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HB295 advances, but critics fear ‘unintended consequences’ of such prohibitions.
(Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo) Mule deer stand in a sliver of morning sunshine as they graze in Emigration Canyon in 2018. Lawmakers have advanced a bill that would ban baiting in big game hunting.
| Feb. 17, 2021, 2:00 p.m.
Regardless of your opinions about piling apples in the woods to attract deer, the practice spreads disease among Utah’s wild herds, according to the state’s Division of Wildlife Resources.
“Baiting is not necessarily just an ethics issue. It gets at the heart of disease transmission for many of our wildlife, specifically deer,” Riley Peck, DWR’s legislative liaison, told lawmakers last week. “CWD [chronic wasting disease] in Utah is prevalent. It does have an increased transmission rate through baiting.”