What Dave said!!

Dave-

Couldn't agree more with your last post. Baiting is ruining hunting in Northern WI and producing a whole generation of "hunters" who are learning that you don't need to scout or understand, just throw down the pile and wait for the shot. It is very sad-so sad that I may be forced to start hunting in MN as I don't know that I want to introduce my 2 boys to what hunting has become in WI just because of baiting.

Brady

I'm too lazy to bait.  Like I'm gonna hump a bag of corn in the woods when I can just go scout and find an oak that's being hit.

I would rather "hunt" deer not trap them... Baiting has become a major problem in michigan...especially north of the farmlands....I have in the past bought a few bags of corn or apples to keep deer in an area up north while hunting...I had to crack up ..this year , i came across a guys tree stand on state ground that had a couple buckets of apples underneath it..the funny part was they hadnt been touched , but the acorns had all been shelled by deer and his stand was in a nice white oak......He was so in to baiting he had no idea that he was sitting in the best bait station of them all!

It just affects more folks than you reliase when deer are being pulled off one piece of ground to another by some one dumping large quanities of bait

 Isn't this the same desired effect food plots create?

Personally I have hunted NEAR corn Fields, I have hunted IN apple trees, I have hunted in the forest where acorns fall, I have hunted NEAR wallows and Scrapes and water sources and Natural Funnels, Is that Baiting Absolutely not.  Why because there is Still NO Guarantee that the animals you hunt will come near those things.  However theres a chance.  I think though, When Feeders are used and FOOD PILES are used you are changing those odds in YOUR favor. and  then it no longer becomes hunting, It becomes WAITING! Because it's gonna happen,. ELECTRONIC  FEEDERS ESPECIALLY. When those go off animals hear it; pavlovian response sets off and the animals WILL come.

Think of a dog when it hears the box his "treats" are in, or his bowl get filled with food, ...He comes, it's no different.

QuoteWhen those go off animals hear it; pavlovian response sets off and the animals WILL come.  

It is illegal in NY to bait or even feed deer. At one point you could feed deer but the bait had to be removed 30 days before the area was hunted. It was during that time that i had one of those 5 gallon automatic feeders out just to help the deer out in the winter. I never really bothered to sit around the thing to watch the deer, I would just go and fill it every so often as to not let it run out of corn. Once in a while I would see deer on the way in and always squirrels. So one day in the early spring i decided to go in the woods early just to watch the feeder, it had a photo eye on it so it would go off about one half hour before sunset and one half hour after sunrise. I was sitting there waiting for the feeder to go off and i noticed movement on the ridge a couple hundred yards away, a few minuets later the feeder went off that is when I saw deer running down the logging road to the feeder, I just chuckled to myself because at that point they acted like pets. I'm glad that it is illegal to hunt over bait here because i like the challenge of finding what the deer are feeding on at the time of year I'm after them, and like Terry stated putting the puzzle together. But some time I would like to go to Texas and hunt over bait just to try it out. I see nothing wrong with it if it is legal and it works, some folks don't have the time to get out much so if it helps them get some meat, why not?

Never done it but here in Ohio in January I have considered a corn pile to get closer. I dont see a need for it till after the rut and the deer go back to bigger groups. I'm not against it but have never tried it.

I have tried using scents, tarsel glands and the like with limited success. The only thing that really worked was some mineral licks I set up a few years abck. I'm too lazy to drag all that stuff around the woods every year.

All you Michigan guys know the 2 1/2 gallon bait pile is a joke. They sell it in a huge bag and at least 1 bag and most times 2 or 3 are dumped at a time or 50 or more pounds of bait. They sell apple pulp here that guys buy by the 50 gallon drum and dump it. I bird hunt and roam the woods deer hunting a lot in the fall and I find many deer stands. Every one has a pile of bait under it. The things is for deer hunting, you don't need it if you put the time and effort into figuring out what's going on in the woods. Baiting takes the word hunting and turns it into simply shooting. You hunt for a good tree and dump a pile of bait 15 yards away and shoot a deer. If that's what you want out of bow hunting, that's up to you but if you want to shoot bigger bucks or at least see bigger bucks learn your area. Learn to hunt. And for those that say they like to see the other animals of the woods and that's why they put corn down, try a couple of bird feeders around your stand with sunflower seeds. You'll all get all kinds of action.

