Baiting vs Food Plots..is there any difference?

Duke...

It ONLY works both ways IF you view one (doesn't matter which one) as morally superior. I could have said (as I have before).....that the holder of that attitude is guilty of introducing a double standard.

Again....I don't view either as "unethical"; "immoral" or otherwise. And, I certainly don't place one on a pedestal, higher than the other.

 

Is so!.. is not!... is so!... is not!

Dang, is it that time of the year already?


I sat over a bait pile in Maine for 7 hours a day, six days in a row. I saw no bears at all. It was the most boring hunting trip ever. 10 people in our group all hunting over bait.. only two bears spotted, no shot opportunities.. soo. baiting sucks!!!!

 

ok so the size of my bait site is several hundred acres of corn and soy and i can mow it or just leave it , or harvest at any time. I can hunt over it or in it. my name is farmer.:D

I live in farm country so baiting deer feels more like a joke to me,

 

Food Plots IMO depending on size, etc. are No different than bait, but honestly who cares? IMHO I think small food plots in theory can be way more effective than dumping some corn out on the ground, but honestly I don't know as I have never actually done either one.

If I had the opportunity I would probably put out a food plot, but like Mark McGuire says I would do it for health reasons only and not to make my hunting any better. LMAO!

In some areas I'd say both are beneficial but in highly agricultural areas I doubt they are the end all, be all, but maybe I'm wrong.

I still say as always if it's legal where you hunt and you want to try it, then by all means go for it. No one needs someone else's approval to hunt in a legal manner in their area.

Dan

 

Christine, Maine is not the best place to go Bear hunting but then I think you know that ;-)

Dan

 

I'm so glad I hunt bedding areas!:p

 

I thought this discussion was healthy. Didn't see any toes being stepped on at all.

Don't know why everyone thinks every debate is in hard feeling.

I have no hard feelings towards anyone here. And no one else should.

If anyone has hard feeling over an internet debate.. I feel sorry for them.

 

First I have to say holy freakin s***! Man did this thread take off quick! I also want to say I didn't want to read all the pages in this thread so by using the following quotes I don't mean to be picking on you GMMAT.

I can't believe you said that GMMAT. I baited A LOT for quite a few years and I have put in and hunted on or near several food plots many, many times. While there are situations where they can be very similar baiting is by far much different and generally far easier (particularly for bow hunting). It is harder to get a shot at a deer that comes to a 5 acre food plot than a 5' bait pile. If he comes into the bait pile he IS in range. Not so with the food plot. A bait pile is very good at positioning the deer where you want it. Plus when baiting you have a mobile food source that can also be quickly and easily tailored to suit the location and food sources available in a given area and year which can be a huge advantage. I could go on and on, but I would be here for hours explaining the differences. I will say that both are good and have their advantages and disadvantages though. To each their own. If it's legal and you want to do it then do so!

In some cases that is just an excuse to try to justify a persons stance against baiting, but in many cases this is true. Putting out some bait until you shoot a deer is of little benefit to the deer herd, but food plots provide more food for a much longer period of time and are usually of higher quality nutritionally.

As far as hanging a treestand there goes... what's wrong with that? Unless you kill every deer in the area you still benefit the herd. Besides, keeping the herd in check is beneficial.

 

You HAVE to use these type analogies for your POV to hold water. Now what if the hunter can reach every (or most every) point of his plot with his weapon?

Again.....you HAVE to make the assumption that the person baiting isn't providing a supplemental food source for the herd. I've just found this NOT to be the case (for most people I know around here). They "bait", year-round.

And honestly.....if you want to get technical....I can provide food that is equal to or greater than anything they'd eat out a food plot. Do most hunters? Probably not.

You show me a hunter who plants food plots........but doesn't hunt over or near them.....and I'll recognize him as providing a viable food source for the herd.....and NOT recognize him as a "baiter". Now...NOT generally speaking....how many do you know who fit THAT bill?

Nothing! Now why is it so hard for those doing so to admit they had the SAME GOAL in mind as the "baiter", when they set that stand? And, they're utilizing a congruent "tactic".

