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Ban won’t impact disabled hunters

ESCANABA — The Michigan Natural Resources Commission decided to ban deer baiting and feeding in part of the central Upper Peninsula recently in response to the discovery of a case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the area. Ken Buchholtz — chairman of the local Wheelin’ Sportsmen program and a member of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Accessibility Advisory Council — shared his thoughts on what this will mean for hunters with disabilities in the U.P.

Wheelin’ Sportsmen gives hunters with disabilities a chance to go hunting again. The Wheelin’ Sportsmen activity Buchholtz is involved with takes place primarily in Delta County.

“We’re outside of the core surveillance area,” he said.

The Core CWD Surveillance Area consists of a 660-square-mile area made up of portions of the counties of Menominee, Delta and Dickinson surrounding the point where a CWD case was found in Waucedah Township. Currently, deer baiting and feeding is not allowed in this area, but is allowed elsewhere in the U.P.

According to Buchholtz, some places where his program is active — including the townships of Escanaba and Ford River — are included in the U.P.’s expanded surveillance area for CWD. Hypothetically, if baiting and feeding restrictions were to be introduced in the expanded surveillance area, Wheelin’ Sportsmen would be unable to set up deer hunts for hunters with disabilities in this area during Michigan’s regular firearm deer season.

Deer harvested in the Core CWD Surveillance Area will continue to be tested for CWD, Buchholtz said. If more infected deer are found near the area’s boundaries, he said baiting and feeding restrictions in the U.P. will “more than likely” be expanded.

U.P. hunters with disabilities in the core surveillance area will be able to take advantage of an exception to the ban at certain times during the year. This will include the Liberty Hunt; for 2019, the hunt is scheduled for Sept. 14 and 15.

“They can start on the 9th, and then bait through the 14th,” Buchholtz said.

The exception will also be in place for hunters with disabilities shortly before the Independence Hunt in October, Buchholtz said. The Liberty and Independence Hunts will be held on private land only.

Aside from these hunts, however, hunters with disabilities will not be allowed to engage in deer baiting in the Core CWD Surveillance Area.

“Otherwise, we’ve got to go by the rules and regulations just like everybody else,” Buchholtz said.

For more information on CWD in Michigan, visit www.michigan.gov/CWD.

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