Baiting yes or no

[luieb45]

Shooting a crossbow is way harder than most like to think...

 

[S.Kenton]

I'll agree with Louie on this... Crossbows still offer a challenge.The deer still have to be outsmarted to bring them in for a close shot.I believe someday I will have to graduate from bow to crossbow. My shoulder takes a beating at work and it does hurt to draw my bow back sometimes.
Sorry I'm a little off -topic. I am a passionate deer hunter that enjoys ALL aspects of the sport, be it shotgun, Ml'er crossbow or bow, sometimes just watching the deer in their natural habitat is a aw-insipring experience.. and I bait. When and if the law ever dictates that I cannot bait any longer..I will then stop.

 

[Kentuckywindage]

watching a watering hole, hunting over a natural area deer feed, calling in game, luring game in with scents. All bait and most places, legal.

Hunting over a pile of corn or what ever should be legal everywhere as well.

 

[nhmoose]

Here in NH I have no problem baiting bears.
Why we can only do it for a month I do not know!!

For the rest of the year we have to fight the bears from our livestock. This year the bears invaded our aivry and killed 3 of our best layers.

My friends lost 3 shoats from thier pens. The NH F&G sucks for help, They want to use the law as if the bears are HUMANS.

Using bait to kill them I have no problem. Using the chicken coops and pig pens to me are not BAIT

 

[William O.]

It's legal here in Texas and I do it for both deer and hogs if I am on land that doesn't have feeders. There is such a thing as over-feeding wild critters too, and some land owners just keep the feeders in the same place year after year, going through hundreds of pounds of corn each month year round, only bothering to change the timers for daylight savings time. So regular as clockwork the deer, hogs, coons, turkeys, ringtail cats, even cardinals encircle the feeders in the morning and evenings and fight for kernals of corn. Then when something gets shot under or near the feeder it may go off for days without anything getting near it but at least the hogs will start coming back if there isn't another feeder close by. It is a practice that can be over-used no doubt, but it does increase the chances of a deer or hog getting near enough to your blind for a shot. Just one zip-lock bag of corn in my backpack is the same as having a bag of acorns, wild persimmons or other wildlife browse in my opinion.

 

[VTdeerhunter]

Baiting animals is very traditional. As a trapper I use bait in many of my sets, just like Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith and Liver-Eating Johnson did back in the early 1800's...

It is simply the function of coaxing an animal into a specific area in order to give you a chance to dispatch it. Whether you make the choice to use a steel trap, bow, gun or a rock...the baiting function doesn't change.

Where I bear hunt in Maine we bait, god aweful thick stuff, even with doing that, most times you have only a few short minutes with the animal on the bait to do your thing.

 

[BrownBear]

I'll say this-

If it's legal, a guy better be doing it in the middle of a big piece of private ground.

I doubt I'm the only guy that would decide to stake out the approach trails if it was on public land or a small piece of private ground. Just think, all the benefits of baiting without buying bait and baiting gear, working hard, or getting your hands dirty! :rotf:

 

[cynthialee]

My neighbor has permision to hunt our property and every once and awhile he places some feed out there for the deer.
I have no issue with it. The deer are plentyful and I get venison out of the deal.

 

[Spikebuck]

A lot of personal conjecture and "feelings" given regarding deer baiting, but I didn't see a lot of research statistics quoted.

If anyone is interested in learning what research by wildlife professionals has shown, just do a Yahoo search on "Research on Deer Baiting" and you'll get a list of research that has been done. Some surprising results in some aspects.

As mentioned by many, we bait many kinds of animals, fish, and birds. I guess in one way no one should think that it's OK to put a worm on a hook, but not put out a pile of succulent apples or pumpkins for a deer. But I also have to say that anyone that says it's not easier to put out an attractive bait vs working hard to scout out "natural" food sources that can change rapidly or figure out "natural" deer movements isn't being realistic. I do "recreational" feeding after the seasons close and at my "bait site" it goes from a few deer to dozens in only a few days (verfied by trail cams) once I start piling out the food. At my site I notice it also brings them in at all times of day as I can "train" them to come as soon as the feeder sound goes off. "Normal" movements are mostly in the dark.

