Natural resources: hunting; deer baiting license; provide for. Amends secs. 40102 & 40111a of 1994 PA 451 (MCL 324.40102 & 324.40111a).

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Joe Aragona and 18 co-sponsors

Allows a limited deer baiting option during bans with a $20 license, 5 gallons/day at a site, funding disease research and surveillance from license fees.

bill electronically reproduced 03/11/2025

#naturalresources:hunting

HB 4191 — Deer baiting license (amends MCL 324.40102 & 324.40111a)

Status & sponsor
- Introduced March 11, 2025; electronically reproduced 03/11/2025. Read a first time and referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources and Tourism.
- Introduced in the House by Rep. Timothy Beson with multiple co-sponsors (see bill text for full list).

Purpose
- To authorize a limited, licensed form of deer baiting during open deer season even where the Natural Resources Commission has issued a ban or restriction on deer/elk baiting, and to establish a dedicated $20 deer baiting license with restrictions and a specified use for license revenue.

Key provisions
- Definitions (amends MCL 324.40102)
- Clarifies and reorganizes definitions related to “deer or elk baiting,” “deer or elk feeding,” and “feed.”
- Reiterates exclusions: incidental scattering from normal logging/agricultural practices; bird feeding that excludes deer/elk; feed stored/used for bona fide agricultural purposes (with specified conditions).

Deer baiting license and conditions (adds/changes MCL 324.40111a)

If the Natural Resources Commission issues an order banning or restricting deer/elk baiting, the bill allows an individual — subject to limits below — to still engage in deer baiting during an open deer season provided the individual:
Purchases a deer baiting license (fee: $20.00); and
Possesses a valid deer hunting license.
Daily bait quantity limit: no more than 5 gallons of bait per day at each bait site.
Fee revenue use: monies raised by the deer baiting license must be used for one or more of the following:
Research on chronic wasting disease (CWD), bovine tuberculosis, or other diseases in free‑ranging deer/elk;
Surveillance of those diseases, including testing of free‑ranging deer or elk.

Who is affected
- Hunters who engage in baiting: would need to purchase the new $20 baiting license (in addition to a deer hunting license) and comply with the 5‑gallon/day/site limit.
- Natural Resources Commission / DNR: implements and enforces the new license option and ensures collected funds are used for the specified disease research/surveillance purposes.
- Landowners and agricultural interests: existing agricultural and logging practice exemptions remain in the bill text.

Other notable points
- The bill does not repeal the commission’s authority to ban or restrict baiting; rather it creates a limited licensed exception when such restrictions are in place.
- The bill directs license revenue to wildlife disease research and surveillance rather than to general fund purposes.
- Fiscal impact is not detailed in the provided text; however, license fee revenue is earmarked for disease research and surveillance activities.

For full text and legislative history, consult the enrolled/introduced bill documents and committee materials referenced in the bill file.