Despite support of the State House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) vetoed a bill Thursday that would have repealed a ban on deer baiting in Michigan.
Legislation author Rep. Michele Hoitenga blasted the governor for ignoring bipartisan support for Bill 4687.
The veto is the first full veto in Whitmer’s term. The democrat from Lansing was elected in 2018.
“The governor continues to illustrate that she is completely out of touch with people in northern Michigan,” Hoitenga said. “The baiting ban does absolutely nothing to prevent the spread of disease among our deer. In fact, it’s having the opposite effect by driving hunters away from the sport. Thinning out the deer herd is the best way to prevent disease from spreading. We need hunters to participate to prevent overpopulation.”
Introduced as part of House Bill 4687, the legislation would overturn the ban on deer baiting and feeding in Michigan. The bill originally passed the House (57-49), and then the Senate (21-14), and again in the House (61-44).
Michigan banned baiting earlier this year. The state also sold 20,000 fewer gun-deer licenses during this year’s recently concluded hunt.
Hoitenga said she plans to continue fighting for a solution to this issue and called on the governor’s office and the DNR to work with her on a compromise.
Michigan’s hunting community is unique in that hundreds of thousands of hunters rely on small properties for deer hunting. It is not uncommon for deer hunters to pursue whitetails on properties as small as 5 to 20 acres in size. The state was once home to more than 850,000 whitetail hunters. Today, there are about 500,000.
