I ain't tryin to pee further than you brotha:D. I don't typically chime in on very many debates, but one I do is baiting. As I said in the other thread, I enjoy hearing why people do or don't bait. Just like I enjoy reading why some people like treestand instead of ground blinds, football instead of basketball, and beer over whiskey:p. I like how everyone has their own opinions, it keeps us from being Communist:D
Foodplots vs. Baiting: neither one is natural, both concentrate game, both alter natural movements, both designed to make your hunting easier, both cost money, both benefit other wildlife, neither one is gonna make you a better hunter or cause you to shoot a P&Y every year, I could go on and on w/ this list. In my eyes there's no difference. Which ever you choose to do, its for the same reason and has the same benefits/drawbacks.
we have food plots on our property, but we don't hunt over them... we put them in place to draw deer across our stand areas and get them moving across the property... we are also going to place a couple mineral licks thru the property in relative vicinity of the food as supplement... we do at least put out multiple plots so the deer don't concentrate in one area... though we do monitor the plots to see which ones they are moving to most frequently...
I only use small food plots, which I don't hunt over, and put mineral in spots for camera purposes only. I don't hunt over either. Just personal preference. If I see a hunting show with a feeder or box blind with windows all decked out, I change the channel.
Im not a Pro Plotter or a Anti Bait guy. We have corn,beans,alfalfa,wheat,etc on our lands so nutrition is not a problem. We plant small plots of turnips as a threat and to hunt around. If it was illegal to hunt around them I wouldnt do it.
I don't bait or have food plots, you're all CRAZY!! I figure if the deer can't make it, nature is just thinning them out. Same reason I don't get all worked up over wolves. That way I know all the deer I shoot are true B.A.M.F'ers:D Then again, I'm not big on welfare either....:p
I don't THINK I would plant them. If we didn't already have so much to offer as far as nutrition I would plant them for just that reason and to hold deer in my area of course.
very good question... we use food plots to try to increase the quality of the deer in our general area... with the deep south being famous for tiny racks the nutritional content is important as most of the surrounding property is probably (and by that I mean in the upper 90% range of probability) baited with corn... frequently... I don't see anything unethical about it, but that's me... but let me add this to the debate.... years ago (and I'm talking about when people hunted for food only, like back in the 1700's) did people hunt near food plots?? I'd bet they used them quite frequently to put meat on the table... just like they used bait to kill predators that ate their chickens or cows... or rabbits that chewed up the garden... I think there is a good argument that could be made that using bait is more traditional than food plots or so-called "ethical" hunting... Stirring the pot
To a degree, yes My camera studies and a few hunting partners of mine have confirmed that deer DRASTICALLY stop visiting mineral licks come October, And i have never hunted over them,
The first reason on your list as why you don't bait is "disease". I could be wrong, but I think most diseases in whitetails are passed through saliva. Wouldn't mineral licks be really bad for spreading disease? I ask because maybe I'm missing something here.
Cay, you might want to try hunting over bait, because what you're doing... It ain't working. ZING!! Sorry buddy. Couldn't resist. This just in: Michael Vick is a Philadelphia Eagle. Now, back to your regularly-scheduled programming.
isnt it the same with mineral licks, deer come in a concentrated area, eat the dirt or whatever, while other deer crap and piss all over it too? arent they both kinda unhealthy and have the chance to spread disease? but nobady seem to have a problem with mineral lick, i dont either since i use them as well....
Caleb, it aint for me either, just not interested in doing it, its illegal in Indiana anyway to hunt over it. I do sometimes feed em in the off season.
