illegal baiting

[Bear55]

The land owner behind my dad plants soybeans for one reason and one reason only to feed deer and turkeys. He does not harvest any of them, how is that not baiting. Its normal farming practices most farmers I know need to harvest their crops not leave them for deer. I call the guy in and will do so every year he thinks he can not harvest!

So you call the DNR and tell them that your neighbor doesn't harvest his beans? Last time I checked it is not illegal to not harvest beans, what does the DNR say?

[hockeybc69]

Boy I gaurantee my neighbors wont be calling me in for baiting with my 8 acres of corn and beans I leave standing. They all had banner years shooting deer.

We shot zero. So much for my baiting giving us the benefit.

LOL

[bigbucks]

Like I said, baiters will continue to bait no matter what the fine is so they want to keep it low. Some people will always continue to break the law. They just don't get it. If you live in Itasca county you have 10's of thousands of acres of public land to find a prime spot, do you really need a corn pile??? laziness-plain and simple.

I'm by no means on the baiting bandwagon. I also think PEATMOSS made it fairly clear he wasn't necessarily in favor of baiting. What's the saying we tell our kids & our parents always told us? Play nice or don't play...

[TRZ II]

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[Gofishleech]

Miss read a post,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,sorry

[shortfatguy]

The difference between food plots and baiting that irritates me is that if you dont own your hunting land you cant plant a food plot with out risk of a fine. I dont bait but neighbors of the land I hunt have food plots and I do think it decreases my deer sightings.

[gopher_nation]

I hunt mainly public land and you will not believe this, I found a stand of oak trees that, no lie, must have dropped close to 500 apples. I contacted the DNR about it and never heard anything back, was really disappointed because I wanted naming rights to this new hybrid species I thought I discovered.

[monstermoose78]

If you leave your crops just for game is that not baiting. The dnr is going to be checking to see if they harvest any of the crops. If he does not harvest some I was told he will get a ticket. I dont have a problem with farmers or people who hunt farms.

[flipper]

A ticket for what?????

[TRZ II]

How is that any different than a food plot??????

[eyeguy 54]

so if I leave some corn up and walk the rows on a windy day with my bow to find a nice bedded deerto arrow would that be wrong? P.S. I don't own any land, just a ?

[monstermoose78]

its not normal farming practice to not harvest any of your crop. If you harvest some that is farming.

[96trigger]

Ha, good luck with the CO issuing that ticket. I would love for you to email the DNR and see what they say about it and post it back on here. No way, no how will he get a ticket for leaving a standing crop. last time I checked, the DNR encouraged leaving a strip or two for the wildlife over the winter. I guess all my relatives are illegal because my uncle leaves a few strips of corn in and they hunt by it.

[eyeguy 54]

I would think it would be good to leave whatever a farmer can afford for the wildlife. I guess in the long run I don't really care what happens with baiting. It for sure would not bother me if somebody baits on thier own land.

[Musky Buck]

Ticket my crew of 25 also, they farm, they leave crops for wildlife, so does the DNR in the Rum River state forest, so does pheasants forever near Morris, most years they leave corn and plant clover on the foot trails or whoever plants it, so no public land hunting either there. Forget the Chippewa forest also, clover is planted on the trails and in new ditch projects so forget it. Cut down your oaks and apple orchards, take down your bird feeders, farmers in high moisture years, no deer hunting allowed, pay 2 grand in propane to dry it. Crop ruined by hail, no hunting allowed. Cmon we're talking about placing a dump pile for a few days or weeks to harvest deer. There's so many farms in farmland area the deer can choose any of them and do. You have 0 guarantee in a field, for me they usually come out 400 yards away, to far to shoot so I set up closer the next night and they come out where I was the day before, actually if any come out into "the Open" at all. If I could place a pile in there bedroom I'd have them if they show at whatever distance I want. If you want to hunt farmland field go ask the farmers, you'll realize the golden days of field hunting are over, the deer after opening day do not want to be in the open, they'd prefer your pile deep in the brush.

