Tennessee Legalizes Deer Baiting with New $50 Buy-In

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee flipped a 10-year ban on its head earlier this month when he signed House Bill 938 into law.  Effective July 1, 2025, Volunteer State hunters can now legally hunt whitetail deer over bait on private land, provided they pay the state an appropriate fee to participate. This change, introduced by Representative Kip Capley and Senator Joey Hensley, ends Tennessee’s long-standing prohibition on hunting over bait, aligning the state with more than 22 others, including neighbors like Arkansas, Kentucky, and Georgia.

The new law amends Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 70, to allow baiting for whitetail deer on privately owned or leased land. Previously, hunters could not hunt within 250 yards of bait unless it had been removed for at least 10 days, with stricter rules in counties affected by Chronic Wasting Disease. The bill introduces a licensing system to regulate this practice which includes a $50 license fee for Tennessee residents and a $100 fee for those from out-of-state. The new law dictates that all hunters in a party hunting over bait are required to hold one of these licenses, including landowners and children under 13, who are typically exempt from standard hunting licenses.

“A lot of other states allow hunting over bait anyway, like Texas and several other states, so that’s my reason for supporting it,” state senator Joey Hensley, a primary sponsor of the bill, said. “I just don’t think that people should be penalized because they’re hunting over bait, especially on their property. That’s what this bill does, but it requires people to get a license that would generate additional revenue.”

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is set to play hall monitor on the new regs, and are expected to set rules on what bait will be allowed and how much you can use by August. The new regs are also paired with some hefty penalties as well. For those that break the rules,  they’ll be facing a Class C misdemeanor, which in some cases, could result in upwards of 30 days in jail. 

Aside from the penalties, the TWRA can yank your baiting rights—without refund—if they think it’s spreading CWD. This is a critical provision, as baiting concentrates deer populations, potentially increasing disease transmission risks. The license fees will fund conservation efforts, helping the TWRA monitor and manage wildlife health.

Critics, including some hunters and conservationists, raised concerns about ecological impacts and questioned the need for a paid license, viewing it as government overreach for landowners.

Sen. Hensley said, "I understand that's their argument. There is an issue with CWD in some of the counties. But I just don't think there's a good reason to really believe that to be true. Deer are always in groups no matter where they're feeding. In (harvested) cornfields there's always several deer, so I don't know why that's any different than you putting out some bait."

With CWD currently present in 18 of Tennessee’s 95 counties, this fall should prove to be the ultimate litmus test for not only the success of this new law, but also how baiting on private land will ultimately affect the spread of the deadly disease, if at all.