183 



into place to reduce the individual harvest success rates of hunters and thereby reduce overall 

 harvest levels. It was during this period that baiting as an aid to harvest migratory game birds 

 became illegal under federal law-. 



Although a small number of intentional violations of the baiting regulations continue to occur 

 even todays the vast majority of America's waterfowl hunters now view the use of bait in 

 waterfowl hunting as an unethical manner of take."" 



The baiting regulations themselves are but one subset of the overall regulations governing the 

 manner and method of take of migratory game birds-. While many regulations adopted through 

 the Secretary of the Interior's authority under this chapter have proved contentious, none have 

 been more so than 50 CFR § 20.2 l(i) which prohibits the taking of migratory birds "by the aid of 

 baiting, or on or over any baited area." 



The baiting regulations consist of three parts. The first section contains the general prohibition 

 quoted above and defines what "baiting" and "baited area" mean*. The second and third parts 

 then provide limited exceptions to the general prohibition. For waterfowl hunting, 50 CFR § 

 20.21(i)(l) exempts standing crops' and grains scattered as a result of "normal agricultural 



" Restrictions were put upon the use of bait in 1934. with an all-out prohibition placed in 1935. 

 Incidentally, the use of live-decoys was also banned in 1 935. 



■* "Illegal Waterfowl Hunting." Brian Gray and R. Kaminski. Suppl. The Journal of Wildlife 

 Management. Vol. 58, No. 3, July 1994. The survey conducted by Gray and Kaminski found that in the Mississippi 

 Flyway, a sinall percentage of the waterfowl hunters intentionally harvest ducks over bait at least once a year. The 

 percentage varied among states within the flyway with Mississippi having the greatest percentage of intentional 

 violators at over 1 1%, and Iowa having the lowest percentage of violators at less than 3%. 



■* Like all statements regarding "ethics," no hard evidence exists for this proposition; it is inferred from 

 general observation. 



^ in 1918, the United States entered into the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) with Canada for the 

 protection of waterfowl resources. Congress then enacted Chapter 7 of Title 16, which includes § 703 and § 704 

 granting to the Secretary of the Interior authority to implement regulations to ensure U.S. compliance with the 

 MBTA. Today, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for the formulation and implementation of 

 these regulations. 



' "'Baiting' shall mean the placing, exposing, depositing, distributing, or scattering of shelled, shucked, or 

 unshucked corn, wheat or other grain, salt, or other feed so as to constitute for such birds a lure, attraction or 

 enticement to, on, or over any areas where hunters are attempting to take them; and baited area' means any area 

 where [bait] is directly or indirectly placed, exposed, deposited, distributed, or scattered; and such area shall remain 

 a baited area for 10 days following complete removal of all such [bait]" 



' Aquatics, flooded harvested croplands, and gram crops properly shocked on the field where grown are 

 also exempted under this section. 



