Salt For Deer in Utah?

soupcreek

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Is it legal to use salt (or any other attractant) for deer in Utah? I know it used to be legal, but a friend told me the law had recently changed. Do any of you know definitively?
Have any of you had any success using salt or bait in Utah?

Thanks,

Soup
 
It is NOT legal. In my opinion it will only improve hunting because the deer will remain on their natural browse patterns and stay visible longer.
 
I won a couple of Redmond Salt salt rocks, a few years ago. I’m not in the cow business these days so I put them out in my yard for the deer to use. After two years, not a deer touched them. Twenty to thirty head eat apples right next to them all fall.

I was in Redmond Salt one day and asked their marketing boss about it. He said this: The deer in the mountain west aren’t much interested in salt because the soil has a fair amount of natural salt, so their system isn’t calling for it. He said the eastern deer crave it because their soil doesn’t. The elk however use salt here, especially during the period when they are growing antlers.

So...... take that for what it’s worth, legal or otherwise.

........, you know the.. the.. the thing! "past performances don't necessarily indicate future results." Use at Your Own Risk:
 
The blacktail deer in my area won't touch salt either. The salt just kills the grass better than......well, 2Lumpy knows.

Put some fresh spinach out, a different story.
 
I won a couple of Redmond Salt salt rocks, a few years ago. I’m not in the cow business these days so I put them out in my yard for the deer to use. After two years, not a deer touched them. Twenty to thirty head eat apples right next to them all fall.

I was in Redmond Salt one day and asked their marketing boss about it. He said this: The deer in the mountain west aren’t much interested in salt because the soil has a fair amount of natural salt, so their system isn’t calling for it. He said the eastern deer crave it because their soil doesn’t. The elk however use salt here, especially during the period when they are growing antlers.

So...... take that for what it’s worth, legal or otherwise.

........, you know the.. the.. the thing! "past performances don't necessarily indicate future results." Use at Your Own Risk:
I don’t know how many times I’ve said that. They are more likely to stick their head in a bucket of manure than go out of their way to lick a salt block.
 
Is it legal to use salt (or any other attractant) for deer in Utah? I know it used to be legal, but a friend told me the law had recently changed. Do any of you know definitively?
Have any of you had any success using salt or bait in Utah?

Thanks,

Soup
Depends on what you are doing with the salt. It is legal if you're not planning on hunting over it and are just trying to get some pictures with a trail cam or trying to give the deer a boost of nutrition.
 
Baiting is prohibited, except for "the use of salt, mineral blocks, or other commonly used types of livestock supplements placed in the field by agricultural producers for normal agricultural purposes"

How is that unclear?
 
Baiting is prohibited, except for "the use of salt, mineral blocks, or other commonly used types of livestock supplements placed in the field by agricultural producers for normal agricultural purposes"

How is that unclear?
Is that saying that only the live stock people can put out salt and the like? Or is that saying you (anyone) can put out the salt that live stock people might commonly put out?

If it was just the live stock people being able to do it, there needs to be the word “ONLY” before “agriculture producers”. it can be interpreted either way. The wording is fuzzy at best. The DWR doesn’t even know what to do with it, which is why they haven’t posted their official stance on what will be acceptable and what will not.
 
Is that saying that only the live stock people can put out salt and the like? Or is that saying you (anyone) can put out the salt that live stock people might commonly put out?

If it was just the live stock people being able to do it, there needs to be the word “ONLY” before “agriculture producers”. it can be interpreted either way. The wording is fuzzy at best. The DWR doesn’t even know what to do with it, which is why they haven’t posted their official stance on what will be acceptable and what will not.

Not true on the statutory construction. The exception for agriculture producers is very clearly written in the statute. There is no ambiguity there. The closest thing to ambiguity or a loophole is what Ridge pointed out, because it’s only defined as baiting if done for the purposes of taking big game or attempting to take big game. The one word of caution I’d give is if you’re going to try and play that loop hole, you better make sure you do not possess a big game permit for that area this year. You will want to freshen up on the definitions in 23-13-2.
 
Not true on the statutory construction. The exception for agriculture producers is very clearly written in the statute. There is no ambiguity there. The closest thing to ambiguity or a loophole is what Ridge pointed out, because it’s only defined as baiting if done for the purposes of taking big game or attempting to take big game. The one word of caution I’d give is if you’re going to try and play that loop hole, you better make sure you do not possess a big game permit for that area this year. You will want to freshen up on the definitions in 23-13-2.
This is what I was getting at.
I had a few cameras out (with salt) last year on a unit I wasn't hunting and if I choose to do so again this year, then it would be be legal to do so. If I wanted to put some out on the Stansbury mountains behind my house to attract some bighorns to get some pictures, then I would be legal to do so.
 
