Wisconsin Reminds Deer Hunters to Check Baiting Bans Before the Season

Wisconsin deer hunters should check the current county baiting and feeding map rather than rely on last season’s rules. In a September 11 reminder, the Department of Natural Resources explained that new chronic wasting disease detections can reset the length of an existing ban. The release does not announce a new statewide prohibition.

Under the state requirements described by DNR, a confirmed CWD-positive wild or farm-raised deer triggers a three-year baiting and feeding ban in the county where it is found. An adjoining county falls under a two-year ban when the positive deer is found within 10 miles of its boundary. Additional detections can extend those restrictions by resetting the applicable period.

Baiting includes intentionally placing food, scented materials, salts, minerals or grains to attract wild animals for hunting. Feeding covers deliberately placing material to feed or attract wildlife for non-hunting purposes, subject to exceptions. A mineral site is not automatically outside the rules simply because it is not a corn pile.

The disease concern is concentrated deer contact and contamination left behind. Infected animals shed CWD prions in saliva, blood, feces and urine, and healthy deer can encounter those prions directly or through contaminated surroundings. CWD is always fatal, and the prions can persist in soil for a long time.

DNR asks people to refrain from baiting and feeding even where no ban is in effect; that request is separate from an enforceable county ban. In counties with bans, feeding birds and small mammals remains permitted when devices are within 50 yards of a human dwelling and high enough or designed to prevent deer access. The agency’s source release links to its baiting and feeding regulations and active-ban map.