BISMARCK — The North Dakota Senate voted 31-15 Wednesday to pass a bill preventing the North Dakota Game and Fish Department from restricting the use of supplemental feed on private property to hunt big game – commonly referred to as baiting.

Senate Bill 2137 still needs to pass through the House and receive the governor’s signature before it becomes law.

Supporters of the bill say that baiting bans infringe on private property rights and are based on needless fears over the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease. CWD is a brain disease that affects deer, elk, moose and other cervids. The disease always leads to death, and there is no treatment or vaccine for it.

Sen. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan, said 49,596 deer have been tested over 22 years resulting in 105 detections of CWD. He said that detections do not equate to disease — that a deer must be necropsied for confirmation of the disease. He said one deer in North Dakota has been confirmed to have died from CWD.

Boehm said that while deer numbers are declining in the state, it is not a result of CWD.

The Game and Fish Department could not immediately be reached to comment on Boehm’s contentions. The agency has published information since 2009 — the year the first case was detected in North Dakota — on 105 positive cases of CWD identified through its hunter-assisted surveillance program. The department also has previously commented on one documented case of a natural deer death due to the disease — a whitetail found dead and emaciated by a landowner near Williston in February 2019.

Boehm said baiting bans do not make sense when landowners are allowed to feed deer year-round and it only becomes illegal when a deer is killed over the feed piles.

Sen. Paul Thomas, R-Velva, said that the baiting is crucial for elderly and disabled hunters, and bow hunters, who need to bring deer in close to have a chance at harvesting one.

“Bait has been used for a long, long time as that tool that allows that person to at least have a chance,” Thomas said. “Many landowners have that opportunity … because we have certain areas that naturally attract deer. Unfortunately many sportsmen across this state do not have that opportunity. We cannot take that opportunity away from them. I urge you to vote green (yes).”

Opponents of the bill say it strips the Game and Fish Department of an important tool in its mission to mitigate the spread of diseases passed between game animals by close contact.

“I don’t think we should decide this issue on the basis of property rights,” Sen. Michael Dwyer, R-Bismarck, said during the floor session. “This is an issue of CWD, as the carrier said. The Game and Fish Department is trying to balance the concern over the disease with the attempt to provide as many hunting opportunities as possible. I think we should let the Game and Fish Department do their job and vote red (no) on this bill.”

Sen. Michelle Axtman, R-Bismarck, questioned the bill carrier on what the repercussions would be if a new highly contagious disease is discovered in the next season and Game and Fish is no longer able to institute baiting bans.

Sen. Randy Lemm, R-Hillsboro, said he does not think the bill would have an effect in the event a new disease is discovered.

The bill has a sunset clause that was added in committee which means that should it become law it would be rendered ineffective after July 31, 2029. Lemm said this was done so the topic can be revisited after further research on CWD has been conducted by Game and Fish.

The bill received a 5-1 do-pass recommendation out of committee. Its committee hearing was a marathon event with a plethora of testimony on both sides of the issue, forcing the committee to change chambers to accommodate all who wished to testify.