Hunters wore orange shirts to the Capitol on Jan. 17, 2025, in support of a bill to end restrictions on using bait to hunt deer. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
BISMARCK (North Dakota Monitor) – Orange-clad hunters herded into the North Dakota Capitol on Friday, calling for lawmakers to pass a bill that would end restrictions on using bait for deer hunting.
Senate Bill 2137 is only eight lines of text, saying that the state can’t restrict using feed for hunting a big-game animal.
Several landowners and hunters testified that restrictions by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department are an overreaction to the threat of chronic-wasting disease, or CWD, to deer in the state.
Matt Seykora of Bottineau is in an area with baiting restrictions because of a CWD detection. He testified in favor of a similar bill that failed in 2023.
He said the Game and Fish Department sold the threat of CWD — which can be fatal in deer — as an epidemic. But Seykora said the numbers don’t bear that out.
“They have gone against their own regulations, and they’ve gone against their own hypothesis-based science,” Seykora said of Game and Fish.
Gabe Thompson of Antler said Game and Fish has not properly managed deer populations, leaving hunters to appeal to the Legislature.
Sen. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan, speaks during a public hearing of the Senate Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee on Jan. 17, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
Sen. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan, is the lead sponsor of the bill that was heard in the Senate Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee.
In written testimony, Charlie Bahnson, wildlife veterinarian for Game and Fish, said that while CWD is still rare in North Dakota, the department needs flexibility to manage it and other disease threats to wildlife and livestock.
“We do our best to navigate some sort of middle ground on this issue, balancing the wishes of those who enjoy hunting over bait with the fact that both research and past agency experience demonstrate that congregating deer adds voluntary disease risk,” he wrote.
Some testimony, including from the North Dakota chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, supported the department’s stance.
While feed can be made available for wildlife, the restrictions prevent hunting as game approach the bait.
Several hunters testified that hunting with bait improves the success rate, helping control the population and making the sport available to younger and older hunters and those with disabilities, including disabled veterans.
Seykora and some other hunters also complained that the restrictions are vague, with no guidelines on how far away a deer must be from a bait pile to be legal to shoot.
A similar proposal in 2023, House Bill 1151, passed the House but failed in the Senate 26-21.
The committee took no action after hearing testimony Friday.
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