In a little less than a month, Michiganders will be packing up and heading out for the first start of hunting season.

But they may have to leave the bait at home.

"We believe the only way to stop the spread of that disease is to ban the baiting of animals and wild life in lower Michigan," Dennis Muchmore, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said.

A doe in Western Michigan tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease, a fatal, incurable brain disorder that's easily spread.

So the DNR banned the baiting of deer and elk until further notice.

"The issue with feeding them together in an unnatural way, all together at one time, means the disease can pass back and forth," Duran Martinez, host of AM Outdoors radio, said.

This ban will certainly affect one million hunters in the state but it might actually hurt smaller variety stores who rely on selling the bait every season.

"If it lasts through the remainder of the year," Martinez said, "there's a lot of road-side stores and bait and tackle shops that a major part of their income comes from this bait."

Including K's market in Laingsburg.

Bradley Jodway said they sell about $4,000 a season in bait alone.

"We'll see a slight decrease I'm sure," Jodway said.

But the ban may be the only option for now, and some say it"s a whole lot better than the alternative.

"If we had a state-wide outbreak of this," Muchmore said, "the opportunity for our tourism industry would be very limited in this state."

A hit, Michigan's economy just can't afford.