Feeding deer vs Baiting deer

[BobT]

BobT I have no feed out any more, pulled it last night to be on the safe side. I am not trying to justify it, what I was simply getting at was is 1/4 of a mile = vicinity? I'm just pointing out that the regulations are so open for interpretation that it's not even funny. You can believe what you want about my intentions the fact of the matter is I don't have any feed on my property any longer and simply like watching deer at night. Maybe corn isn't the best feed, I don't know I'm new to this.

I live in an area where everyone around me has their farm fields they are set up on to hunt and they all feed year round in their backyards. Only thing I've got going for me is that I'm sitting between the feed spots and the bedding areas and that's what I'm hunting, not my front yard.

I hope you didn't take me the wrong way. I have not judged you about your intentions. Just suggesting that it sounds like you need to make the decision based on your own conscience. If you think you are setting up for an unfair advantage against the deer then maybe what you're doing is not quite ethical.

Put it this way. Suppose you are told vicinity is defined as a radius of 300 feet. Legality aside, would it be appropriate/ethical to put your stand 301 feet away from where you've been placing your feed? What does your conscience say?

[FishLocker]

Good idea to scrap the feeding till after the season, just in case.

.

I hunt north and west of Brainerd with bow, and the landowner was telling me that 2 or 3 years ago a CO confiscated 2 hunters rifles (and 4 wheeler as a hunting accessory)charging they were hunting over bait.

They had removed the corn pile 12 days earlier but the CO kicked the dirt a bit and uncovered a few kernels so called it active baiting...they were 275 yards away.

CO said that is only a decent shot, not even a long shot, with the rifles he confiscated.

They were not in a sight line to the area that had bait either, but on the other side of a grove 275 yards as the crow flies.

True, there are many stories that cannot be verified, and this is definately one of them since he got it as second hand information...but I asked my landowner anyway if anyone else had baited his land that I was on, as I was not going to take that same chance and lose my bow. Fortunately he said no feeding or baiting was ever on his property.

[jumpacablez]

what constatutes a food plot?

i am just wondering if that stuff you rake into the ground is considered baiting? or like that acorn rage gel? is that considered an attractant?

are these methads illegal?

and no I am not planning on using this stuff, i hunt public land and i carry enough stuff into the woods. just was curious?

[psepuncher]

http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/index.php/2010/01/05/dnr-releases-baiting-numbers/

DNR releases baiting numbers

(Released January 5, 2010)

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has finalized information related to baiting violations that were investigated by Minnesota conservation officers during the 2009 deer seasons.

Deer baiting is strategically placing a pile of food near deer stands or clearings in hopes of luring a deer into close range

...

[bikeoutback]

Option 1 - ask the DNR to interpret their regulations

I'm went with option 2 - remove the food thus eliminating the unforeseen chance the DNR or a CO even has to make the call at all. I can live without seeing 2 does and a fawn for a few weeks. Then I'll use up the corn I have left and then look to a better feeding plan. Although the very large group of turkeys that the DNR says don't survive this far north eat more of the corn than the deer do.

And everyone around me here has the food advantage over me even with my little pail of corn out. But last year anywhere there was food I never saw a deer till a long time after shooting hours (didn't live here then so maybe different here). I'm learning as I go by reading and gaining a few days experience every year but I know I won't catch them over food. I'm hoping to catch them in cover. I'm really hoping my thicker cover and close proximity to all my neighbors food sources means my property is a staging area for them and they will creep in within shooting hours on their way to the farm fields and so forth. I'm not very experienced though so I'm only playing a guess right now.

I mostly just started this thread to try and figure out what the difference between feeding and baiting is considered as I know many many people that have feeders. Every store I go to the hunting section has bags of corn, bags of sunflower seeds, buck feed, buck pellets.... on and on and on. Somebody must be buying it in MN otherwise it wouldn't be stocked here which makes you wonder doesn't it?

[BobT]

I wonder if the difference between feeding and baiting lies in the use. Up until 10 days prior to the season it is all feeding but beginning 10 days before and continuing through the season it is baiting to hunt nearby.

[FishLocker]

Sounds like your land is well positioned as 'cover' within multiple farmed fields for food.

Good luck this year.

[FishLocker]

what constatutes a food plot?

i am just wondering if that stuff you rake into the ground is considered baiting? or like that acorn rage gel? is that considered an attractant?

are these methads illegal?

and no I am not planning on using this stuff, i hunt public land and i carry enough stuff into the woods. just was curious?

I did call the DNR this summer to ask if I ran grain such as oats, barley etc. through the flour mill on the finest setting, could I use the dust to throw in the air for the breeze to carry through the woods as a scent since it was not in a typically edible form. The gal that was working said "No, that would be a solid form of food and considered bait, it can only be in liquid form."

That's all the help I have on that one, so the oft suggested "call the DNR for further comment" is all I can add.

Good luck.

[psepuncher]

I wonder if the difference between feeding and baiting lies in the use.

This is from the MN DNR HSOforum I posted.

Deer baiting is strategically placing a pile of food near deer stands or clearings in hopes of luring a deer into close range

To me,

that seems straight forward.

I have food plots and a feeder by the house. My stands are nowhere near them because my goal is to provide better nutrition if they want it. While corn does have some nutritional value, what I plant is far better. Do they need it though?

I don't know, but it's nice knowing they have high quality nutrition if they choose to.

Also besides improving their overall general health,

It'd be pretty awesome to see something like this walking by, but it ain't happening without a good program.

[analyzer]

I was scouting public land the other day, and came across an apple tree. Am I allowed to set up near it?

