Main reason why baiting should be outlawed.

[Big Dave2]

OK, I get it. No one wants baiting to be legal in MN.

Please list your TOP reason why baiting could not be a legal tool for taking deer just like elevated stands, GPS, trail cameras, Food plots, etc, etc, etc.

Please try to refrain from listing multiple reasons, just list YOUR #1 reason why baiting should be illegal and punishable by law.

[B. Amish]

because the percentage of people who want to bait are in the EXTREME MINORITY. deal with it and move on.

[hockeybc69]

promotes laziness.....

[PEATMOSS]

Dave- Just take a couple of bricks and bash them repeatedly against your head. That will give you better relief than using logic and reasoning on this issue.

The simple truth of the matter is that baiting is just an arbitrary line in the sand drawn by the "holier than though" crowd.

Ther is NO argument that can be made against baiting that can't also be made against practices that are already legal.

This is America Dave, imposing our attitudes, values and beliefs on each other is what we do.

[PEATMOSS]

Further Dave, you have to be the most daft poster on this issue, really.....What is it that you can't understand?

Let me simplify things for you.

If you come up to northern Mn. buy some land and chop out a few acres of forest, taking it out of timber production forever, hammer whatever vegetation comes up with gallons of petrochemical herbicides, plant turnips and rapeseed on sandy soils with a high water table, fertilize your crop with a boatload of nitrogen-phosphorus and potassium, then build yourself a heated, elevated stand with sliding windows.....then YOU ARE ARE GREAT STEWARD OF THE LAND AND AN ETHICAL HUNTER.

WHAT PART OF THAT DON'T YOU GET, MY FRIEND?

[NoWiser]

Because the vast majority of hunters in this state do not consider baiting to be fair chase.

[Basseyes]

Dave,

Very fair question. I am with you on the legalities of this vs that. In some states bear baiting is illegal but it is alright to chase them with hounds or hunt them in the spring. Some states you can shoot bear cubs. In MN you can't. The who, what, where, when and why's are almost infinite.

The DNR imo, is going to error, on the side of caution, after seeing what has happened in WI and MI.

My biggest concern or issue is not just one smoking gun but many down sides to it. From both the sociology and biological sides. One difference between bait and food plots, is how many food plots do you see on public land right now? On the flip side if bait was legal we'd all see bait piles on public land. And who knows to what degree? The biggest hurdle the DNR is dealing with, with food plots and baiting and the separation of the two, like I've stated before, is if food plots were made illegal it would drastically change how the DNR, land owners and farmers help wildlife out in the winter with food plots. Again feeding deer, baiting deer and food plots meant for feeding deer, all have goals intertwined with each other. No one disagrees with that. But from a regulations stand point, there are many gray areas within this issue. The DNR does have to draw a line in the sand and say this or that isn't going to be allowed. Each state has a DNR to try and evaluate those issues. Some states let you use multiple fishing lines, some don't. It's all a process of deciphering what is tolerable by the states inhabitants and not much more. Ethics, morals and legalities are more up to an individual, while they are alone. And it's obvious many will bait, if it's legal or not. IMO that has left a very bad taste in many law abiding peoples craw. If there was a group, that was trying to plead their case and not as many rampant baiting violations happening right now, I think a few more, would at least listen to the argument for it. But not with the current disregard for the current law, many see that, as a look how bad it is now, imagine if we legalized it.

Hope this doesn't get locked down, if it remains civil. It's interesting to listen to Daves points, becasue many of them are valid concerns.

[InTheNorthwoods]

I don't think it can be boiled down to one reason, but "trying my best" to do that; for me it is that it would become a "baiting competition" which would impact other individuals hunting experience, diminishing any effort that individuals put in by scouting, etc., all without providing any benefit towards habitat improvement, etc.

(Although I think baiting is lazy for hunting purposes, I am still not strongly against it. However, I am strongly against baiting on public land. Because I fear it becomes a slippery slope to prohibit baiting on public land when public lands are often interspersed with private lands, I err on the side of "no baiting" at all.)

[Musky Buck]

I see lots of food plots on public land, rum river state forest always has corn planted, I drive through it weekly and went looking for sheds Sunday by 1 of them. I worked in Morris,MN for a few years and we chose to hunt the WMA's or whatever lands they were that were planted in standing corn, at Bemidji State, we hunted the Chippewa National forest and the entire trail we walked was planted in clover. I simply know baiting can be extremely effective, to the point it's not even hunting anymore, I've field hunted with many friends and family and I wish I could say we've had great success, we haven't, they simply don't want to leave the cover to be in the open. Those 20 dead deer before MEA tells me the story. How can 4 guys with bow and arrow score on 20 free ranging deer in basically a month when the previous years they'd get maybe 4-5 or less for the entire bow season? The deer had 80 acres of standing corn to hide in eat in and the deer still chose to go for the easy pile just 50 yards into the woods, even in the decent fall weather, what may baiting in December look like ? I feel there's a big difference in people who do fields/food plots and those who just want to dump it. My gut tells me the field plot people care more year round for the deer resource then the 9 or 16 day guy who cares only then. Don't let unsuccessful seasons play with your mind, don't assume bet if I had a food plot or field to hunt over I'd be money, if field and food plots were a slam dunk our hunter success rate would be higher than 38%. My field success rate is 1 deer out of 28 years of deer hunting. We don't fight with our party over I get the field stand etc. None of us want the field stand, we know that it's rare even rarer today than in the early 80's to see them, in range, before dark in dozens of our fields we have stands near, they used to be better, but mass pressure on the farmland deer has changed that completely. Most deer want no part of being in the open once opening day is gone, actually even before it begins nowaday. The worst part is how competitive it would get and is it truly the best thing for the whitetail deer ?

