Baiting.....the dirty little secret

[hobbydog]

Finally the DNR is doing something about it. A couple of good articles in todays strib.....

http://www.startribune.com/stories/531/5722427.html

http://www.startribune.com/stories/533/5722402.html

I know this goes on a lot where I hunt, especially on private land. I was guessing about half baited but according to this story it was more like 75%. Now that it has been publicized and looks like the DNR is going to go after it maybe it will change this bad habit that has crept into Minnesota deer hunting.

[Shoot2Kill]

That's a good article. Being new to MN I had no idea that kind of thing went on. People are just down right lazy.

[Nutty Fisherman]

I think if they get caught baiting the deer they should not be able to hunt any more.

[mnmuzzleloader]

I guess in all the time I have spend in the woods I have never run across bait piles. I have hunted near Mora and down here. Maybe it just happens to be the people that I hunt with have a bit more of ethics than the 75%. That seems like a pretty hight number none the least.

[outdoor ran]

You would be surprised how many guys drop big bucks off to get mounted and they tell the story how they were shot over there back yard deer feeders.

[Neiko]

I couldn't believe how many cheaters there were out there. It is disgusting because you know these guys are bragging about there big deer. They need to make the fine alot more stiffer then what it is. I have a hard time watching those hunting shows that are shot down in Texas where they come out and feed on the corn they put out. Even though it is legal there it is sickening to me and is not hunting at all IMO.

[kc0myy]

I really don't like baiters. I have not got a deer YET. I'm working as a detailer at ludeen ford in annandale. I get paid $6.25 an hour. I don't make a lot of money for a 17 year old kid. I don't have all the goodies as the other hunters but I get by with what I have. I also don't have my own privte land to hunt. I really want to take a deer. but do I go bait deer. No, I am ethical I don't go baiting deer. I can't stand people like. That not even hunting that more like shooting.

[barebackjack]

I personally do not bait but I have nothing against it, I fish with bait, I plan to bear hunt someday, over bait. So can anyone give me a good explanation as to why baiting deer is such a terrible thing, if you ask me its just another useless law. Deer eat and we know this, so a guy sets out some food If this is the case then maybe as fisherman we should be more ethical about things and just use a plain old hook and line, if your going to tell me it is a different concept I want facts to back it up not some opinions.

[Riverratpete]

GREAT article...did not realize it was such an issue. I hunt state/county land in NC Minnesota, have all my hunting life and never seen it but on private land I would imagine that its pretty rampant..they figure, heh, the DNR will never look....sinners. I just spent the last 5 days in deer camp and never pulled the trigger on anything, only saw 1 but you know what..still one of the best years, great weather..for hunting not for deer, great friends, etc. not saying I'm better than the baiters, just more ethical, law abiding they are just nothing but cheaters plain and simple...fine them $1000.00 plus rest for the deer and take away their hunting priv for a couple years...that'll get their attention.

[Quackaddict9]

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really don't like baiters. I have not got a deer YET. I'm working as a detailer at ludeen ford in annandale. I get paid $6.25 an hour. I don't make a lot of money for a 17 year old kid.

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there are not alot 17 year old kids who make alot money... including me being 19.

[JEV]

I think that article was right on. Baiting has become more of an issue then ever in my neck of the woods. A week ago I climbed into one of our stands. The neigbors who have land next to ours have a stand about a hundred and fifty yards away. I noticed a guy next to a tree about 100 yards from his stand, dumping a bucket of some type of bait. Kind of makes a guy mad when they do things like that and make it harder for the rest of us. My uncle shot a buck and doe opening weekend on the same tract of land. Both were full of corn. There is no standing corn in our area...hmmmmmm, I wonder were that came from...

JEV

[missedoneagain]

Sorry JEV, but in my opinion you can't complain about it and do nothing about it. Call the TIP Line!!!!

Shawn

[hobbydog]

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My uncle shot a buck and doe opening weekend on the same tract of land. Both were full of corn. There is no standing corn in our area...hmmmmmm, I wonder were that came from...

JEV

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That was my first tip off several years ago. We always check stomach contents, especially on bucks to see if we can tell where they have been feeding. Several years ago we started seeing a lot of corn and sugar beets. I hunt up in your corner of the woods and neither of these crops were anywhere near the area.

[hobbydog]

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Sorry JEV, but in my opinion you can't complain about it and do nothing about it. Call the TIP Line!!!!

Shawn

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It is not always that easy. First of all they are your neighbors and second, if they ever figure out who called the DNR on them.....The Greenbush area is a pretty smallworld kind of place....everybody knows who is who and a lot of times you need those same neighbors to help you out.

