You say it's not productive to spend time poking holes in the small things well baiting is a small thing in the spread of CWD so you are contradicting yourself.
I agree with you that the limb cutting is absurd but really so is saying you need to ban baiting to stop CWD. My main point is a community scrape will congregate deer just as much if not more than a pile of corn or bail of hay.
If you think baiting is unethical and should be banned for that reason; say it don't use CWD as a scapegoat to get your way.
Honestly look at a map 2001 of WI and the CWD hotbed mainly Dane and Sauk counties. Overlay that with deer density and you will see the CWD connection to herd density. Like I said after watching and following this very closely for 20years this disease seems to be self limiting.
The herds in those counties that have the highest CWD positives also have the most deer and are counties that some of our largest bucks are shot out of. And guess what baiting bans have been in place for 20years and these counties still have the highest rates of CWD. So no need to see if ND is any different banning baiting won't change anything.
Again I think baiting is unethical and should be illegal based on that but that is my ethical opinion not one I am going to try and use a disease to push my agenda. We spent the last 2.5yrs living with that and look where it got us as a country and a world.
I don't really have an opinion about the "ethics" of baiting. I believe I've stated that on HT before (though maybe not on this thread), but either way, its probably not best to make assumptions about someones stances on issues when you obviously have no clue. Don't feel bad, I do it too sometimes. Part of being a human.
But to address your accusation, I couldn't care less about someone baiting. Whether it's archery shots at 100 yards, rifle shots at 1000 yards, baiting, using hounds for predators, it's not for me to judge the ethics of someone else, especially if I don't know them. Unless they are obviously being irresponsible or reckless with their abilities, like someone shooting at a deer at 1000 yards when they've never even practiced at that distance, I'm just not going to engage much in the ethics side of things. I worry about what's ethical for me, and tend to try and operate in that realm.
Of the veterinarians/biologist I've talked too, exactly 0 have said banning baiting will stop CWD. Again, this has been discussed on HT before. The whole point of baiting bans, and literally every move wildlife agencies make at this point, is to slow the spread as much as possible. So that way, when the research side of things finds a solution, whether that's a vaccine, a genetic solution, whatever, we have some clean deer stock and clean landscape to work with.
Is baiting a small thing? Possibly? It is unknown exactly how much it can slow CWD. But I don't think we have to engage in very much mental masturbation to come to a logical conclusion that infected deer eating/pissing/shitting/sneezing on the same proverbial plate as uninfected deer, is probably not a good thing to promote or promulgate when it comes to disease management. Does that happen naturally? I don't know. How many natural food sources are similar to a 1000 lbs of corn being dumped on the same spot year after year after year after year? I can't think of any. There are some natural mineral licks that see some concentrations, but based on the baiting studies I've read, they are not seeing any where near the same type of deer densities around them as a bait pile.
I've even looked at harvest loss statistics for corn here in my own state. They literally conducted a study and went out in a bunch ag fields and counted kernels of corn (and other row crops) to get these numbers. They show a loss of 1-5 bushels of corn for every acre harvested. A bushel is 56 lbs. So lets say at max, that loss equates to about 300 lbs of corn spread across 1 acre (208 ft x 208 ft). Once that that lost harvest is eaten out of the field, the deer move on to another field. I don't know about you, but that sure seems a hell of a lot better than 500 or 1000 or 2000 lbs of corn dumped on the same exact spot that is continuously being replenished throughout the spring, summer, fall. That spot may be what, 20 ft x 20 ft? I don't know, maybe you're better at the mental gymnastics than me....
But to concede a little. I do think it's a fair question about baiting. It's a question I'd have a lot easier time with if the goal was to protect deer instead of protecting baiting. Therein lies one of the problems for me. All the hand-wringing and mental gymnastics being done are seeking to protect baiting, not the resource. There are literally people in ND that want the Game and fish to spend valuable resources to find ways to protect baiting from CWD. Imagine spending hunter dollars seeking to protect your particular hunting practices and not trying to solve the problem of the disease. How can you say you're thinking logically and rationally about this situation if that's your angle? Those same people then turnaround and criticize the department for spending money on CWD testing and surveillance.
It's like they haven't been paying attention for the last 20 years. Just a few days ago on a radio show they were complaining that they want a CWD plan, even though our game and fish has produced multiple detailed and in-depth CWD plans. They want more open communication and transparency on CWD, even though the GF has done more outreach on CWD than ANY other topic in my life time. Starting to see a trend here? They're late to the party. The GF has been talking about CWD fairly consistently since 2009 when we got our first positive. No one gave a shit until their bait piles were getting taken away. Now all the sudden the science behind CWD is "junk". "There's no proof cwd kills deer". "There's no proof baiting spreads cwd". Man, where were all these passionate advocates when CWD first popped up here? Where were the ideas and solutions and "support for research" they were offering when CWD first showed up? People like that, who have been ignoring the wildlife professionals is part of the reason we have these big gaps in research funding to begin with. Now they wonder why there's all these unanswered questions around CWD. "why don't we have solutions" they say. Good lord, what the hell do you think all these scientists have been working on for years? These guys didn't even pay attention or look at a CWD study until their bait pile got taken away. And of course, without fail, they just happen to find the "studies" or youtube videos or studies produced by high fence deer farmers, that support continuing the practice of baiting. That doesn't seem a bit flawed to you?
But nonetheless, it's a fair question. If banning baiting doesn't dramatically slow down the spread, is it worth discontinuing that practice? Every single veterinarian and CWD researcher I've talked to says those bans are probably the wise move. I'm not qualified to argue with them. But who does one believe? The Veterinarians and researchers, who across many many studies, mostly draw the same conclusions. Or the people who are accusing our Game and Fish of engaging in a conspiracy to kill all the deer, to end deer hunting? Or that all the science the professionals are using is "junk". I don't know. What are the odds that the average guy who just started looking into this a couple months ago is going to know more than a community of researchers/biologists/veterinarians who've spent years doing a single study and careers working with this stuff everyday?
that one was my favorite argument of the CWD is a conspiracy crowd. 
