What to do.............?

[Nathansdad]

I've been hunting the same property for 20 years and the last 3 years I have been dealing with something that isn't right. Every deer we have gutted the past 3 years has had a stomach full of corn. The closest corn field is over five miles away. How do I determin if someone is baiting or if someone has a feeder in their yard? There are about 8 houses within a mile of the property I hunt. I have a hunch someone is baiting but I can not be sure. How do I figure this out without going onto private property?

[Double D]

That is a tough one. Could just be a feeder, maybe someone has a leak in a grain bin, quite possible someone is baiting.

Don't know that there is anything you could do, just be happy the deer are making it back to you.

DD

[BlueLundFishrman]

What was in their stomachs the previous 17 years?>

[Nathansdad]

Acorns and grasses. Still have that now but there is plenty of corn in them too. There is no mistaking it.

[BigWadeS]

I would say/do nothing and let it go, it's possible that the deer are traveling that far as well, they can cover some serious ground.

[splakeshaker]

Tough call. I wouldn't trespass to solve the mystery. Have the corn fields always been there? If you must do something, talk to a CO about your discoveries and leave it at that.

[B. Amish]

could be from a food plot.

[Steve Foss]

If someone is putting out corn it may not be baiting at all. Lots of folks who feed birds put out whole and cracked corn. The whole corn is popular with blue jays and squirrels, and many species of ground feeding birds like cracked corn. Deer, of course, will eat out of bird feeders and do all the time.

Even if they are putting out corn specifically for deer, that doesn't automatically mean they are being hunted over that corn or on established trails coming to and from the corn. Lots of folks who don't hunt feed deer because they like having deer.

I'd talk to the C.O. to let him/her know.

[merkman]

At least your venison will taste better!!!

There could be worse things, like not getting a deer at all.

[Finlander]

Isn't it legal to bait in Wisconsin?

[Steve Foss]

Isn't it legal to bait in Wisconsin?

It's permitted in some counties and illegal in others. The breakdown is here.

[bogwalker]

Many people feed deer just to watch them. When severe winters killed off most of the deer in my area many people started feeding them and still do.