A ban on baiting for hunting and feeding deer for recreational viewing was put into effect for Oconto and Menominee counties on November 1.
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was detected in a captive white-tailed deer on a private hunting preserve in Oconto County and reported by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection in late September.
State law requires that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources enact a ban on feeding and baiting of deer in a county if it is within a 10-mile radius of the known location of a domestic or wild animal that has chronic wasting disease.
Menominee County is within a 10-mile radius of the Oconto County property on which the CWD-positive deer was found.
This Oconto County location is also within 10 miles of Shawano County, however Shawano County already has a feeding and baiting ban in place from when it was designated as a CWD-affected area in 2014.
Chronic wasting disease has not been detected in the wild deer population in Oconto and Menominee counties.
A release from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says that they are aware of the challenge such a sudden change may present for hunters, wildlife watchers and businesses that sell bait and/or feed, but that their goal is to have a healthy wild deer herd.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources also stated that individuals may still feed birds and small mammals, provided the feeding devices are within 50 yards of a human dwelling and unable to be accessed by deer.
For more information regarding baiting and feeding regulations and chronic wasting disease in Wisconsin, you can visit the DNR's website.
