Barbour will veto deer baiting legislation

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 4/2/8

The legislation to allow deer baiting in Mississippi that was approved Monday will be vetoed by Gov. Haley Barbour, a state spokesman said Tuesday.

Pete Smith, Barbour’s press secretary, said the legislation has not reached Barbour’s desk after the House cleared the bill by a 68-51 vote.

“The governor hasn’t received it yet, but he is going to veto it,” Smith said. “He’ll point out his reasons for the veto after he does it.”

Barbour signed legislation last year that authorized the state Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Commission to study deer baiting and decide on actions. He praised the Legislature for removing “the issue of using bait to hunt deer from the politicians and to give that important decision to the professionals and scientists.”

“The issue is both one of ethics and science,” Barbour wrote last year. “I do not consider baiting deer with food as ethical. Many others, including more than 20 states that allow it, disagree.”