Weaving & Wrapping

I have read through pages and pages of information to determine what information is good, and what isn't.  What can I use and what can't I?  Well I have settled on a group of sources, and the heart of them is a group of questions that I submitted to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department(NDGF) to analyze this topic, and find out what their thoughts on baiting big game in ND is all about.  Before I received this information however, I created ideas on what the information I found on other states stated.  I formed my ideas to what those references said.  I found a greap of photos of baiting sites and what they can look like in the winter time, this was interesting, it was like kids walking to school on a sidewalk.  The WTD are walking single file one behind the other, VERY neat but yet now that I know the information that I do, it is kind of disheartening to see all those animals in one place. 
During the process of forming all my thoughts and figuring out what I learned, I spoke with my parent and my wife about the project to explain what I have been researching and what information I have found out.  The biggest shocker is the information about two of the diseases and how the symptoms of both diseases replicate the symptoms as the Ebola Virus in humans.  This is very sad, and can be spread very easily in the WTD population.  As Bill F. Jensen from the NDGF department says, "...the potential of spreading diseases, and that it concentrates them (WTD) at baiting sites where all animals are now at risk."

Once I received the email from the NDGF, they answered all my questions, but I did then formulate a group of total new questions:

• What scientific proof is there that baiting and feeding actually causes the spread of disease?
• What is the cost to control diseases established in free ranging wildlife, particularly the WTD?
• If baiting and feeding is such a bad thing, how come other states agencies like Wyoming do it?
• What is the difference between a food plot and baiting?
• Do mature bucks come to bait?
• Fishing uses bait, hunting waterfowl uses decoys, we use dogs for pheasant hunting, what's the difference?
• Why not just restrict the amount of bait put out?
• Do we not need baiting to harvest and control deer populations?
• With all the issues right now, why are people picking on baiting?
• The NDGF department  is currently putting out food to attract feral pigs int eh Turgle Mountains.  How can you justify baiting animals when you are telling us there are concerns?
• How many states have prohibited baiting? feeding?
• Baiting can provide a great income for bait suppliers and manufacterers of feeders, we can't afford to loose this.
• Is grain overloading a problem in ND?

All of the above questions were answered by Bill Jensen, NDGF in an emial I received back from him late this last week.  It is amazing what a person can find out in a simple interview.

Combing through all of the information that I found could help people understand what issues lie with baiting.  I have created a binder of information that I am going to use further on this topic.  I plan on sitting down with Mr. Larry Lewis, President of the ND QDMA (Quality Deer Management Association), to discuss the information that I found, and what his thoughts are on the topic based on teh new information.  All of the answers that I received from the NDGF helped me realize  the topic better and how it affects the health of the WTD herd in ND.  This information will be shown with other hunters and landownerd in our area to show what happens or can happen to a herd of WTD while baiting.  There is one instance that I would like to share that most people probably know about, but that is the Bovine Tuburculosis outbreak by Skime, MN.  The TB infection was spread from some infected cattle to the WTD herd.  The MN Department of Natural Resources (DNR) took action to eradicate the deer herd.  Skime is only 60 miles from the ND border, and the NDGF did not take this lightly.  They have since opened a special season in September to help lower the deer numbers in two units that border MN north of Grand Forks.  The TB outbreak in 2005 has since cost the state of MN more than $60 Million for removal of the deer, testing of the deer and testing of other cattle within a certain distance of Skime.

Diseases are definately something real, and something that should not be taken lightly if we wish to keep this wonderful sport alive for our children.