Why It Matters: North Dakota’s 2025 legislative session has begun and a bill was promptly introduced that would prohibit the North Dakota Game and Fish Department from adopting or implementing policies on baiting, or supplemental feeding, for hunting big game animals on private land. State fish and wildlife agencies have long been recognized as the entities best equipped for making important, science-based, wildlife management decisions. Legislation that aims to take authority away from conservation experts can be harmful and removes their ability to effectively manage wildlife for the benefit of all people.
Highlights:
- North Dakota Senate Bill 2137 (SB 2137) would prohibit the North Dakota Game and Fish Department (GFD) from adopting or implementing any policy that would restrict the use of supplemental feed on private property for the hunting of big game.
- During the 2023 legislative session, North Dakota legislators introduced a similar bill that would have barred GFD from creating rules prohibiting the use of bait piles while hunting on private land, which was ultimately defeated.
- The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) maintains that wildlife management authority should remain with the agency.
The North Dakota legislative session started on January 7, 2025, and with its start came the introduction of one of the Midwest’s first troubling bills of 2025, Senate Bill 2137. SB 2137 looks to prohibit the North Dakota Game and Fish Department from adopting or implementing policies that would prohibit supplemental feeding on private land for the purpose of big game hunting. This effort is similar to House Bill 1151, introduced in 2023, which sought to bar GFD from creating rules prohibiting the use of bait piles while hunting deer on private property. The 2023 effort ultimately failed after receiving opposition from CSF, and several conservation organizations.
State fish and wildlife agencies, like GFD, are the best equipped entity to address fish and wildlife management issues within their respective borders. The management of North Dakota’s wildlife should be made by the GFD as the department is comprised of capable professionals that carry out on-the-ground, science-based conservation efforts that benefit all North Dakotans. Management authority remaining solely with the state fish and wildlife agencies, allows them to quickly and effectively make management decisions on the state’s storied public trust fish and wildlife resources.
CSF will continue to monitor SB 2137, and similar issues, as it moves through the legislative process.