[john skarie]

Growing crops, or food plots etc. on private land is not baiting.

Bringing in food and dumping it on the ground is baiting.

Pretty sure that the main intention is to keep people who hunt public land from hauling in bait, shouldn't be hard to see the point of that.

Do we want to have laws that tell what a private landowner can or can't plant on his own property?

This issue shouldn't be that hard to figure out and understand.

JS

[Surface Tension]

I don't think the topic is worth beating on each other because you don't happen to agree on the subject. That behavior right there is worse then "illegal" baiting and something you should work on to improve yourself. If it were legal and it was at one time, I'm sure some of you would still choose not to use bait. That is your freedom of choice. Obviously if it were legal some of you would use bait and again that is your freedom of choice. What is right for you might not be for someone else.

IMO the MN DNR created the problem. What was once legal and at a time of ultra low deer numbers, is now illegal when were at an all time high. That really doesn't make sense.

As of now the DNR supports the no baiting because of the threat of transmitting disease.

But wait, there was no threat of disease when the ban was enacted. What happened was baiting wasn't considered fair chase. OK then what makes even less sense is high fenced hunting has gained in popularity but that is legal. What is so ironic is this legal operation, by its practice of importing Elk and Whitetails into MN from CWD infected game farms.

We still allow the transfer of Elk and whitetails knowing this is how CWD got here.

What does the MN DNR do? They ban baiting.

Having decades of deer feeding at home recreational and during the MN DNR emergency deer feeding I have some info to share.

Deer are creatures of habit. Their daily routine you could just about set a watch to as to when they'll pass through an area.

Feeding deer for a prolonged time will put that feed station into their daily routine.

How that feed is found is something to consider. This could be from having the bait close to their daily route or it was found by the off chance of random meandering which they do do.

A deer is not going to feed till its full on corn. If you hear stories of deer with a belly full of corn it was a huge exaggeration. You won't find a deer with a belly full of any one type browse, they're good at mixing it up if you will. In the dead of winter when yarded up then you might find little variety and that is a starvation diet of twigs. Interesting note here, deer that are fed will not yard as the way we think of a deer yard as a slow death situation with time the enemy.

Deer that have changed their routes to feed keep that travel routine open. When the deep snows come that route to fed and established trails that were kept open by travel is a lifesaver to deer.

The feed of coarse helps them but the browse along the way is just as important.

How does baiting fit in here. If that bait station is not established it is more of new found wealth for a deer, a flash in the pan. Chances are it hasn't altered the deers route and your success will just as flighty.

A bait station attended long enough to alter a deers daily routine will have as I said, be like setting your watch to when they show up. That could be at night for all you know and there is a very good chance a mature buck wouldn't think of coming around during daylight hours.

Check the Trail Cam thread, the majority of those bucks at fed are at night.

Again a deer isn't going to eat its fill at a bait station. If your neighbor is feeding deer chances are your going to benefit from his efforts. After all deer don't drop from the sky and onto a bait station, they will browse along the way. Chances are the feed station has increased a travel time.

[jay83196]

Well said surface tension! For the antibaiters your right It is illegal and we shouldn't do it that's correct but I think the dnr could spend time and money on other things that improve our fishing and hunting as well as make the laws make sense. It is a ignorant law as it is written, scents, food plots, calls all bait and not much different than corn laying on the ground, they all serve same purpose. And the people suggestions its not ethical baiting I agree but I love rifle hunting but very little sporting or ethical about shooting an animal 200 yds away sitting in a tree, its easy and often more luck than skill involved.

Don't agree with baiting....don't do it and let it go!

[RBuker]

Dang, I sure feel old. Am I the only one here who was hunting when baiting was legal and who actually baited?

It was not the big deal that people make it out to be. I used to do it when bowhunting. I'd take a couple of gallons of shelled corn and put it in a neat pile near my bow stands. I only did it during late season hunts. Earlier in the year, the deer never looked at my corn. They were far more interested in acorns. In fact, if I'd put corn in the woods too early, it would get cleaned up by squirrels.