[lungdeflator]

Its for lazy people.

Its for people who just like to kill, not learn the land and the deer.

It promotes spread of disease.

Its unatural for the deer, corn in great quantities isnt very good for deer.

It promotes yarding up and makes it easier for predators.

My question is: did you get busted for baiting? Is this pent up frustration because your neighbor kills bigger bucks than you by scouting and spending time learning the woods (AKA HUNTING)?

[Musky Buck]

Let's just table it for 5 years down the road and revisit it. I should be selfish about it and say yes I want baiting, in my 4 areas I would likely benefit more than most. As nocturnal as the deer are now, wouldn't in a few short years of baiting, wouldn't that be the outcome for lots of people anyway ? That's why the illegal baiting today is such an issue, those folk are likely having success because not everyone is doing it. I just can't get myself to unzip a bag of shell corn and dump it in the best location, furthest away from any deer hunter competition in a shooting lane. If I can't bag him with a 25 day season during the peaks of the rut, I don't deserve him and I wasn't lucky, or I wasn't smart enough or in the right place at the right time, I'm in that 62% of unsuccessful hunters making the next deer I get all that much more special. The main reason it's outlawed is to try to keep the playing field as level for each hunter young or old as possible so the have's can't dump gravity boxes full of food vs. the me who could dump an ice cream pail of birdseed out there. lol, this is fun, all this deer talk has almost got me to February, we're 1/3 of the way to bow opener !

[BeezeHound]

If deer are not accustomed to a belly full of corn it does more harm than good. They will not have the capability to breakdown the abnormal amounts they would be ingesting and could eventually starve to death with a full stomach more or less. I realize agricultural deer aren't going to have this issue but north woods deer.....it's a possibility and that's enough of a reason for me.

[ANYFISH2]

Dave, the the number one reason I am against baiting is, Minnesota has a high enough density of deer that baiting is not, in anyway, needed to harvest a deer. The potential risks are to high compared to the benifits IMO.

One may ask what the difference is with a food plot? In my mind the difference is that a food plot, although essentailly placed to draw deer, provides nutrition throughout the year for wildlife not just deer and not just for a short period of time(hunting season). In my opinion the benifits outweigh the risks in terms of plots.

Good question, lets hope it stays a conversation for a while!

[eyeguy 54]

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2725928/illegal_baiting#Post2725928

[Jim Uran]

[BobT]

I'd like to share my #1 reason but seeing that too many are incapable of staying on topic I will refrain.

[Big Dave2]

My question is: did you get busted for baiting?

Nope, I've never hunted over bait for deer in my life.

Is this pent up frustration because your neighbor kills bigger bucks than you by scouting and spending time learning the woods (AKA HUNTING)?

Nope, I'm not really into big bucks, I'm more into venison roasts and snack sticks! I party hunt and personaly don't care if I shoot a deer or not, I just like to spend some time up north and have a little venison when the hunting season is all over.

I know you are trying to figure out my angle and thats fine. I just like to think for myself as an independant thinker and not let anyone else do my thinking for me. This is an issue of logics and I personaly just don't see a logical reason for making baiting illegal other than the fact that some people don't like it. I just don't think that ANYTHING should be illegal just because I don't like it, there should be a REAL reason why something should be punishable by law.

[Big Dave2]

I'd like to share my #1 reason but seeing that too many are incapable of staying on topic I will refrain.

I'd like to hear it.

[eyeguy 54]

[Jameson]

Because it already is and I have never heard of a good reason to allow it.

[Big Dave2]

Because it already is and I have never heard of a good reason to allow it.

I've never heard of a good reason to allow men to wear Speedos either.

[buckpredator]

Because it already is and I have never heard of a good reason to allow it.

+1

[lakevet]

The main reason baiting should STAY illegal is that there is an OVERWHELMING number of reasons to not bait.

lakevet

[certified jumbo]

we don't want to be like texas

[Gordie]

You can only beat a dead horse for so long and then you realize its really dead or do you

How about this for a law if you bait for deer you can hunt one weekend thats it,like the second weekend of season and your seasons over. No possiblity for any other type of license and then you have to remove the bait and allow others to hunt your land.

I know it doesnt seem fair well neither does baiting