In Wi.baiting is legal,I'll put my camera on a pile of corn to see whats around, some deer come every day, some deer come after dark, some deer you'll see once a month after dark. The once a month after dark deer are the ones I would like to shoot and it's  not  going to happen at a corn pile.I'll sit a scrape or funnel.  If someone wants to hunt that way I don't care as long as they do it by the book ( 2 gallons) and not a truck load.

Here in La. it is legal and I did it for many years. Then 5 years ago a couple of buddies and me hunted northern Missouri where it is illegal. Where you actually had to scout for food sources, bedding areas, and travel routes it made me realize how much I missed hunting the old way like I did when I was a kid. Since that trip i have gone back to hunting public land where it is illegal and where you have to scout and look for deer, I now kill less deer but it is a lot more satisfying when I do kill one because it makes me feel like I am hunting instead of just guarding a bait pile. Yes if it is legal I dont have a complaint for people who want to but for me it is much more fun to do it the old fashioned way.

not everything legal is ethical, and vice-versa

If anyone thinks that baiting deer means it is a slam dunk, then they have only seen it in an area where the deer are not used to it. Baiting DOES work, but it is far from a slam dunk. Especially on older age class deer.

It generates alot of money here in Michigan, and I imagine elsewhere as well. Many people here in Michigan make two trips to deer camp. One to put out bait, and then they go to hunt. Spending money the whole time.

It has its problems, and even the ones who swear by the practice can`t deny it. First off, it is biologically bad for deer. I could fill a page with these problems alone. Next in line, is the public perception. Many of us feel it is unethical, and MOST of the non-hunting public believes this also. "An unfair advantage", is the most common statement. In my opinion, this is the biggest problem that baiting causes.

Sadly, baiting has introduced an entire generation of hunters to the sport, where the ground floor knowledge of the whitetail was lost. Using bait  to get deer at close range, instead of using your knowledge of the deer and their habits to pick a location. As we all know, figuring out where to go, through our knowledge of our beloved whitetail is at least half the fun. Without bait, many of the young hunters here where I live, don`t have a clue where to start.

I don`t believe baiting in unethical, because it is not much different from using another food source. I do believe the problems far outweigh the benefits. I have used bait before, and may do it again. But for the most part, I am fed up with buying the bait, hauling it out to the woods, only to get snorted at minutes before dark, by some big old doe who is intent on keeping my tags in my pocket.

I planted three food plots on the land I hunt. If I haven't been seeing deer in the woods I will sit over a food plot to see a few deer then go back to the woods. I could have shot a deer on the food plots this year but just watched them, I prefer to hunt the woods.

A food plot is a bait pile of sorts but not the same as throwing out a pile of corn in my opinion. You never know where the deer will come out on a plot, a bait pile will channel them to one location.

Interesting,, the guy asks how many do, and 70% of the replies don't answer the question at all just comment on the ethics of it..
No I don't, yes I have.

No

Yes

No, I do not hunt over bait. Have I yes and it is funny how it is even an issue, if it is legal and ya want to do it, that is fine. I have to disagree with Alex B. Alex you may think you have high ethical standards and others would disagree. Are they wrong, some would say hunters are obligated to do whatever is legal to insure they help control deer populations and baiting in some areas may be the only option that works, so that makes it unethical? Sorry, I meant to just stick to answering the question. Shawn

No

i prefer to see things in black and white because the world is becoming grayer by the day.  too many things are getting lost in gray areas.  that being said, to me any food source is a bait.  i've heard and read all the arguments about hunting food plots, acorns, and feeders, but no reasoning can get around the fact that you are hunting over FOOD.  deer will come to food, period.  to answer the question, i set out feeders but rarely hunt over them.  i set them out more for guests.