Arguably the most famously outspoken hunter from the world of music, Ted Nugent is chiming in on Michigan’s deer baiting ban.
By Eric Pickhartz
Avid hunter and Michigan-born musician Ted Nugent has told Michigan lawmakers that the state’s deer baiting ban will be detrimental to the state’s hunting heritage and business. He spoke in favor of new legislation that would allow the feeding of deer and elk, as well as baiting during deer hunting season.
Nugent was quoted saying the baiting ban would “chase hunting families out of the sport for absolutely no reason.”
The feedback came during Tuesday’s House Government Operations Committee Hearing at the State Capitol building. He testified in support of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Michele Hoitenga, R-Manton, and Sen. Curt VanderWall, R-Ludington, who had previously introduced similar legislation in the state Senate.
Currently, baiting bans are in effect during hunting season in the Lower Peninsula and parts of the Upper Peninsula.
The testimony given by Nugent gets a little heated at times, but maybe that’s not unexpected from the Motor City Madman.
Banning Bating to Fight Disease
Nugent questioned the scientific justification for the ban, saying, “If a disease can be transmitted by nose to nose contact, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” His argument that baiting deer has little to no effect on what would happen anyway is common amongst those on that side of the fence.
“I don’t have a lab coat and I’ve never spent a time in the laboratory,” Uncle Ted told lawmakers. “What I have observed and what I have witnessed every year of my life is totally opposite of what the epidemiologists have forced us to adopt.”
No one from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) or the Natural Resources Commission was present for their own testimony. Officials from those agencies have been on record saying deer baiting can have negative effects on efforts to control the spread of disease, specifically chronic wasting disease (CWD).