Just wonderin how many of you bait. I do the mineral site in spring/summer but come fall its hard to bait my stand because of the far walk but problem is every other property around me baits heavy i was thinkin some of the different attractants they hsve out there but i dunno.
I have a farmer baiting for me...he planted 1200 acres of field corn, and it's still standing. :bigsmyl:
I put out supplemental feed in the off season. During season I put out food in non stand sites.
I hear its twice as hard shooting an animal over bait (very jumpy)
From my trail cam pics I believe it.
This year in Ohio there are so many acorns the deer probably wouldnt care about bait.
I do because its easier to catch fish. Sometimes you can catch them on a bare hook. :laughing:
Not legal to bait deer in NY State, so I don't.
I kinda wish it was still not legal here
I bait. I much prefer the "feel" of hunting pinch points and funnels but on some of the properties I hunt bait is the best option....especially early season. I'm not a fan of big barrel feeders but would much rather disperse corn by hand in my shooting lanes and hunt over it within the next 24-48 hours. I find this to feel a bit more "natural" than hunting over a mechanized broadcaster or one large pile. While these are my preferences, I have adopted the philosophy "To each his own" when it comes to this topic (pretty hot button issue in certain places).
QuoteOriginally posted by Roger Norris:
I have a farmer baiting for me...he planted 1200 acres of field corn, and it's still standing. :bigsmyl:
Talk about a feeding area!
QuoteOriginally posted by aim small...release:
I kinda wish it was still not legal here
Me too! Those were the best couple years I ever spent in the woods.
Now you scout all year for funnels and perfect spots and come October throw it all out the window because there is a pile of carrots every 100 yards along every dirt road and two track.
Wish they would at least make it illegal on state land like Ohio does.
I spit a little tobacco from my tree stand - does that count?
Florida public land does not allow it. Private land your allowed feeders but they have to be in full operations for so long before you can hunt them. I have done both and have killed more deer not over bait. Hogs on the other hand is almost like shooting fish in a barrel when they show up. It is nice to have something to start pulling animals out of the thick stuff, but like stated above if you are baiting an area first time the animals tend to be super spooky. If I had opportunity at private land again I would rather do a food plot. Florida gets a lot of rain and can really grow a lot of different plants. I did a rye field one year on my buddy's parents property and we saw a lot of deer around the house way more than the past, but never saw them on the plot. Probably made the mistake hunting the actual food plot rather than the trails going to it.
Depends where you live. IMO anything you put on the ground that was not there naturally is baiting and that's ok if your state allows it.
Putting spray or deer scent on the ground IMO is also baiting.
If I hunted small tracts adjacent to people who baited heavily I'd probably resort to the practice. I don't so I have never baited.
I spent the first nearly 20 years hunting in Indiana where baiting was illegal. Then 3.5 in KS and 3.5 in MO -- baiting was illegal in both when I lived there. So, part of the ethic that was ingrained in me by regulation was not too use bait.
Of course I scout natural food sources (acorns, persimmons, dogwood and honeysuckle browse, etc.) I LOVE hunting adjacent to standing corn but none of that in my area these days. Nothing like hearing deer walking in rustling corn stalks pre-dawn on the edge of such a field.
I don't bait
It is more rewarding to go out and use your woodsmanship skills and find natural food sources and use the terrain to hunt. I wish it weren't legal here.
I don't. To do it right you need to be skilled. I have a buddy who is a Master.
CHuckC
Don't, but nothing against it. Only legal on private land here btw. Too many bears anyhow
I bait, especially later in the season and I hate it! Because it is legal in NJ, if you don't bait, the guy on the property next to you is and chances are he's bringing in bait by the truck load. It becomes a situation of, no bait no deer. I much prefer the early season when the deer are working ag fields, persimmon, wild quince trees and the first acorns. Even when baiting I prefer to hunt the approaches rather then directly over a bait pile. Still, I long for the the days when it was illegal.
I don't bait. Not my style.
