Well said Justin! I think, like everything else about hunting, it comes down to a mixture of your motives, preferences and ethics of the deer hunter. Everything can be acceptable in moderation. If you want to bait, go ahead. Same with deer drives, hanging stands, still hunting, etc., etc... All are ways of hunting, but for me, I'm not only concerned with myself, but others as well. There will always be people that take things too far. Like the hunters that I've had still hunt to the base of my tree, wave at me, and continue on there way. Or the hunter that set up a treestand 20 yards in front of my cousin overlooking a river bottom. He just walked right in, said hey to my cousin and set up and hunted right in front of him! We all have a right to hunt, and hunt in the way that works for us. I just encourage all of us to periodically take a step back, to make sure we are not stomping on someone else's right to hunt their way. Heard management, should take top priority, because without it, we all lose.
Here is the deal in SC on baiting....there is NO baiting for Turkey anywhere in the State(and anyone who baits for Turkey that I find out about will go missing) As far as Deer, it is legal in the lower part of the state and illegal in the upstate. It really gripes me because I own property that is absolutely beautiful with hardood bottoms, pines swamp, river, food plots and a cabin. To get to my place you either have to go by jon boat or by 4x4....the problem is that my property is surrounded by hunt clubs who have leased land from indicviduals who have timbered and then planted pines....they put in huge food plots....every deer season my place is loaded w/ deer right up until about a week before opening day, then the mysteriously dissappear...then they return when the season is over.....the local Walmarts and feed and seed dealers sell thousands and thousands of pounds of corn.... It is a real pisser to work your foodplots and do all the work for hunt clubs to cheat (I'm in the upstate)and draw the deer to their place with corn piles. The members of these clubs say (while having a beer or 3 at the Marina) that they spend alot of money to be in thae clubs and they better have deer.....The DNC is aware of it, but when you mention it they act all indignant and want details and locations..well you can't get into the areas they bait because they are way off the rode and hidden.....they claim that if you tell them about it they will act....I called a Warden out on it so we will see when the season starts.... Additionally in the lower part of the state and in large huntclubs, it has been my experaince that these guys/gals only know how to get in a platform stand w/ a bag lunch and a rifle w/ a huge scope and sit over a corn pile. They are clueless in any of the art form that is hunting. SB
All of Illinois is a big old bait pile. You've got corn, beans, food plots, etc. The only problem is that you never know what bait pile they're going to use and how they're going to go to get to them!
On a grand scale, I hope it never becomes legal statewide here in PA. We have a lot of small plots of land and an arbitrary food source, can greatly impact the surrounding areas. So you can't say that what someone else does, won't affect you. That said, I hope it becomes legal for all special regs areas because it would help pull "unhuntable" deer to where they can be hunted thus making it easier to control the populations.
I'll chime in for Texas. I'm a lazy slob in the eyes of some. You may judge me and thats OK. Although you have never met me or hunted with me you choose to make these judgements. I can live with them. I can also live with myself, and quite comfortably I might add. I have a feeder at my lease, I also have a gun blind about 60 yards away from it. (Does hunting with a gun make me lazy and a slob too, or is it just the baiting?) The blind and feeder are there to help thin the doe herd and maybe give my young nephew, my wife, or a guest, the opportunity to kill a deer. I plan to put a bow stand about 20 yds from the feeder so I might have a chance to kill a doe off it as well, just 'cause I'm lazy and don't feel like walking the extra 200 yds to another stand I have overlooking a foodplot, (Chickory and clover),and hunting there. I guess if I wasn't such a slob I'd walk that extra distance and kill a deer at the food plot to appease ya'll holier than thou folks that kill deer by "PURE AND APPROVED" means. Will it appease ya'll and take me off the lazy slob list if I move to a mid-west ag state and just hunt ag fields? I don't have corn or any other crop except timber where I hunt. my last lease had a crop, it was beef. Get off your high horse! If its not for you don't do it but until you know me or walk a mile in my shoes keep your uppity comments to yourself. Oh and BTW, if I feel the need I may just go ahead and bait turkeys when I go to Kansas in a couple of months. Why not stay true to form?
Ok, now here's a question I've thought about before as well. What's the difference between hunting over a pile of corn or a half an acre of clover that you've planted SPECIFICALLY to attract deer and hunt over? And, what's interesting to me is the fact that some that criticize for hunting over a bait pile hunt over food plots. Pot calling the kettle black, IMHO.
A half acre of clover allows for an animal to be out of bow range, bait pile brings them to a specific point. Its kind of like the apple tree out in my pasture, it brings animals right under it, especially bears in the fall. Pin point location versus the 26 acres of oats around my place that animals can enter and move around in without pinpointing themselves. DOES it all make my hunting easier YES, does it make me LAZIER absolutely yes, I dont have to work as hard as I would hunting an animal on his terms in the mountains were feed it scattered and available everywhere.. I made the comment early in this post about baiting being a lazy method for the most part.. I never once said I wouldnt use the method if I needed to fill the freezer. I have, I have shot elk with a rifle off my oat patch... I didnt so much enjoy the hunt but I was happy as hell to have an easy drag/recovery and my family ate well all winter.. but bait is what it is.. THE METHOD is used to make HUNTING easier by pinpointing location and adding addtional critters to a specific point, more options so to speak ...Hey if its legal do as you choose, I do but I am not gonna sugar coat it. From a scientific standpoint baiting does and has been linked to contributing to nose to nose contact and the spread of disease, where as food plots dont.
