Is Baiting Deer Fair Chase? Boone & Crockett Club Weighs In

That's like a fly fisherman saying a spin fisherman isn't a fisherman. It's still a 20 yard game with a CB.

 

Don't bring fishing into this....

 

It's a fair analogy....

 

Hell of a lot easier to cast with a spinning rod vs with a dry fly.

 

I honestly do not care what somebody kills a deer with. Hell I can hit a deer with my chevy pick up and call it a bow kill.

 

Here in NY we call it a payment increase....

 

I plot just for sheds... Or so it seems

 

EVERY deer that comes into a bait pile is within easy killing range. FEW deer that walk into a food plot or field of one acre or more are within easy killing range. I have done both types of hunts where legal, and there is no comparison at all.

 

Same here - I don’t mess with corn since practically every property within 10 miles has a couple feeders spitting out corn. It doesn’t take long for a buck to learn that the big black thing that dispenses tasty treats every morning and evening Will get you killed. They are great if you want to stock your freezer with squirrels, spikes, and Dalmatian deer, but anything that’s survived more than a couple hunting season knows to stay the hell away or to wait until the middle of the night. Even our mature does know that feeders are dangerous places since you get 4 antlerless tags and 2 either sex tags in NC.

 

If you hit one with your boat that would be considered a bow kill. Unless you were going in reverse, since that would be be a stern kill.

 

Exactly. I always said I believed there was a difference, but it wasn't until I experienced hunting a bait site that I experienced it first hand.

I try to stay away from absolute statements, as they're overused, but I 100% will never believe they are the same thing. Entirely different things.

 

I always find it amusing when someone says hunting a bait pile is no different then hunting a corn/ag field. My trail cameras say there is a big difference. When I put a five gallon bucket of corn out right on the edge of a corn field, I usually get around a 1000 to 1300 pictures per camera in a weeks time with a two shot burst. When the corn pile runs out I drop down to 200 - 300 pictures per week per camera with most being taken during the night. Daytime pictures of bucks really increase when there is a corn pile. I well get them in the mornings and before dark almost every day. Without the corn pile I usually get the same bucks a few times a week but usually at night.

This summer I ran a couple cameras along a corn/soybeans edge again. The cameras where place about 1/4 mile apart. The first buck pictured was hitting them almost every day, twice a day during light. Once the 2 piles ran out I still got him almost every day but mostly at night . The second buck pictured was hitting the piles every day usually once during light. Once the piles were gone I only get him during the night and usually only 2 -3 times a week. I've yet to get a daytime of him with the two cameras without a pile.

 

Oh and my stance on baiting or not... never have... never will. Once hunting season starts I leave my cameras run but quit putting corn out. Well unless I am checking out a new place during hunting season to see what is roaming if I can't scout it with harvest going on.

Don't really care what anyone else is doing. I hunt to make me happy. Now this guy makes me happy and I know where he beds. Going to be a little tricky hunting him.

 

But sitting 20 yards off a kill plot full of clover beans and corn is

 

Did deer live there before you applied food plots...

 

That only makes sense if the entire plot is within 20 yards of the stand. That may happen, but I have never seen a plot around here like that. Most are at least an acre or they get wiped out by the deer. Also, the deer know the plots are going to continue to grow and provide food day or night. A small pile of corn or other bait starts a bit of competition for the deer to get it while it lasts. That triggers more activity during shooting hours. So, no it really is not the same at all. Do what makes you happy, but don't try to make yourself feel better by making the two styles of hunting out to be the same. I have done both, they are day and night. (pun intended)

 

The mature harvested corn is more palatable to deer this time of year, plus a lot less effort to eat.

 

That has what to do with what?

 

Sorry, had to