Baiting Deer in Michigan: Rules, Penalties, and Pending Legislation

Baiting deer in Michigan is banned throughout the entire Lower Peninsula and allowed in the Upper Peninsula only during a set season and under a two-gallon volume cap per site. The rules apply on public and private land alike, and violating them is a misdemeanor that can bring up to 90 days in jail, fines up to $1,000, restitution, and the loss of hunting privileges for years.¹ A bill to lift the Lower Peninsula ban passed the Michigan House in early 2026, but the ban remains fully in force while the Senate considers it.

Where Baiting Is Legal

The geographic line is the simplest part of the rule. In the Lower Peninsula, baiting and feeding deer are both prohibited everywhere, on every type of land.² The Natural Resources Commission put the ban in place in 2019 after Chronic Wasting Disease was detected in free-ranging deer in several Lower Peninsula counties.³

Baiting is still legal in the Upper Peninsula, inside a defined season and with specific volume and dispersal limits. Nothing in the state’s rules gives a general-purpose permit or variance for the Lower Peninsula; the only legal LP exception covers certain hunters with disabilities, described further down.

Upper Peninsula Rules

If you hunt in the UP, baiting is permitted from September 15 through January 1. Hunters eligible for the Liberty Hunt may begin baiting five days before that season opens.² Three limits govern how you can place it:

No more than two gallons of bait at any single hunting site at one time.
Bait must be spread across an area at least 10 feet by 10 feet.
Bait must be scattered directly on the ground. Mechanical spin-cast feeders are allowed as long as they do not put out more than the two-gallon maximum.

The DNR also recommends not placing bait repeatedly at the exact same ground spot and only baiting while you are actively hunting, to limit disease transmission at concentrated feeding points.²

What Counts as Bait

Michigan defines bait as any substance intended for deer to eat that consists of grains, minerals (including salt and salt blocks), fruits, vegetables, hay, or other food materials used as an aid in hunting.² Feed covers the same materials placed for any non-hunting purpose, such as backyard viewing. Both are banned in the Lower Peninsula.

Food plots, naturally occurring foods, standing agricultural crops, and anything placed through normal farming practices do not count as bait or feed. A cornfield next to your blind is legal. On public land, though, constructing or maintaining a food plot or artificial garden to attract wildlife is prohibited.²

Scent-based attractants remain legal statewide, including in the Lower Peninsula, but they must be placed so deer cannot eat or physically contact them. Urine-based scent products are allowed for mock scrapes, drag ropes, and wicks.²

Disability Exception in the Lower Peninsula

Michigan allows a narrow category of hunters with disabilities to bait in the Lower Peninsula, but only during the Liberty and Independence Hunts. Baiting may begin five days before each hunt starts, and the same two-gallon volume cap and 10-by-10-foot dispersal rule apply.²

To qualify, a hunter must meet one of the following:

A veteran rated 100-percent disabled or individually unemployable by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
A hunter who holds a DNR permit to hunt from a standing vehicle.
A hunter who holds a DNR permit to use a laser-sighting device.
A person with visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with correction, or a visual field no wider than 20 degrees.
A person unable to process information aurally, with or without amplification, whose primary communication is visual.

This is the only legal path to using bait in the Lower Peninsula.²

Penalties for Illegal Baiting

A baiting violation in Michigan is a misdemeanor, and the severity scales based on whether a deer was actually taken.

General Baiting Violations

A person who violates a wildlife conservation law, including baiting and feeding orders, faces up to 90 days in jail, a fine between $50 and $500, court costs, and revocation of any DNR permit.¹

When a Deer Is Taken Over Illegal Bait

If the violation involves the possession or taking of deer, the penalties climb sharply. Jail time runs from a mandatory minimum of 5 days up to 90 days, the fine runs from $200 to $1,000 plus court costs, and the person loses all hunting privileges for the remainder of the year of conviction and the following three calendar years.¹ Baiting illegally and then harvesting a deer over that bait triggers mandatory jail time, a steeper fine, and three years off the field.

Added Revocation for Antlered Deer

Illegally killing an antlered white-tailed deer stacks additional revocation on top of the base three-year ban. A first offense adds two more calendar years, bringing the total to five; a second offense adds seven more, for a total of ten. For the most serious wildlife offenses, revocation can reach 15 years on a first offense and a lifetime ban on a second.⁴

Restitution for the Animal

Restitution is separate from the fine and is calculated from the animal taken. The base restitution for a white-tailed deer is $1,000. An antlered buck with 8 to 10 points carries an additional $1,000 plus $500 per point. A buck with 11 or more points adds $750 per point. On a 12-point buck, that math can reach $11,000 before any fine or court cost.⁴

Federal Exposure Under the Lacey Act

Taking a deer in violation of Michigan’s baiting rules and then moving it across state lines adds a federal layer. The Lacey Act prohibits trafficking in wildlife taken in violation of state law, and the penalties track intent. A knowing violation involving sale, purchase, or import or export of wildlife worth more than $350 is a felony punishable by up to $20,000 in fines and five years in prison. A violation where the person should have known the animal was taken illegally is a misdemeanor with up to $10,000 in fines and one year in prison. Civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation can apply even to negligent conduct, and the government can seize equipment used in the violation.⁵

Carcass-import rules in other states compound the risk. Many jurisdictions ban importing whole deer carcasses or any brain and spinal column tissue from CWD areas, allowing only boned-out meat, quarters with no spinal column attached, cleaned skull plates, and finished taxidermy. Check the import rules for every state you plan to cross before you load the truck.

Pending Legislation

House Bill 4445 would amend the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to allow deer baiting during hunting season statewide, overriding the Natural Resources Commission’s current ban. It would define “deer or elk baiting” as a distinct legal category separate from feeding and set the conditions under which baiting could occur.³

The bill passed the Michigan House in early 2026 and moved to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Agriculture, where it remained pending as of the most recent reports. Governor Whitmer has not publicly taken a position. Until the bill clears the Senate and is signed into law, the Lower Peninsula ban is fully enforceable, and acting as though the bill has already passed is a direct route to a misdemeanor charge.

1
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Code 324.40118 – Violation as Misdemeanor; Penalty
2
Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Baiting and Feeding Regulations
3
Michigan Legislature. House Bill 4445 Legislative Analysis
4
Michigan Courts. DNR Penalties
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 3373 – Penalties