By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

HART, Mich. — Opponents of a ban on deer baiting in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula are suing to overturn the ruling.

A group of individuals including farmers and business owners impacted by the ban filed a petition Sept. 23 in Ingham County Circuit Court against the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), seeking to lift the ban as Michigan’s deer hunting season nears.

The DNR issued the emergency ruling to ban deer baiting on Aug. 26 after a captive deer in northern Kent County was found to have infectious chronic wasting disease. It was the first case found in Michigan of the fatal neurological disease that has spread from western states through Wisconsin in the last 20 years. It affects deer, elk and moose. The Michigan DNR issued the ban because congregating deer at bait sites increases the chances of spreading the disease.

Gerald Malburg, who grows carrots, sugar beets and corn for deer bait on his farm near Hart, is one of the supporters of the petition.
“We filed a petition to immediately lift the ban on baiting,” said Malburg, who estimates he could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in income this year if the ban stays intact.

He said the group missed a 20-day window to file its petition, making its request 24 days after the ban took effect. However, “the judge accepted the suit against the DNR. Then, we petitioned for an immediate hearing and the judge accepted it.”

That hearing is set for Oct. 9, according to Malburg, and normally could have taken up to 60 days to be scheduled. He said the ban on deer baiting “is quite devastating” to his business; although prior to the ban, state law prohibited baiting before Oct. 1, he said hunters normally would be purchasing their bait now.

“We could be shipping product right now, full tilt,” Malburg said. “What you do is fill the pipelines. The product goes to the packinghouses and is shipped out. A lot of hunters would buy their bait and just not put it out until Oct. 1.