LANSING, MI (WTVB) – Michigan residents can now legally feed deer and elk on their properties following a bipartisan bill signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Under House Bill 4350, citizens are permitted to place less than two gallons of feed on the ground at any given time.
The new parameters state that the food must be located within 300 feet of a residence and is restricted strictly to recreational viewing or preventing wildlife from starving.
Previously, residents in certain zones faced potential fines or criminal charges if deer or elk ate from backyard structures like bird feeders, Stae Representative Jennifer Wortz said that actually happened to a Michigan legislature
While the new law expands options for backyard wildlife viewing, it does not lift the state’s ban on utilizing feed to bait deer for hunting purposes in the Lower Peninsula.
State wildlife officials and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources have previously warned against widespread feeding, citing that artificial food sources concentrate wildlife populations and accelerate the spread of infectious conditions like chronic wasting disease (CWD) and bovine tuberculosis.
Because of these biological risks, state authorities note that regional disease-management agreements with federal regulators may still restrict feeding permissions in specific high-risk zones of the state.
I see hoping the animals during the winter time. But at the same time you say no baiting to hunt over, but if the deer are hungry and you have one with a disease, they are going to spread the disease, trying to find food by walking a mile or 2 spreading the disease, it just does not make any sense, bring back beating. It also brings a more ethical shot. So the deer don’t run far after being hit.