 

My only concerns with baiting are that in places with very small parcels of land, I feel that deer movements can be changed to a high enough degree that the "non-baiter" can be affected by a person choosing to bait.

Other than that.....so what.

 

I know that now. Where were you before I booked this hunt??

---------------------------------
Mike, did I say it was a bad thing? No.

I'm kind of [insert evil smiley here] happy to see it over here instead it all being on that other* site. (but I don't think any minds will be changed... no matter how much this is 'debated'. this topic has been beat to death)

I think I'm going to start a thread on the PA game Commission and it's deer management program and send some folks over here too. :D :D




* the site where people expect me to keep everyone happy and always ban the other guy. Ha!

 

The biggest difference between baiting and food plots, I believe, is intention.

Baiting can be used for several factors- photographers (myself included) throw out bait in order to get close to deer to get better pictures. Some people throw out corn just to enjoy watching wildlife. Then, some people throw out bait to, theoretically, improve their chances at harvesting an animal.

Food plots can be attributed to the betterment of wildlife as a whole as many can agree. Simply put, they make the deer who eat them more healthy as well as increasing the overall well being of other wildlife (turkeys, grouse and other upland birds.. which in turn helps other wildlife... foxes, hawks and the prey animals that feed on the former critters).

In regrads to hunting, I think there is a huge difference. When baiting, you control consumption. If you have a feeder full of corn that's timed to go off 1 hour before sunset, then over a short period of time when that feeder goes off deer will come running and will eat all the corn that feeder throws out.

With food plots, the plot is likely to have been established for atleast a month before hunting season. The clover will be there 24 hours a day, unlike the corn and the deer can feed in the plot at night or during the day, in other words at their leisure. When that feeder full of sweet tasting corn goes off, it's a race and competition to be the deer that gets their first.

Also, baiting is extremely tough on the natural environment. I've read in Quality Whitetails that in a consistent year round baiting "service" the browse deer normally feed on suffers greatly. In fact some species that rely on deer browse for growth and regeneration, that have not been browsed due to a feeding program, can take up to 100 years to "fix themselves."

 

I know a better place you could have gone. :D

 

let me say Duke, that an oak flat is a natural food plot and so is an apple tree...it's not baiting b/c I didn't nor did anyone else put it there with the intent to hunt over...again, I don't have an issue with any of it...I just wanted to know the differences...

 

Foof plots, like an oak flat or fruit orchard, are natural the minute the seeds hit the ground. From that moment on, they are at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Drought, extreme heat, flooding, etc. can all affect food plots and I've never seen the aforementioned affect a baiting site.

 

that is a really good point...

 

I'd also like to make mention that while my previous posts would seem to imply that I condem baiting, that's not the case.

I do not bait, nor do I have any intention of doing so anytime soon. But I do realize its place in the hunting community and if that is your method, have at it. Just make sure it is legal in your state!

Continue..

 

What's natural about a 1/2 acre of brassicas? Are they indigenous?

Don't answer. It was rhetorical.

The problem I have with this discussion....is the bad rap people who bait get. Everyone paints the food plotter as a do-gooder ambassador of whitetail survival.....and the person who baits as the lazy slob who puts out 50#'s of corn to kill helpless deer.

That's as unfair as me watching the Game Warden video of the kid shooting deer from his truck and say......"Figures.....F-ing gun hunters".

 

As I said before, I don't have much problem with people who bait where it's legal. It's legal in NC so, GMMAT if you do it then by all means continue.

But my argument is not really directed at "baiters" more so those who feed deer year round. I think your first statement is correct. Food plotters are quickly tagged as "quality deer managers" who give back to their deer herd, and the argument is very strong and rightfully so. My deal, is with the person who throws out corn 365 days a year, because that is when the herd becomes subject to disease, populations baloon out of control, natural movement patterns are abandoned and the native vegetation and browse suffers.

So, I may be hijacking the thread, but my argument is directed towards a different collection of people.

 

I find that incredibly funny.

Carry on.