In fact, I only opened the thread to see who would go where ChuckC went with the question. You're a bad boy, ChuckC. :biglaugh:
Kingsnake
I do both. I don't mind a little corn :)
From what I have read on this thread, there's several interpretations of "bait". A planted 800 acre corn field or planted food plots, which both benefit deer and deer hunters. For me there is a fine line between the two. Is acorns or fruit trees considered bait? What about what I do on my family's property, I place countless fertilizer spikes around numerous white oak trees on my property to enhance the acorn crop, (acorns are dropping so much to where you truly need a helmet to walk through). Or how about the two apple trees, (that has been on our property as long as I can remember), that never produced little if no apples until I took the time to prune, cut back competing vegetation and fertilize to where both trees are now producing baseball size apples now. Or how about the 2 food plots that I sweat and elbow grease into to plant in late Spring.
Now, is any of the above considered baiting?? Not in my book because I am enhancing the quality of life of deer as well as quality of land. And isn't that what we are suppose to do as hunters? But what I do some may consider baiting. Oh well.
I might want to add that my 75 year old father, who still bow hunts, would skin any of his sons if he caught them hunting over a deer lick, corn pile or supplement like Acorn Rage.
Thanks for letting me rant and reading my post!! Happy hunting!!! JMG
In Maryland you can bait on private ground only. This has been my experience when baiting on private ground, I have a 100 corn feeder that has a camera watching it to see what comes in, no hunting is permitted near this feeder. First, if you have any bears or turkeys in the area they will find your bait and become daily visitors to that area and eat all the corn pretty quickly. This feeder has been in this spot for 5 years now and I believe all the animals know the sound of the feeder and show up soon after it goes off. Second, in our area I get a ton of deer pics with doe and smaller bucks during the daylight hours but almost all the bigger bucks come in between 11pm and 3am. I go in that area once a month to check the camera and fill the feeder, I take every precaution to leave as little of human scent as possible so I don't believe I'm the reason the bigger bucks come in during those times.
I don't have any issues with people hunting over bait if its legal, I just choose not to do it.
Rodney
QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
I don't. To do it right you need to be skilled. I have a buddy who is a Master.
CHuckC
:laughing:
I do not Bait but I hunt near Oak trees.
I have thought about this a lot lately as I have entered into traditional archery. I have hunted Texas for the last 35 years and most of that time has been on the ground or in treestands,etc. Baiting in Texas has become the norm, and along with that supplemental protein feeding,etc. Unfortunately, the downside to that is "hunting" has become a ritual of setting feeders, installing game cams and becoming very familiar with the age of the local bucks who attend that feeder. It's all about the points and age now, which I think has gone a little overboard as the actual art of stalking, still hunting and woodsmanship in my opinion has declined in some of our youth. It is not uncommon now for a young hunter to tell me about the 160 or 180 buck he has shot on a managed ranch. I have no personal argument against baiting or feeding, you could argue that it does in some way help the nutrition and quality of the deer herd. However, in Texas, there are now so many high-fenced ranches that we have turned the countryside into a multitude of private zoos that require feeding for the deer to survive. I currently hunt on around a 1000 acres with a few archery tripods, a mountain and no feeders. I love it. The guys I hunt with have been on this ranch since 1946 and have not changed things at all since that time. The deer remain healthy and are of great quality as long as the rain is adequate. I challenge those who hunt over feeders consistently to try your hand at still hunting, using the wind, sun and shade for guidance. If you take a young man (or woman) on a stillhunt, and get within ten or twenty yards of an unsuspecting animal, I can assure you that they will be hooked and will not want to hunt any other way. That is what happened to me. To me still hunting is a skill and art, almost a meditative process that allows a hunter to truly blend and incorporate into his environment. My favorite hunt has always been a midday hunt with a slight wind, trying to find bucks bedded or feeding at midday. My son, who has also taken up tradiitonal archery, loves to be on the ground. I hope that we as traditional archers, whether hunting with bow or rifle, will continue to challenge ourselves in the art of hunting. As leases get more expensive and trophy fees become exorbitant, I've found great pleasure in our old fashioned deer camp. People will always ask "why do you hunt with a stickbow and why on earth on the ground?" I think all we can safely say is "because it is hard." V/R..