[BobT]

I was scouting public land the other day, and came across an apple tree. Am I allowed to set up near it?

Absolutely!

[lakevet]

Finding corn, carrots or other foods not normally found in the area in a deer's guts can result in a neighbor calling the CO to report it. Especially if neighbor feels you are changing deer movement by placing a food source out.

It is a good idea to check the stomach to see what food source they are hitting on for patterning deer. An old but good tip for any critter or fish you pursue.

Thanks for pulling the feed bunk.

We focus on better habitat instead of feeding deer directly.

lakevet

[psepuncher]

Finding corn, carrots or other foods not normally found in the area in a deer's guts can result in a neighbor calling the CO to report it. Especially if neighbor feels you are changing deer movement by placing a food source out.

It is a good idea to check the stomach to see what food source they are hitting on for patterning deer. An old but good tip for any critter or fish you pursue.

Thanks for pulling the feed bunk.

We focus on better habitat instead of feeding deer directly.

lakevet

That would definantly help to convict someone who is baiting a deer,

by sitting over it or placing out in a clearing.

As far as changing a deer's pattern, I think after my neighbors corn field is down I may have a better chance of them changing to the acorns I'm sitting over.

Fingers crossed.

[deerminator]

Sounds like your problem is solved. I remember suggesting the smell test years ago on this site - if it smells fishy, then don't do it, and lcornice agreed at the time if I remember correctly. If there's even any question in your mind, then don't do it. I personally boost our bird feeders up much higher during archery season because the deer will clean them out otherwise and I dont want to be accused of hunting over a trail they eventually take to get to them, no matter how far along it they have to travel to get to them from my hunting spot.

That said, I see guys with huge feeders near groves of trees a couple hundred yards from well-traveled county roads here. They pull them 10 days before slug season and blast away. They're legal but you can't tell me those feeders didn't help establish a routine or artificial travel pattern. The rest of the year, BTW, I and others get to contend with the increased chance we'll hit deer with our vehicles on these stretches of road, which I have twice since the feeders went in.

[Musky Buck]

psepuncher, I like that, I hunt a picked cornfield, it's 1,280 yards long, I can shoot maybe 200 yards, where should I set up, I usually am a 1/4 mile off from where they come out, it's so hit and miss ? Or should I bring a pile of it into the swamp and set it up precisely upwind a 1/2 mile in so I can concentrate where I want them to be as well as having a better chance they'll show up before shooting light is done and then buy as many tags as allowed and muzzleload it as well. Your acorn spot probably won't produce as people baiting in your area will likely get the deer drawn there way pse.

[psepuncher]

psepuncher, I like that, I hunt a picked cornfield, it's 1,280 yards long, I can shoot maybe 200 yards, where should I set up,

Try some triticale around your corn field.

if you know anything about feeding deer, they just might get better nutrients

from it....

[Musky Buck]

I'm not feeding any deer lol, actually, just bagged one at 7:00AM, my truck has good knock down power, what stinks is a guy feeds them in his yard in a bunk, they were running back to thicker cover for the day when I connected so I have 4 grand in damage due to some guy feeding deer that I was unaware of until I got out, made sure the deer was dead, looked through an opening into his yard, there were turkey/pheasant/deer feeders in 4 locations, I know it's just bad luck but I'd like to take a sledge hammer to his truck and even the score, why feed them now, wait till the snow flies dog gone it. Made me wonder how many have been hit there over the years, lots of increased insurance premiums.

[psepuncher]

45 MPH down a residential road with gravel?

I might have thrown a rock at you,..... but not a deer.

Hey if you need a ride i'll help you out if I can.

[BobT]

I'm not feeding any deer lol, actually, just bagged one at 7:00AM, my truck has good knock down power, what stinks is a guy feeds them in his yard in a bunk, they were running back to thicker cover for the day when I connected so I have 4 grand in damage due to some guy feeding deer that I was unaware of until I got out, made sure the deer was dead, looked through an opening into his yard, there were turkey/pheasant/deer feeders in 4 locations, I know it's just bad luck but I'd like to take a sledge hammer to his truck and even the score, why feed them now, wait till the snow flies dog gone it. Made me wonder how many have been hit there over the years, lots of increased insurance premiums.

My brother's neighbor sets out feeders about 50 feet off the road. You really have to watch for them when you drive by. What's worse is they have a row of evergreens right along the road so you can't see the deer until they literally step on the road. They put the feeders there because it is easier viewing for them but it is definitely more dangerous for the deer. They could put the feeders on the back side of there house where the deer wouldn't be in danger. Some people just don't make sense.

[FishLocker]

I wonder if this would be considered baiting? IT is from a CNN news clip.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-515427?hpt=Sbin

[jigginjim]

I find it truely amazing, everyone is willing to give advise. Yet nobody is willing to call the DNR, and make them define the statement as what is truely baiting.

Neighbor"A" has a large feeder across the road to the south, no woods within 300 yards on his side of the road. Neighbor"B" owns a strip of woods 50 yds wide by 300yds long straight north with 40acre plowed fields on each side. There is also 120 acres of public land all woods north of "B". Now can "B" hunt his land, knowing the feeder is there? If his stand is within 50 yds south of the big woods.

[hockeybc69]

Page 70 in the regs.

For your example Jim, its pretty clear to me its legal.

A person otherwise in compliance with this section who is hunting

on private or public property that is adjacent to the property where

bait or feed is present is not in violation if the person has not participated

in, been involved with, or agreed to baiting or feeding wildlife

on the adjacent property.

Next question please.