Well when you hunt public land or private land you don't own,,, neither happen. I haven't seen to many 1/2 food plots. Most are larger I see on TV and things. The distances and the spread of the food source is larger than a dinner bell on a feeder. I think all the QDM crap with food plots is nothing more than raising deer. I don't particularly care for that either. Me, I like woods and the deeper and darker the better. I wouldn't care if they outlawed hunting on fields. Just my thing.... I like a tree and woods. In answer to your question though, if you don't know the difference between a pile and a field or series of fields you never will. Throw up a couple corn fields, some clover, alfalfa, soy beans that a farmer plans to harvest and tell me you think a pile of corn or peanuts in the middle of the woods is the same thing. No way. If it's legal and you want to do it fine. When I lived in Maryland it was legal... but I didn't like it and didn't do it except for a couple times for guest coming in.
I have no problem with any type of hunting/baiting as long as it is legal. I USE to hunt near corn piles up until 2 years ago. You WILL see lots of deer hunting like this but you WILL NOT see many bucks that are 3yrs. old or older(at least in my area). I just got tired of watching deer coming near a corn pile always looking up in the trees. In fact killing a MATURE doe over a corn pile is NOT easy. One of the last seasons I hunted near corn piles I had put out about 9000 lbs or corn from Jan-Jan. I could not afford that at current prices of corn now even if I wanted to I still plant food plots every year and in a couple of places I get the farmer to plant soybeans or corn and just leave it alone instead of harvesting it. These are not big tracts usually a couple of acres or so. So I guess that is kindof baiting also. I also had about 650 persimmon trees planted that I hope will start producing fruit soon. Will I hunt over/near these trees...of course I will. I do not have much luck hunting over these plots out in the open. Around here the hunting clubs that use dogs start running them in late Aug. or early Sept. to get them in shape so that is usually about the time the bigger bucks start to disappear. Most of the time if you want to see a decent buck(during daylight hours) it will be at least 100+ yrds. back from a food source.
Everything we do in preparation for hunting season is designed to make it EASIER. Who are we to decide whats too easy. That's the point if it wasnt, then none of you would scout, sight in your rifle, etc, etc. Its up to each person to decide how they want to hunt and what method they use. Obey the law and your fine by me. And just for the record, most deer in a half acre food plot are gonna be in bow range. A half acres is only 49yds X 49yds. If I knew a method that would make all the trophy bucks in my woods flock to my stand, you can gaurantee Id use it.
Ive gotten into some really big arguments on baiting, so simply put, no, i dont bait and a wish it was illegal in Ohio.
I got no problem w/ baitng in legal areas. I don't bait because it is illegal....but my neighbors do bait illegally......I wish they just level the field and made it legal state wide. Then nobody would have an advantage. SB but bait for turkeys and I'll gut ya like a fish.
Baiting is supposedly illegal in IL, but go to most any hunting store to see the latest selections for Cmeer Deer, Black Magic, etc. Our local farm supply store lowers the price on salt blocks (and advertises it) just before bow season opens. I really don't care one way or another if someone baits. Recent shed hunting trips lead me to believe that I'm one of the few in my area that doesn't. :D
Speaking of black magic.....deer cain...stump topper....ect ect..... Ok, TECHNICALLY they're minerals. But.....they're designed to do what? Attract deer to a certain spot, right? How come those aren't considered bait, but a corn pile is?? (In MO this is the case.) Baiting is illegal in MO, but salt blocks, mineral blocks (as long as they don't have grain in them) stump lickers and the like are perfectly legal. The whole baiting thing is just silly, IMO. There are too many contradictions. I can't hunt over a pile of corn or a hay bale, but I can hunt over 1/4 acre (any size) of imperial whitetail clover or any other food plot that I'm OBVIOUSLY not going to harvest......I can hunt over a pile of Deer Cain, stump topper, peanut butter sucker......and that's perfectly acceptable??? Or hell....how about Tink's? It may be a natural product, but it was placed artificially to attract a deer for the hunter. I've said this before, and I've caught hell for it.....But......I firmly believe most of these types of laws are designed to make money. Much like a seat belt law. But anyway......I'll go back to work now.
Let me take a throw at this aspect. In my area the difference is it is legal to plant clover and hunt over it...it is illegal to hunt over a corn pile. Additionally planting clover is not onle beneficial to the local animals but is also a help to the soil....putting a pile of corn out is beneficial to the stomach of the animals eating it until it starts going bad then it forms a bacteria that can kill turkeys..... I have no problem with baiting if it is legal. It is illegally baiting that gripes me....I spend a couple of thousand $$ and hours working my place (which I enjoy and will do it anyway)...but I spend all this time and $ on the up and up and some yahoo from out of state buys 3 8 dollar bags of corn pours them in a couple of piles and ruins my hunt and kills some other critters illegally. SB
I've debated this before and I thought about expressing my opinion, but then I stumbled across a question. I would like input on this. Would you bait: Wolf? Coyote? Bear? Deer? Fish? Before you think of the question I'm thinking, just answer to the above animals. I have a theory, but I'm looking to see how you guys respond.
I really like this. The clover is forage for almost everything, where as the corn is specific to only a few species.