During late season it did "work." Deer would sometimes swing into my pile for a nibble. They never came in groups to gorge on the corn. It was more of a situation that if they came by, they'd stop for a bite once in a while. When it worked, it meant the deer would be in nice and close for a shot. But you can't believe how often they'd walk by twenty yards from the bait and not even look at it.

And, my neighbors baited about the same way I did. I never once felt like they were luring my deer away. But it was also amazing how few people baited and if they did, how little they used or how little they felt it helped. There was NEVER any talk of taking a truck-load of bait into the woods.

It just wasn't a big deal until they made it illegal. That might have been the biggest problem associated with it. It really wasn't a problem until then.

Randy

[eyeguy 54]

Just imagine these 2 piles of corn with a fence between them and trees all around and a guy in a treestad on each side. LOL

[fivebucks]

Clancy has a nice article in the latest Outdoor News. He said it better than I could.

[nonteepical]

clancys article is outfitters baiting versus the average guy who gets out 1-2 times a week to hunt. the outfitter is keeping his bait fresh and plenty of it for his clients, and the hunter is putting a little corn or a bag "gimmick" bought from fleet farm near his stand, whenever he gets a chance to hunt. I'm not one who wishes i could bait and theres always some who will take it to the extreme but i have relatives in wisconsin (not sure if it's still legal or not) and it's just like Buker describes it, no big deal. I was hunting when it was legal in minnesota, and i don't remember it was even legal, so it couldn't have been a big deal or i would remember it.

[LightningBG]

Right on fox and with tens of thousands of acres of this it won't concentrate deer, you are correct and food or not deer don't like to be out in the open during shooting light. If fields/plots were so easy there'd be 0 deer in 1/3 of our state. I just asked an older deer hunter type I said baiting deer what do you think, he said why what for if you can't get a deer in 32 days with a gun or muzzy quit he said we're in zone 1. So why is there no baiting for ducks/geese/pheasants/or turkey ? I live by a food plot dealer, we haven't seen a deer in his plot since August, but boy watch a tv ad or show on some 4,000 acre place and it's gold right. I bet if he hauled corn back into his swamp you'd have a better chance of seeing one there vs. out in the open field. Our rifle seasons are so mild why would a deer even need to enter a field before dark. I thank food plot people for helping feed the deer through the winter months, then many of those deer will disperse by next fall for us to hunt thank you.

That must be why deer are extinct in Wisconsin where baiting is perfectly legal??? Baiting is a pretty "easy" alternative to food plots and I'm pretty sure the WI population is doing just fine.

[Gordie]

Great post Surface Tension

I just want to add something if you bait for deer is that considered fair chase? In my eyes NO

[arrow]

A food plot is legal baiting plain and simple. The only difference is its on private land and currently legal. Very few people want to put the effort forth to learn how to actually hunt. They just want to jump up in their comfortable stand over a food plot or pile of bait and shoot a big buck on opening morning and then measure the rack and post on line how they shot a 185 with a 21" inside spread. No question that the food plots benefit wildlife in general and not just the game species being hunted. Though one could argue concentrating game leads to the spread of diseases such as CWD.

I must ask are we really hunting anymore? Did you track that deer or note it on your game camera with the pics wirelessly sent to your iphone? Did you quarter that deer and walk out with it or pull up to it on your $10,000 side by side with the heated cab? Did you stalk that deer or laser range finder it at 550 yards and then shoot it with your high powered rifle equiped with the $1,500 scope. Where are we going with our sport?

Lots of questions and I will be the first to admit I don't have the answers. I must say they I don't like where we are at now and can see things getting worse. We live in an age of instant gratification and hunting is not immune from this pressure. This old man would prefer to see game cameras banned along with hunting over food plots but its unlikely to ever happen. I really don't recognize the sport anymore.