Wildlife - Deer Information

A Retrospective on Hunting Deer Over Bait in South Carolina - Can Baiting Negatively Affect Hunter Success and Deer Harvest Rates?

Deer harvest and hunter effort data from South Carolina

Although baiting may increase deer harvest rates under certain conditions, statewide deer harvest figures indicate that in the Piedmont, where baiting was prohibited, hunters harvested 28 percent more deer per square mile than hunters in the Coastal Plain where baiting has been the norm.²⁰ Also, coastal hunters expended 22 percent more time afield in harvesting this reduced number of deer. Harvesting female deer is the key to deer management and data indicates that in the Piedmont, where baiting was prohibited, hunters harvest equal numbers of does and bucks while in the Coastal Plain, where baiting was never prohibited, hunters took more bucks than does. Many proponents of baiting claim that the incidence of deer-vehicle collisions can be reduced if hunters bait. However, in spite of a 33 percent greater human population in the Piedmont, the per capita deer-vehicle collision rate was 9 percent less than in the Coastal Plain prior to the change in the Piedmont baiting law.

In total, the evidence strongly suggests that baiting does not increase the harvest of deer over broad regions in South Carolina. In fact, deer harvest and hunter effort data voluntarily submitted as part of the Deer Hunter Survey which is sent randomly to 25,000 hunters annually indicate that baiting may have negatively impacting harvest rates and hunter effort in the Coastal Plain (Table 1).²¹

SCDNR Wildlife Section staff attributes these negative impacts of baiting in the Coastal Plain to hunter dependence on bait, increased nocturnal behavior by deer around bait and increased body condition which affects deer movements. Each of these factors erodes hunter effectiveness leading to decreased harvest rates.

Table 1. Parameters from South Carolina regions when baiting was prohibited (Piedmont) and not prohibited (Coastal Plain), 2000-2007. Data was voluntarily submitted by hunters as part of annual Deer Hunter Survey.