FARGO - Deer hunters in North Dakota are receiving extra reading material with their licenses this year, and some of them are not happy to get it.

The state Game and Fish Department is sending out brochures outlining complaints about the practice of using bait to attract big game. The agency said it may lead to disease and make it difficult to manage the deer population. The department also raises the question of whether baiting violates the ethics of a fair chase.

"It's important that everybody operate on the same set of facts," said Mike McKenna, a department spokesman.

Not everyone agrees the practice is harmful. Fred Evans, a hunting guide in northwestern North Dakota, said wildlife officials are overstepping their bounds by including the brochure with the deer tags. The agency also has produced a video about baiting on its Web site.

"I don't even like the word baiting. That gets people's emotions riled up right away," Evans said. "They are so biased on the whole thing."

Using grains, minerals, salts, fruits, vegetables and hay to attract big game is allowed in North Dakota, except on land owned or managed by the Game and Fish Department. The number of people baiting for big game has increased in the last decade, state wildlife officials said.

Proposals to eliminate baiting in North Dakota were shot down in the last two legislative sessions. It's illegal in neighboring states of Minnesota, South Dakota and Montana.

Baiting typically is used by guide services and bow hunters. Clay Whittlesey, a membership and publicity director for the North Dakota Bowhunters Association, said his group has not taken a position on baiting.

"I personally think we need to be proactive and take a strong stance against it," Whittlesey said. "It has been an interesting debate. People are pretty passionate whether they are for it or against it."

A survey taken by the bowhunters association over the winter showed 55 percent of the people interviewed favored baiting, Whittlesey said.

The Game and Fish Department said such diseases as bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease have a greater chance of spreading when animals are congregated. Officials worry that a bovine TB outbreak in northwestern Minnesota could spread to North Dakota.

"We have some serious biological concerns. Disease is a scary thing," McKenna said.

"The answer to that is pretty simple. Let's see the proof," Evans said. "They're worried about the disease in Minnesota, but they have no idea how that even spreads."

McKenna said he expected criticism of the brochure.

"We always like to know how the public feels," McKenna said. "But wildlife management isn't something you do by democratic vote."