Personally, I don't know why I'd want to work hard to gain the skills needed with a "traditional" weapon only to pile out bait and sit over it for the actual hunt. Might as well use the 80% let-off compound bow and carbons with expandable pre-sharpened heads or a CF rifle as well. If the goal is "the hunt" and the pride of doing it the hard way, what role does a bait pile play in that?

 

[jethro224]

Here in Illinois baiting is illegal.Even if it were legal I wouldn't do it.
Where I live deer literally have a buffet laid out for them already. Corn, beans, alfalfa, acorns, etc., etc., etc.
The way I see it, it's not "baiting, yes or no", it's Baiting... Why??? :idunno:

 

[cynthialee]

Here in Illinois baiting is illegal.Even if it were legal I wouldn't do it.
Where I live deer literally have a buffet laid out for them already. Corn, beans, alfalfa, acorns, etc., etc., etc.
The way I see it, it's not "baiting, yes or no", it's Baiting... Why??? :idunno:

If you were a subsistance hunter would you have the same ethic?

 

[jethro224]

Here in Illinois baiting is illegal.Even if it were legal I wouldn't do it.
Where I live deer literally have a buffet laid out for them already. Corn, beans, alfalfa, acorns, etc., etc., etc.
The way I see it, it's not "baiting, yes or no", it's Baiting... Why??? :idunno:

If you were a subsistance hunter would you have the same ethic?

Yep. So long as I was a subsistence hunter here and now.
Deer and deer feed are plentiful here.

If I were truly hungry there's no way I'd pile a bunch of food out on the ground to try and lure in a deer anyway. I'd eat the corn and then go huntin'. :wink:

 

[shmrck1]

I don't and won't do it mainly because I don't have
the property,resources of $$$,etc. I do quite well
hunting for the most part public lands.On occasion
private areas if I kiss some a$$. If I had the
resources I would plant food plots,but would
refrain from feeders....JMHO
snake-eyes :v

 

[shmrck1]

Luie,
Yep,much,much harder than using a B/P
rifle.Stick with your crossbow for a real
challenge.B/P rifles would not interest you.:hmm:

 

[Rocky Johnson]

If they can find acorns you won't see many at a bait site. In northern Michigan trail cameras show lots deer at the bait in the middle of the night.The cost of bait this year will make it prohibitive?

 

[MSW]

by way of disclaimer, i don't have time to hunt between working at the mill and working on my farm. i do not have any moral objection to hunting, although i have posted my property due to an ugly incident involving what would politely be called a "flatlander" who drunkenly claimed that he had the owners permission to hunt out of season without a license; just don't need that sort of thing in close proximity to expensive livestock.

when i last hunted, it was a very casual walk- in- the- woods- look- for- deer sort of thing.

having said that, if i were to hunt again, i probably wouldn't 'bait,' because i see hunting as a recreational activity as opposed to a food gathering activity.

there, i went and said it. i'm sure that some will think me a namby pamby granola crunching tree hugger, while others will see me as a gun crazed, beer swilling neo-Nazi with the brain pan of a gnat.

nice to know i've pi**ed of both sides.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I tried baiting deer, but I fell asleep and when the deer hit it the drag was set and it pulled me right out of the treestand. Never again.

Jabbed my thumb twice trying to get the damn acorn on the hook. Just a bad day all around.

 

[cynthialee]

I tried baiting deer, but I fell asleep and when the deer hit it the drag was set and it pulled me right out of the treestand. Never again.

Jabbed my thumb twice trying to get the damn acorn on the hook. Just a bad day all around.

LOL
That was a good one to wake up too.

 

[flyfisher76544]

I tried baiting deer, but I fell asleep and when the deer hit it the drag was set and it pulled me right out of the treestand. Never again.

Jabbed my thumb twice trying to get the damn acorn on the hook. Just a bad day all around.

:rotf:

We are allowed to bait deer in Southern Georgia. My bud tried it last year and like others have pointed out, they just hit the bait after dark along with the raccoons. Trail cameras after Thanksgiving showed only coons and opossums at the site. This was mainly due to a huge crop of acorns!! If there are acorns on the ground, I really don't see them going for some corn.

 

[petew]

Sitting over a bait takes the "HUNT" out of hunting.
I will not hunt over baits.
Pete