Nov 22, 2011

Court of Appeals preserves farmers’ right to hunt on own land

Baiting deer — attracting deer with grains, fruits, vegetables or other food — is illegal in Minnesota. Unless you’re a farmer, the Minnesota Court of Appeals clarified today.

The court overturned the conviction of Donald Hansen of Hibbing, who was charged by the Department of Natural Resources with deer baiting. Hansen had tossed unsold vegetables near his deer stand in a field he owns.

The DNR had used aerial photography on two occasions to monitor Hansen’s vegetable farm. On one flight, there were no pumpkins in his field. Photographs on a flight just before last November’s deer season showed "a substantial pile of pumpkins." Hansen maintained that it’s accepted agricultural practice to use unsold vegetables as "green manure," and he denied he was baiting deer. The DNR ticketed him and took his rifle. MPR News

Read more of the story here.