Is It Illegal to Feed Deer in Utah? What State Law and Local Rules Say

Utah is home to large populations of mule deer that routinely wander into backyards, neighborhoods, and mountain communities across the state. When you see one of those animals looking thin or struggling through a harsh winter, the impulse to toss out some corn or hay is understandable. But before you do, it is worth knowing exactly where the law stands — because the answer in Utah is more layered than a simple yes or no.

At the state level, feeding deer is not broadly illegal in Utah. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) has consistently stated that general wildlife feeding is not prohibited under state statute. However, specific cities have passed local ordinances that make it unlawful, a separate state law bans using bait to attract deer for hunting, and the DWR strongly discourages the practice for every resident regardless of where they live.

Important Note: Wildlife regulations can change. Always verify current rules with the Utah DWR or your local city government before placing any food outside that could attract deer, elk, or moose.

Is It Illegal to Feed Deer in Utah?

The short answer is: it depends on where you live. While it is not illegal to feed wildlife at the state level — except in certain cities that have enacted no-feeding ordinances — the Utah DWR highly discourages the practice due to public safety concerns, the spread of chronic wasting disease among deer, elk, and moose, and potential harm to wildlife from introducing foods not in their natural diets.

Utah does not have a blanket statewide prohibition on feeding deer the way some other states do. Instead, the regulatory picture is split between state statute and local municipal law. A state bill did pass making it illegal to bait deer with the intent of hunting them — H.B. 295 Wildlife Modifications — which went into effect on May 5, 2021. That law targets hunters specifically, not the general public placing food in their yard.

If you are not hunting and you do not live in a municipality with a local ordinance, state law does not currently make it a crime to put food out for deer. That said, the DWR’s position is unambiguous: just because something is not illegal does not mean it is a good idea.

Activity	Legal Status in Utah
Feeding deer on private property (no local ordinance)	Not illegal under state law
Feeding deer within a city with a no-feeding ordinance	Illegal — subject to local fines
Baiting deer for hunting purposes	Illegal statewide (H.B. 295, effective May 2021)
Authorized wildlife management feeding by DWR	Legal (emergency situations only)

Where and When Deer Feeding Is Restricted in Utah

The clearest restrictions on deer feeding in Utah exist at the city level. Under Utah Administrative Rule R657-65, a city that wants to participate in the state’s Urban Deer Control Program must have enacted an ordinance prohibiting the feeding of deer, elk, and moose. This means cities that have adopted urban deer control plans are required by the state to ban feeding as a condition of participation.

Two documented examples are Draper and Logan. Under Draper’s municipal code, it is unlawful for any person to intentionally feed deer, elk, or moose or make food available for consumption by deer, elk, or moose on private or public property. Logan has a nearly identical ordinance in place. Both cities treat the prohibition as year-round — there is no seasonal window during which feeding becomes permissible.

Draper’s ordinance presumes that the placement of fruit, grain, hay, vegetables, minerals, salt, or other food in an aggregate volume of more than one-half gallon and at a height of less than six feet off the ground — or in any drop feeder, automatic feeder, or similar device regardless of height — is for the purpose of feeding deer, elk, or moose in violation of the ordinance.

Pro Tip: If you live along the Wasatch Front or in any incorporated Utah city with an active urban deer management program, check your city’s municipal code before putting out any food that could attract deer. The feeding ban may already apply to you.

Outside of cities with specific ordinances, Utah does not impose seasonal restrictions on feeding deer the way some states do. The prohibition on hunting bait does apply during deer hunting seasons, but that is a separate concern from general feeding. Heavy snow in winter tends to intensify the situation, with residents in areas like Park City reporting they have fed deer and elk — prompting DWR conservation officers to respond with reminders about the risks.

What You Can and Cannot Feed Deer in Utah

If you are in a location where no local ordinance applies, the question of what you can feed deer is still worth examining carefully. The DWR does not endorse any supplemental feeding by private individuals, and the biology of deer digestion explains why certain foods are especially dangerous.

Deer are ruminants — mammals that acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach before digestion. They have four-part stomachs, and each chamber progressively breaks down woody, leafy, and grassy foods. These chambers contain microbes essential to digestion, and the type of microbes in a deer’s digestive system gradually changes throughout the year, becoming very specific to the food available each season.

During winter, deer primarily feed on sagebrush and other woody plants. Suddenly changing a deer’s diet can easily lead to the deer eating food it cannot readily digest. In these situations, deer often die from starvation with full stomachs. This is not a hypothetical risk — it is a documented cause of deer death in Utah.

• Do not feed: Corn, hay, bread, dog food, birdseed accessible to deer, grain, fruit, vegetables, or mineral licks placed at ground level
• Permitted under city ordinances (Draper, Logan): Naturally growing plants, gardens, mulch piles, and bird feeders designed and placed to limit deer access
• Permitted statewide: Normal agricultural or livestock operations, and bird feeders designed to exclude deer
• Permitted for authorized parties: DWR biologists and authorized agents conducting emergency or management feeding with specially formulated pellets

Naturally growing plants, gardens, residue maintained as a mulch pile, and bird feeders designed or placed to limit access to deer, elk, or moose are not prohibited under Draper’s ordinance. The same carve-out generally applies in Logan. The key word is “designed” — a standard bird feeder placed at ground level that deer can easily access may still trigger a violation.

The DWR’s own emergency feeding program uses specially designed pellets distributed in specific areas, formulated to match the unique nutritional needs and digestive system of deer. This underscores why corn, hay, and kitchen scraps are particularly problematic — they are not what deer stomachs are adapted to process, especially in winter.

