but I’m hunting over a food plot,” he responded, “and a lot of people don’t have money to plant food plots. Some people still won’t have money to buy the feeder or the permit, but what we want is for more people to get involved in the sport.”
The Conservation Congress, a panel of hunting, fishing and conservation groups in Georgia, has sent a letter to legislators asking them to maintain the ban on hunting deer over bait. They cite surveys which show that baiting is seen by the non-hunting public as unethical, unsporting conduct. GON asked Rep. Scott about the charge, likely to be used against his bill, that baiting is not hunting, it is merely shooting, and will attract anti-hunters.
“I recognize that some of the critics are going to cry that it’s not sportsmanlike,” he said. “I disagree with them. I think most of us, whether we’re sitting close to a feeder or not, are going to kill the same number of deer. Is it going to make hunting more fun for kids because they’re seeing more deer? Yes. Whether somebody actually kills more deer, I doubt it.”
Other states, such as Florida, allow hunting over feeders as long as the food supply is maintained year round, making the bait a true food source and not just an ambush site created only when hunters need venison. HB 1095 sets no requirements about how long licensed feeders should be kept full, but Rep. Scott said he would “happily” add such a requirement if DNR or legislative committees wanted it inserted.
“It’s my intent, if it’s legal, to put my feeder out and leave it there year round,” he said.
Rep. Scott said he is aware the bill will likely draw the attention of anti-hunters. “The Humane Society will be up there, I’m sure,” he said. “But the truth is people have been killing deer and eating deer since the beginning of time.”
Although the money from feeder licenses would, by law, go directly to the state treasury, HB 1095 reads: “The General Assembly declares its intent to appropriate to the Wildlife Endowment Fund each fiscal year an amount equal to that generated by the prior year’s sales of licenses.” The fund is the one created to receive money from Lifetime Sportsman’s Licenses, and which by law may be used only for conservation and management of wildlife and fisheries, or the purchase of habitat.
For more on the baiting issue, read the editorial on page 122. Also, GON wants to find out what you think — see the coupon on page 80.
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