Mississippi Governor Signs Bill To Allow Study Of Deer Baiting

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has signed a bill that will allow the Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to study the notion of allowing hunters to hunt deer over a pile of grain. Presently it is illegal to hunt over the grain but not illegal to feed the deer up until hunting season begins.

Barbour says he’ll let science dictate the issue although he personally views hunting over bait unethical.

Barbour said commissioners will talk to biologists and other scientists to determine whether baiting will have negative effects.

“The commission should develop and make public an appropriate deliberative process that allows the science to decide the outcome,” Barbour said. “I have great confidence the commission will do so, and I appreciate the Legislature’s decision to turn the issue over to the professionals, rather than deciding it on a political basis.”

Tom Remington