Washington bans baiting, feeding elk, deer and moose

Washington’s top wildlife official has signed off on a broad suite of rules to limit the spread of chronic wasting disease, including statewide bans on feeding and baiting deer, elk and moose.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday that Director Kelly Susewind approved all of the rule proposals put forward by his staff to deal with the always-fatal neurological disease, which state officials found for the first time last year in Spokane County.

WDFW ordered a number of temporary rules shortly after the initial detection, including mandatory testing, carcass transport restrictions and localized feeding and baiting bans.

The rules Susewind OK’d this week largely mirror those but expand some of the area affected.

CWD testing will become mandatory for all hunter-killed and salvaged deer, elk and moose in WDFW’s 10-county eastern region. Hunters will be barred from transporting any parts of deer, elk or moose other than deboned meat and finished taxidermy out of the region.

Those rules are written to apply to any WDFW region where the disease is found, meaning they would go into effect in other parts of the state if the disease is found there.

The prohibitions on baiting and feeding apply statewide.

WDFW’s feeding operations are exempt from the ban, but the agency said in a news release that it’s “evaluating its own wildlife feeding practices in areas where elk are fed to reduce human-wildlife conflict in agricultural areas.”

All of the rules are aimed at keeping CWD from spreading rapidly throughout Washington, and they look similar to regulations ordered in other CWD positive states.

The disease has been found in 36 states. It attacks the nervous systems of deer, elk and moose, and it’s always fatal. It spreads easily through direct contact and bodily fluids. Left unchecked, wildlife officials worry it would decimate cervid populations.

Washington’s first case was found in a deer in the Fairwood area in July. This fall, four others tested positive, including one in Pend Oreille County.

Mandatory testing is meant to help the agency track the outbreak and spot new ones. Hunters and salvagers are required to submit either the entire head of their animal or to submit lymph nodes to be tested at the Washington Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory in Pullman.

The other rules seek to prevent the spread of the tiny disease-inducing prions. Carcasses from infected animals could be riddled with infectious material, which is why the agency ordered the rule requiring hunters to leave carcasses where they kill them. Importing carcasses from other states was already illegal.

For the same reason, hunters will also be prohibited from using scents made from urine or other glandular fluids.

Ending baiting and feeding is meant to reduce the risk of having unnaturally large congregations of animals in a single space, where one infected animal could quickly spread the disease to others.

Hunters who use bait criticized the proposal on WDFW’s online public comment portal. Some saw it as the agency looking for new ways to limit opportunities.

But WDFW officials have also said that banning the two practices could help them slow undetected outbreaks.

It also puts the state in line with several others in the region. For example, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming all outlaw the use of bait for hunting deer and elk.

Susewind signed off on the rules on Monday, according to the news release. They are considered permanent 31 days after they are filed.

He also approved the state’s full hunting regulations for 2025 and 2026, including seasons for elk, deer, waterfowl and special permit opportunities.

He did not make a decision on cougar and black bear hunting. Those seasons are expected to be decided by the Fish and Wildlife Commission next month.