How can people think that putting salt out for game animals is legal? If they would read and comprehend what is being said, instead of trying to bend it to their advantage. Like stated before here, if you don't have livestock, you are baiting.
 
Not true on the statutory construction. The exception for agriculture producers is very clearly written in the statute. There is no ambiguity there. The closest thing to ambiguity or a loophole is what Ridge pointed out, because it’s only defined as baiting if done for the purposes of taking big game or attempting to take big game. The one word of caution I’d give is if you’re going to try and play that loop hole, you better make sure you do not possess a big game permit for that area this year. You will want to freshen up on the definitions in 23-13-2.
And by “area” you mean the 50 yard radius around said bait. Anywhere else is fair game
 
And by “area” you mean the 50 yard radius around said bait. Anywhere else is fair game

That is not how I would personally interpret that. By “area” I mean hunt unit. But, do whatever you would like to do with it.

Elkslayer, define “big game baiting.”
 
That is not how I would personally interpret that. By “area” I mean hunt unit. But, do whatever you would like to do with it.

Elkslayer, define “big game baiting.”
If we are going off the wording on the new law, it says 50 yards. 50 yards is 50 yards. Not the entire unit. You shouldn’t need a lawyer to interpret the big game laws from the guide book. It needs to be written so everyone can understand it. If there’s more to this than 50 yards from a bait pile, people need to be aware of it.
 
If we are going off the wording on the new law, it says 50 yards. 50 yards is 50 yards. Not the entire unit. You shouldn’t need a lawyer to interpret the big game laws from the guide book. It needs to be written so everyone can understand it. If there’s more to this than 50 yards from a bait pile, people need to be aware of it.

There is more to it than the 50 yards. All you have to do is read it. Here is the link to the code: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title23/Chapter16/23-16-S11.html?v=C23-16-S11_2021050520210505

You’re prohibited from doing more than just hunting a baited area. You’re prohibited from baiting entirely. Pay particularly close attention to subsection (2). Everything you need to know about this law is contained in the law. You will need to see the code I cited above if you want to know what it legally means to “take” big game.
 
There is more to it than the 50 yards. All you have to do is read it. Here is the link to the code: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title23/Chapter16/23-16-S11.html?v=C23-16-S11_2021050520210505

You’re prohibited from doing more than just hunting a baited area. You’re prohibited from baiting entirely. Pay particularly close attention to subsection (2). Everything you need to know about this law is contained in the law. You will need to see the code I cited above if you want to know what it legally means to “take” big game.
So what are they gonna do? Haul boxes of cut and wrapped deer or elk meat into a court room
And ask it if it was traveling to or from a baited area when it got shot? Burden of proof falls on them for a conviction. This is going to be one of the steeper uphill battles for them to fight.
 
I was hunting the Fishlake general deer hunt a few years back, I was hunting up through an aspen grove and saw a deer standing in the middle of the grove.
I snuck up to it and could hear some popping noises and when I got close and I mean close 10 yards in the open the doe just sat there crunching the salt pellets that you use for water softening. She would not move off the the pile someone had left there.
So maybe they just like straight salt not mineral blocks..

Just sayin that baiting has been happening for quite a while in most states in one way or another....Left her the same way I saw here standing crunching salt pellets...
 
It is pretty clear to me.

You cannot bait big game animals for the purpose of “taking” them. See take definition below. Doesn’t matter if you have a tag for that area while you’re baiting or not. There’s no time limit specified. If I put bait out and get pics of a big buck. Then go back in the following week or month or year year with a tag, will I have been baiting for the purpose of taking big game? I’d say so.

As far as hunting near bait. You cannot hunt (attempt to take) or take within 50 yards of bait (a “baited area”) or take any big game animal that is in the area because of the bait (lured) or coming or going to the bait no matter what the distance.

It does not specify that these actions must be done “knowingly” so you don’t even have to know that the area is baited or the animals are influenced by a bait to be in violation if you hunt or take one.

Farmers and ranchers can do things that might otherwise constitute baiting if done during the course of their normal agricultural practices.

If you’re going to try to get around the law you darn sure better know what it actually says.

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