J
Well said Jeff!! I also believe that baiting/feeding deer, that the deer become dependent on the feed. I am finding out that it is a lot easier to fertilize what's available such as white oak trees and fruit trees in the Spring then baiting. My father always said, deer are on a property for several reasons, water, good cover and food. The key is finding that food source that deer browse on and enhancing it. That way it keeps the deer in their natural routine.
I scout and hunt natural funnels and terraun but my best stand has a 200lb corn feeder 150yds from me right on tge property line and i can hear the dang thing go off
Baiting would not be nearly as popular as it is if the "easier" mentality had not taken hold as it has. I have shot bear over bait--but don't think I would again--just didn't seem right or sporting to shoot a bear with a jelly donut in his mouth. :( My first encounter with baiting was in Michigan many years ago. It was disconcerting to see the huge--and I mean huge--bait piles all over the national forest area we hunted just off the little snow mobile/atv trails. On the other hand, feral hogs on feeders is something I have little troubled conscience about--they are non-native, pests, and so ugly they ought to be shot--and they taste sooooo good on the grill! Am I inconsistent? Even at that, I would prefer to shoot them mano-a-mano on the ground.
I scout and hunt natural funnels and terraun but my best stand has a 200lb corn feeder 150yds from me right on tge property line and i can hear the dang thing go off
One has to decide whether you want to "hunt" critters or just "shoot" them. There is a difference.
QuoteOriginally posted by JohnV:
One has to decide whether you want to "hunt" critters or just "shoot" them. There is a difference.
I never post on baiting threads because I think there is justification to both sides as well as I truly believe that how we find joy in our hunting is a personal decision and shouldn't matter to anyone else as long as its legal. But with that said, I really like your post John. :thumbsup:
It depends on ones hunting area. Michigan is so overrhunted and so pressured the deer already are off their natural travels. With that said I dont like baiting but I also enjoy seeing deer and competeing with a machine that throws out feed at prime time feeding hours is hard to see deer.
I've put out trail cams and corn in the backyard and up in the woods to try to see what's around. This year the bait in the woods was hardly touched because there is so much soft and hard mast this year.
I chased a nice 10 point several years ago and had him pretty well patterned when he suddenly disappeared. I later learned that he was killed over bait on an adjoining piece of property.
It is legal here in WV, but not my cup of tea.
Depends what how you define baiting. Most of the time on these threads they talk of baiting strictly as a food source. However, IMO anything you put out that was not there in its natural state is baiting. You are trying to lure the animal to your shootable location by using different items.
So isn't a deer calls, rattling horns, deer scents and decoys also baiting?
There are many that say baiting is not there cup of tea but they are restricting baiting to only a food source and then turn around and use a deer scent to lure a deer in.
Hate it, wish it was illegal. Seems everywhere you go here in NC you see deer corn for sale.
i like to hunt, so i dont bait.
Different strokes for different folks. It's what makes the world go round. As I mentioned earlier, I do both. Either can be rewarding and fun. It's kinda like politics...extremists never do their side a real service because of the hot headed, over zealous opinions.
I hunt. I don't bait. I would quit before I would bait. It's not hunting in any way, shape or form.
It's illegal to bait in southern WI. because of CWD. But even if we didn't have that restriction, I doubt that I would bait.
I own a 170 acre farm and rent out the tillable acreage to my neighbor and we have an agreement that he will leave a few acres of corn or beans stand for winter survival food. So that's sort of like baiting, once all the crops are harvested, but sometimes the hunting season is over by then.
I noticed many that are against baiting when talking about deer but when it comes to bears they have no problem baiting. I am not a bear hunter but every video I have seen on bear hunting with archery is done with baiting.
Seems like a double standard.
Looks like if you are against baiting then it should be across the board with no exceptions.
I use nightcrawlers for catfish and bluegills, but you won't see me using one for trout.
Same thing, In my mind we have certain games we play and they have certain rules. Not saying your rules should be the same as mine, but I follow my rules and don't worry so much about yours.
