North Dakota House committee gives 'do-pass' recommendation to baiting bill
Apr. 4—BISMARCK — After making amendments, a North Dakota House committee has given a "do-pass" recommendation to SB 2137, a bill that would
prevent the Game and Fish Department from restricting the use of supplemental feed
for hunting big game on private land, a practice commonly known as "baiting."
Currently, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department prohibits baiting big game on private land in hunting units with confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease or in units within 25 miles of a confirmed CWD case.
A neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose, CWD is always fatal.
The House Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday, April 3, amended SB 2137 to limit the amount of bait that can be placed at a given site to 50 gallons. In addition, the supplemental feed may not be placed within 50 feet of any property used for animal agriculture.
In addition to the 50-gallon limit and 50-foot setback requirement, the committee recommended the Game and Fish Department "shall conduct chronic wasting disease surveillance and testing" and provide a report to Legislative Management by July 31, 2029, "regarding an update on the surveillance and testing protocols and procedures for chronic wasting disease in the state."
The committee gave a do-pass recommendation to the amended legislation by an 8-4 vote. If ultimately passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong, the legislation would be effective through July 31, 2029.
Authored by Sen Keith Boehm, R-Mandan, SB 2137 has been perhaps the most hotly contested piece of outdoors-related legislation to be introduced during this year's North Dakota legislative session. Dozens of people on both sides of the issue have weighed in on the bill, which passed the Senate by a 31-15 vote.
Baiting also was a hot topic during the 2023 North Dakota legislative session, and the Senate in the closing days of the session narrowly defeated a bill with provisions similar to the legislation now being debated. HB 1151 initially sailed through the House by a 76-18 vote before being defeated in the Senate by a 26-21 vote.
In its plan for managing CWD, a restriction on baiting currently is one of five tools the Game and Fish Department uses to mitigate the fatal disease. Science has shown the risk of spreading the disease is heightened by close contact.
Other tools in the CWD mitigation toolbox are carcass transport restrictions, surveillance and testing, proper carcass disposal (preferably in a landfill) and education/outreach to keep people informed.
If SB 2137 ultimately passes, Game and Fish still would have authority to manage the disease "in every aspect except baiting," said Rep. Todd Porter, R-Mandan, chairman of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
"I think we're codifying their authority inside the disease," Porter said.
The bill now awaits a vote in the full House.
The Game and Fish Department in February said it confirmed 17 new cases of CWD in North Dakota during the 2024 sampling season, mainly in the western part of the state. Of that total, 15 deer were taken by hunters and two were clinical deer confirmed through diagnostic examination, the department said.
There have been 122 confirmed cases of CWD in North Dakota since 2009, when the disease first was documented in Unit 3F2 in the south central part of the state.
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