Deer Feeding and CWD Regulations in Utah

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is the single biggest reason wildlife managers across the country are tightening rules around deer feeding, and Utah is no exception. CWD is a relatively rare but fatal transmissible disease that affects the nervous systems of deer, elk, and moose. It is caused by a protein particle called a prion that attaches to the brain and spinal cord.

Infected animals can shed prions in their urine, feces, and saliva. Transmission may occur directly through contact with an infected animal or indirectly through environmental contamination. These prions are highly resistant to chemical and environmental degradation, and once the environment becomes contaminated, it can remain a source of infection for years.

Because prions are shed in saliva, urine, and feces and can persist in the environment for a long time, CWD is easily transmitted in areas where large numbers of deer congregate. Feeding deer can cause large groups to crowd into one area, increasing the chance of the disease spreading from one animal to the next.

Fortunately, the disease is not widespread throughout Utah and is primarily found in a few counties in central, northeastern, and southeastern Utah. The DWR takes CWD very seriously and conducts extensive monitoring each year to track the disease’s prevalence in the state.

The DWR’s own emergency feeding protocol reflects the severity of the CWD risk. Deer feeding does not happen in areas where chronic wasting disease has been found. As DWR Big Game Coordinator Dax Mangus explained, congregating deer at a feeding location increases the chance that a deer with CWD will pass it on to others, and the short-term benefits of feeding do not outweigh the negative long-term consequences of spreading the disease in a highly congregated deer population.

Key Insight: CWD has been detected in Utah, particularly in central and eastern counties. If you live in or near an area with known CWD presence, putting out any food that draws deer together poses a direct disease transmission risk — regardless of whether a local ordinance applies to you.

While the Centers for Disease Control says the risk of transmission from animals to humans is considered extremely low, they recommend not consuming meat from animals infected with chronic wasting disease. If you spot a deer that has trouble walking, drools, has drooping ears, or looks emaciated, report it to your nearest Utah DWR office.

Penalties for Illegally Feeding Deer in Utah

Because Utah’s restrictions on deer feeding are largely local rather than statewide, penalties vary by municipality. Cities that have enacted feeding ordinances set their own fine structures, and the consequences can be meaningful even for a first offense.

In Draper, the ordinance is enforceable as a municipal violation. The city’s code creates a legal presumption of illegal intent whenever food is placed in a volume or manner consistent with deer attraction, which shifts the burden to the resident to prove otherwise. Logan’s code operates similarly. Fines for violating city wildlife feeding ordinances in Utah typically follow a tiered structure, with repeat violations carrying higher penalties.

On the hunting side, baiting deer for the purpose of hunting is a separate and more serious matter. Intentionally harassing wildlife is a Class B misdemeanor in Utah. Violations related to illegal take or wanton destruction of protected wildlife carry restitution requirements set by the courts, and Utah law provides for escalating penalties for repeat offenders, including potential felony charges for habitual violations.

If you are cited under a local ordinance, the process generally involves a notice of violation, an opportunity to correct the behavior, and a fine if the violation continues or is not remediated. Removing the food source promptly and documenting the corrective action is the most practical way to minimize consequences if you are contacted by a code enforcement officer.

Violation Type	Potential Consequence
Feeding deer in a city with a no-feeding ordinance	Municipal fine (amount set by city)
Baiting deer for hunting (statewide)	Criminal citation; potential license revocation
Intentionally harassing wildlife	Class B misdemeanor
Wanton destruction of protected wildlife	Misdemeanor to felony; court-ordered restitution

Why Feeding Deer Is Discouraged Even Where It’s Legal in Utah

Even if you live outside any city with a feeding ordinance, the DWR’s guidance is consistent: do not feed deer. The reasons go well beyond legal compliance and touch on the real-world consequences for the animals you are trying to help.

When deer congregate to feed, it becomes competitive. The larger deer often push smaller deer and fawns aside, so they end up receiving less food than they would have if people had left them alone. The animals most in need of supplemental nutrition are often the ones least able to access it at a crowded feeding site.

Attracting deer to your property through feeding may also attract predators, like cougars, that follow deer herds. This is a genuine public safety concern in Utah’s foothill and canyon communities, where mountain lions are part of the landscape. The DWR has found that whenever someone feeds wildlife, those animals frequently return to that area in search of food — and the areas where wildlife are fed are often near highways and towns, sometimes within neighborhoods.

Annual migration patterns to wintering areas may also be disrupted if deer are enticed to remain at a feeding area. Utah’s mule deer populations depend on predictable seasonal movements between summer and winter range. Feeding stations that hold deer in place through the cold months can undermine those patterns at a population level.

DWR biologists strongly advise against private individuals and organizations feeding deer. Well-intentioned private feeding efforts almost always create more problems than they solve. Instead of helping, this kind of feeding can result in higher deer mortality rates and long-term adverse consequences for the herd.

If you want to support Utah’s deer population, the most effective options do not involve putting food out. Keeping dogs leashed in areas where deer winter, giving herds space when you encounter them, reporting sick or injured animals to the DWR, and supporting habitat conservation efforts all make a measurable difference without the risks that come with direct feeding.

For more on how deer feeding laws compare across the region, see how Colorado handles deer feeding regulations and what rules apply if you are feeding deer in Arizona. If you spend time in the West and wonder about other states, the rules in Washington and California are also worth reviewing, as both take a stricter approach than Utah does at the state level. Readers curious about Midwest and Eastern states can find detailed breakdowns for Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania as well.