CHuckC
It's against the law here in Il. but I do run across quiet a few deep dug out holes with lots of deer tracts around the edges.
I don't think deer eat yellow jackets.
It's legal for all big game here and I can tell you that I and some of my hunting partners are in the very small minority that don't bait. Most if not all the bigger whitetails killed here these days are taken with bait. Some guys are putting out literally hundreds of baits. Basically a pile of peas with a game camera every couple of miles. They start in the summer and by the hunting season they know if there is a big deer visiting. If not, then they don't bother with that location. We have CWD here and yet baiting continues. There is an entire generation of hunters and outfitters who really don't know any other way of hunting deer and basically they have kept it alive and well despite the disease implications, concentrating animals, etc.
I've hunted bears over bait before, but haven't done it in a long time. It doesn't interest me and these days I usually just buy a fall bear license to do spot/stalk if I come across them while hunting in the forest.
One thing that people tend to overlook is that baiting used to be deployed extensively for waterfowl hunting during the market gunning days to great effect. When conservation laws were enacted it was one of the first things to go and as far as I know, no jurisdictions allows bait to be used to hunt migratory birds/waterfowl. Something to ponder, if it's still true.....
Baiting is certainly a touchy subject with most hunters be it for deer or bears. A long time ago Aldo Leopold wrote that "The recreational value of game is inverse to the artificiality of its origin". To me, those words hold for all aspects of recreational hunting and ring as true today as they did when he put them to paper. He was WAY ahead of his time. Good hunting, Rick.
We can't bait in NY, but I see little difference in a guy using bait, lets say on very small acreage compared to someone that leaves standing corn etc. for the sole purpose of attracting game. I would not judge someone for using bait to put some meat on the table.
It is illegal to bait in Georgia, but Walmart still sells corn in the sporting goods department every Fall.
QuoteOriginally posted by Walter Mauney:
It is illegal to bait in Georgia, but Walmart still sells corn in the sporting goods department every Fall.
Same here Walter, and Bass pro.
Without going into squabbling I'll say this, with bait it depends what your goal is. Some people rely on killing deer for their dinner, for some it validates and justifies all their efforts to bag an animal. For those people I can see baiting and I don't judge them; for their methods nor their motives. I don't hunt to eat, sure I eat my critters, well some, some I donate to the needy or give to my friends. I hunt to hunt. Its fun, relaxing, challenging and rewarding regardless of the blood trails. But thats just me. Im not better than anyone or doing anything any more proper or "real". I simply prefer the hunt over the kill. My best friend baits his butt off. Doesn't bother me, its legal and he likes the kill. I don't kill much these days but I still never have a bad time in the woods and to me every hunt is "successful". Besides, and this is NOT a dig to the baiters, but anything that ups your odds extensively like baiting deer robs you of an opportunity to learn more about your quarry and the land youre hunting. Exceptions will always exist and my opinion doesn't count for much.
I am 63 and have been a hunter all my life. I have never baited, and have no intentions of doing so. In my way of thinking baiting would break the rules of fair chase for me.
QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
I use nightcrawlers for catfish and bluegills, but you won't see me using one for trout.
Same thing, In my mind we have certain games we play and they have certain rules. Not saying your rules should be the same as mine, but I follow my rules and don't worry so much about yours.
CHuckC
EXACTLY!! As long as your following your states game laws and having fun I wish you all well!
QuoteOriginally posted by KentuckyTJ:
QuoteOriginally posted by JohnV:
One has to decide whether you want to "hunt" critters or just "shoot" them. There is a difference.
I never post on baiting threads because I think there is justification to both sides as well as I truly believe that how we find joy in our hunting is a personal decision and shouldn't matter to anyone else as long as its legal. But with that said, I really like your post John. :thumbsup: [/b]
X2
Baiting in parts of WI is illegal due to CWD. My cabin hunting property in west central WI is one county away from being in the no bait zone. While I certainly don't want to see CWD spread I would love to see no baiting in that county. I don't bait, but my neighbors do and it has really ruined the quality of hunting we used to enjoy there. By the time late October rolls around it will be rare to see a doe on our property.