baiting

[shade seeker]

I wasn't sure if there was a separate forum for this inquiry (maybe on ethics or politics...) so here goes anyway. About "baiting" I didn't even consider that as a hunting aproach until I read about baiting on trad gang...(Yes I am a newby), but with that recent posting of that amazing bear about to be classified as a trophy by bait... something made makes me ask, is baiting hunting? Just had to say it.

[GMMAT]

Is it legal?

Do YOU think it's hunting?

If it's legal where you are.....and you think it's hunting....what does it matter what anyone else thinks?

If you're never going to do it.....why does it matter what you think (to someone doing it)?

This is one of the most polarizing topics discussed amongst hunters......and there's no way it should be.

[daveycrockett]

In the woodlands should you hunt acorns, in farm country should you hunt the crops, during the rut should you use attracting scents? It's all baiting IMHO to a certain extent.

[John McCreary]

This is one of the most polarizing topics discussed amongst hunters......and there's no way it should be. [/QB][/QUOTE]

I couldn't agree more with this statement. Opinons on baiting will vary much with region. Here in Illinois the very mention of baiting for deer will nearly always get you strung up. Go to Michigan or Texas, where the practice is regionally accepted, and the discussion will lead to what do you use and how early do you put it out? Why is it ok to bait for hogs but tabu for deer? And what about bear baiting. In Alaska and much of the west the argument is about ethics. Spot and stalk vs baiting. Go to Ontario and they will tell you the area is too heavily timbered to make sucessfully stalking a bear any thing but pure dumb luck. While baiting will reduce the numbers of sows with cubs and immature bears being accidently killed. Lets face it the average nimrod at 20 yards can't tell a trophy boar from a 2 year old cub.

 Ultimately one has to decide what is right in their own heart and mind. It will be a very personal decision one base on emotion as much as fact. Using the argument that its legal really doesn't hold water. After all oft time just because it is legal doesn't always correlate to ethical.In many states shooting an animal in a fenced in inclosure is legal but is it ethical? And what is ethical? My standard may not be the same as yours but we do have to find, at the very least, an accepted standard. Coming to that standard it self is another subject for future discussions all together.

J-Mac

[Terry Green]

These threads serve no purpose but negativity....

Lets move on....