[JEV]

Exactly. Its a pretty small community and where these guys hunt, it wouldn't take them long to figure out who turned them in. They are for the most part a good group of guys. I've never had a problem with them and they'd drop everything to give you a hand with something. Does that make it right what they are doing? No, certainly not. But its been my experience that you'll only get away with it for so long. Perhaps an "anonymous" note on their cabin door might help change their ways.

[grip-em+rip-em]

I think this law is a double standard by the MN DNR, you can hunt over bait while hunting bear but not deer. Should I feel bad for hunting over my food plots? It is the law and should be abided by, but maybe it should be changed. I've shot bear over bait piles and I've shot deer over food plots, neither practice seems a whole lot different to me.

[FOOT]

There is a big difference in placing a salt/mineral lick and a couple bushel of apples in the woods by your stand, to attract deer, and hunting over your food plots. It's basically the same thing as hunting a flooded corn field and dumping several bushel of shelled corn by a pond.

One is legal one is not. I for one would not feel good if I happened to score on a critter over a baited field etc:

[bigbucks]

Be carefull what you're saying, hunting over a mineral lick is perfectly legal & has been for many years.

[Mark Christianson]

Just to toss out a thought on Baiting and food plots before we start going down that road.

Baiting and food plots.

No where close to the same.

Anyone can dump a pail of corn for a few days prior and during the season.

Food plots are far beyond just drawing deer for a few short days so you can bag a deer quicker and easier.

Food plots are a lot of work. Dumping corn for a couple days isnt work.

Food plots are there for the long term. Dumping corn for a few days is short term.

Food plots help deer(all wildlife) during hard times. Dumping corn for a few days does nothing to benefit the overall health of wildlife in the area.

Plots are something that helps deer of all ages for most of the year, if not all year long.

It gives deer something to boost their strength going into winter and to help them coming out of a long or harsh winter.

I enjoy my plots year round. Not just for a few days while sitting on my stand.

[hobbydog]

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Baiting and food plots.

No where close to the same.

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Some more differences....baiting bear and deer are very different. First of all there are hundreds of thousands more deer than bear. Deer stay put geographically and can be patterened, bears are more apt to wander in search of food and much harder to pattern. Without bait very few bears would be harvested however deer are abundant and bait is not needed to shoot a deer.

Food plots are different in ways previously mentioned as well as deer are much less likely to venture into open fields or even near the edges during the full blown deer season. Yet are much less cautious if the bait is place well back in the woods where deer generally travel with more ease....especially for bucks.

Hunters who scout and work to pattern deer, find bedding areas and feeding areas and understand the geography can get cut short by Joe Blow who shows up a week before and hauls in a load of easy pickings while getting his stand ready. That is today's instant gratification hunter who has little time to actually "hunt" and really wants to just get in some shooting.

Also, anyone who has a food plot has a lot of time, energy and money put into it and is supplying habitat year round for not only deer but other wildlife.

[FOOT]

Bigbucks, are you sure it's legal. I talked to a CO about 3 years ago and he said it's a no no.

Time to call the DNR I guess.

Thanks for the heads up.

[chucker34]

"maybe as fisherman we should be more ethical about things and just use a plain old hook and line, if your going to tell me it is a different concept I want facts to back it up not some opinions."

But it isn't legal to dump a bunch of fish chum into the lake to attract fish into the area so you can catch them. As far as "catching" fish and "shooting" a whitetail deer. It's apples to oranges so to speak. You aren't going to shoot a fish unless you're bowfishing. The mtthod with which you take a fish is completely different.

I have no problems with baiting - if its legal where you're doing it such as in Texas or Michigan. But not in Minnesota. I personally wouldn't want the state to legalize it but I wouldn't bash anyone for doing something legal if they did. To each their own I guess.

[bigbucks]

Page 69 of the regulation book specifically addresses baiting. The last line on the page clearly says: "Liquid scents, salt, and minerals are not considered bait." It really doesn't matter what that CO said in that case, I don't see how a citation would ever hold up based on what that reg clearly says. Now if they change that reg, that's another thing.

[Mark Christianson]

Foot

Are you sure he wasnt talking about the deer blocks?

Those are illegal because they contain fruits/grains as well as minerals.

Straight salt and minerals is clearly legal as bigbucks posted.

[lichen fox]

We have food plots on each parcel of property and a couple of the larger fields are rented out to a neighbor for alfalfa. The food plots work great, especially on a year like this when all the crops were gone and the fields worked a couple of times before the rifle season. Granted, I'm sure "some" of the deer our party saw during the rifle season were the "same ones" someone else saw...other than the bucks that were distiguished by thier rack. Our party added up all the deer we saw during the 9 day season...we came up with a total of 246 deer. The majority of those deer were on or very near our properties. I talked to a neighbor that normally hunts his ag land, which had been black for 3 weeks this year,and their party only saw 15 deer all season.Every deer in the area was on our food plots and with ample cover nearby many of the deer that had migrated from a mile or two away had no reason to leave!!