Baiting bill could change deer hunting in Alabama

A bill working its way through the Legislature could bring major changes to deer season in the state.

Chasing big bucks means big bucks in this hunting crazy state. Hunting generates a $1.8 billion yearly economic impact in Alabama, according to the Hunting Heritage Foundation. The calculation, by economist Rob Southwick, relies on data from a 2013 report, Hunting in America: An Economic Force for Conservation.

Whitetail deer is the most popular game animal in the state, according to the Alabama Department of conservation and Natural Resources.

Rep. Jack Williams, R-Georgetown, sponsored the bill, which will allow hunters to use bait for deer and feral hogs. The bill passed the House Tuesday and heads to the senate for consideration. The Legislature passed a “supplemental feeding” law in 2016, that went into effect this past hunting season. Williams wants to clear up some of the confusion around that law.

“There have been some problems come up about just what out of sight means under the current law,” he said in a telephone conversation Wednesday. “Is it out of sight when you can’t see it from a stand, but you can see it from the ground? I just think this is a better way to go.”

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Current law allows hunters to use supplemental feed, called bait by most folks, if the feed source is at least 100 yards away from the hunter and out of direct line of sight. Williams’ bill does away with the distance and view requirement, but adds a twist. Each hunter who wants to hunt over bait will be required to buy a $15 yearly license for the privilege. The bait license will be in addition to buying a hunting license. Anyone exempt from buying a hunting license is not exempt from buying the bait license, the bill reads.

Of the bait license fee, $14 will be returned to the conservation department with $1 being an administrative fee for issuing the license.

“We calculated that the annual license will raise between $1.2 and $1.5 million for the conservation department,” Williams said. “Like every other state agency, the conservation department needs more money.”

The Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division of the conservation department is funded through the sale of hunting and fishing licenses and permits and matching federal funds from excise taxes paid on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment and fishing tackle.

Chuck Sykes, director of the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, was out of the office Wednesday, and could not be reached for comment on the division’s position on the bill.

Colby Reynolds, of Prattville, was spending his lunch break Wednesday shopping at the city’s Bass Pro Shops location. He was looking for turkey hunting gear, getting ready for the season which opens in mid-March. He’s an avid deer hunter.

“I never understood the way the law is written now,” he said. “If you can use bait, then why the 100 yard requirement? It just doesn’t make any sense to me. I like this approach.”

Joseph Thompson disagrees with the use of any bait or supplemental feed.

“I don’t know if it’s the best thing we can do for the future of deer hunting in the state,” he said. “Hunting is supposed to be a challenge. It seems like most hunters now just want to climb in a nice shooting house and shoot a big buck within half an hour or so.

“Nobody wants to put in the hard work it takes to learn how to hunt.”

Williams is a hunter himself. He points out that his bill doesn’t do away with the three buck per season bag limit in place, and only covers the baiting of deer and feral hogs. It doesn’t cover using bait to hunt other game animals. The bait must also be in a container, such as a feeder. The feed can’t just be poured out on the ground, he said.

The bill also is a supplement to the current baiting law, it doesn’t replace it, he said. So if hunters want to abide by the requirements that bait must be 100 yards away and out of the line of sight, they don’t have to purchase the $15 yearly bait license.