Deer Bait Privilege License
By DAVID RAINER, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Now that the 2019-2020 hunting licenses are on
sale, many hunters are pondering whether to take advantage of a new opportunity
or maintain the status quo. That opportunity is the inaugural bait privilege
license that allows hunting for white-tailed deer and feral pigs with the aid
of bait.
Chuck Sykes, Director of the Alabama Wildlife
and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division, said hunters need to remember that the
bait privilege license was an act of the Alabama Legislature and not a
regulation set by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
“The baiting privilege, first and foremost,
was something that was legislated,” Sykes said. “It was not something the
Department pushed or something that we crafted. This came from the Legislature.
Their constituents wanted to hunt over bait. So, good, bad or indifferent,
we’ve got it.”
Sykes explained what the Alabama legislators
included in the bait privilege legislation.
“Anybody who wishes to hunt over bait must
have a bait privilege license,” Sykes said. “A lot of people think that’s just
corn. Some people are calling it the corn stamp. That’s not true. It includes a
protein feeder, mineral blocks, juices, and sprays. All of that is considered
bait if you’re going to hunt over it. If you are going to do that, you have to
buy a bait privilege license.”
While Alabama requirements for hunting and
fishing licenses have age exemptions and landowner exemptions, the bait
privilege license does not have exemptions.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re 7 or 107 or a
private landowner hunting on your own property,” he said. “There are no
exemptions provided in the legislation. So, everyone who hunts over bait will
have to have that license.”
A conversation that occurred at the Wildlife
and Freshwater Fisheries Division booth at the Buckmasters Expo in August
explained why most deer hunters should consider purchasing a bait privilege
license as a form of insurance.
The hunter said one member of his hunting club
was adamant that he was not going to hunt with the aid of bait, and he wasn’t
going to buy a bait privilege license. However, the other members of the club
are going to purchase bait privilege licenses and hunt with the aid of bait.
“Guess what? That one guy who doesn’t have a
bait privilege license and is a member of a club that chooses to bait is
putting himself at risk to get a ticket,” Sykes said. “Here’s the way I’m
looking at it. Whether I like it or not, whether I, Chuck Sykes, personally
agree with it, I bought one the first day. Now, anybody, I choose to go hunting
with, I don’t have to worry whether they put feed out and it’s been gone for ten
days. I don’t have to worry if their feeder is 90 or 100 yards away and out of
the line of sight according to the ‘area definition’ regulation.
“Whether I hunt over feed or not is irrelevant.
It is a $15 insurance policy, so I don’t have to worry about it. People who are
in these big clubs, there’s always one in every crowd. Even if the club decides
they’re not going to feed, there’s going to be one guy who does it. Fifteen
dollars is a lot cheaper than a $250 ticket.”
For those who insist they are not going to
hunt with the aid of bait and are not buying the bait privilege license, Sykes
said that’s perfectly fine.
“It’s not mandated that you have to hunt over
feed,” he said. “You can hunt oak trees or food plots. Or, if you want to feed,
make sure you’re more than 100 yards away and out of the line of sight because
of natural vegetation or natural terrain. The area definition is still in
effect.”
Hunters who have the bait privilege license
can choose to deploy feed in a number of ways.
Sykes offered an example of his father,
Willie, who lives and farms cattle in Choctaw County.
“This is Chuck talking. My daddy has not
killed a deer in over 40 years,” he said. “But he loves to feed them. I only
get to hunt two or three days a year on my family farm. There have been more
times than not that I have been denied that opportunity because when I get home
on a Friday afternoon, I’ll ask Daddy, ‘When was the last time you put feed
out?’ He’ll say, ‘Oh, I just put a 5-gallon bucket out the other day. I’m sure
it’s already gone.’
“Now that I have a bait privilege license, I
don’t have to worry about it. Does that mean I’m going to have a feeder stuck
out in the middle of the food plot? No. But, if I have the opportunity to come
home and see Daddy, I don’t have to worry about it. I know a bunch of people
who are looking at it that way. I bought Daddy a bait privilege license the
other day on one of the inaugural hard cards for the first year of the license.
He turned 77 on August 3.”
Sykes said one of the most common questions
that comes up about the bait privilege license is, “What do you mean my
grandson has to have a bait privilege license?”
“If the 7-year-old grandson is sitting in a
shooting house with Granddaddy, and there’s a 30-06 and a .223 in that box, and
there’s a feeder in the middle of the field, Granddaddy and his grandson both
need to have a bait privilege license,” he said.
When the Alabama legislators asked for Sykes’
input on the proposed legislation, he said a provision that allows the
Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
(ADCNR) to manage the feeding of wildlife in the event of a disease outbreak
made the bill much more palatable.
“That the Commissioner can manage the feeding,
to me, that makes us a stronger agency now that we have the statutory authority
to manage not only baiting but also feeding of wildlife in the event of a
disease,” Sykes said. “I think, as an agency, we are better off now than before
it passed. And that has nothing to do with hunting over bait.
“When I explain that to the naysayers, they
still don’t like hunting over bait, but they understand that, as an agency, we
were not going to oppose that bill because it gave us the statutory authority
to manage feeding.”
Sykes said quite a few bait privilege licenses
have been sold, and he expects a rush right before deer season opens.
“We’re doing everything we can to get the word
out about the bait privilege license,” he said. “We’ve had it on radio,
newspapers, and magazines, and it’s in the Alabama
Hunting & Fishing Digest.
“One of the problems with this is the resident landowners have done the same thing for so long that many of them don’t pay attention to any changes. Their deer season has been basically the same for 40 or more years. I’m sure it’s going to take a little while to the get the word out to everybody.”
Deer Bait Privilege License Deer Bait Privilege License
