"hunting" over bait

[chucker34]

Also, you can get a deer to stop for clean kill through a variety of other ways, a mock scrape without any artificial scents, at a watering hole, natural vegetation or mast growing in a spot you know they will stop. I have never seen a deer continually moving except during gun season. They usually amble through the woods or field, stopping to munch on browse, etc.

[BobT]

You know, I think metro makes a good point. Sure, doing some good scouting and learning to predict deer habits can work the same way but they are more likely to amble to the fixed bait pile and be in range than they would to a watering hole for example. I'm not saying I agree with baiting as we define it but there is a good argument for both sides of this one.

Bob

[Nate McVey]

I'm going to chime in as a former Gogebic County, UP Michigan boy now living in MN. As Perchking said, baiting does not guarantee a big buck, nor does it guarantee a deer, but it is legal and I have always done it, and I will continue to do it until it is no longer legal. A lot of the hunting in the UP takes place on private land, ie. family camps that have been around for decades. My family is not one of the lucky ones so I have always hunted public land sandwiched between private land. We put trailcams up and find trails, bedding areas, and scrape lines, but the bait gives us a chance to get those deer to stop for a shot as they are working between said lands. Whether or not the folks on private land are baiting or have food plots, they still have the upper hand so the bait gives us an edge. As far as the bait turning them nocturnal, look at the posts under all the trailcam headings and look at the deer licking mineral blocks in the day. The bait doesn't make them nocturnal, the guns going off and the people driving and walking around the woods makes them feed at night.

In Gogebic county we don't have the privledge of a city hunt like we do here, so baiting helps control the population. Most of the UP does not have doe tags, so sometimes we are forced to shoot younger bucks to fill our tags. Would I like to be able to pass up a fork-horn and shoot a doe so he can grow bigger? Of course I would, but I still hunt for food and as far as I know, you can't eat the antlers. If I had the oppourtunity to hunt a cedar stand, apple orchard or old growth of oak I would in a second.

Baiting doesn't guarantee a deer, in fact there are some days when we sit out in negative temperatures and not see an animal and some day we see does all day long. We grunt and rattle and make fake scrapes too..........does that make it even worse to some people? We buy Christmas tree tags so we can fortify our blind legally. Do we have a perminent blind with heaters and radios and recliners.......no, we build a blind every fall when we find the area we want to hunt. Your ethics are your own and they are what drives you to do the right things when people aren't watching. My dad and I don't bait early and we don't use more than we are allowed. We adhere to the law because that is what I was taught and that is what I will teach my kids. Like it or not, baiting is legal for us folks in the UP and until it isn't, I will do it legally and ethically.

Just my $.02

[harvey lee]

Baiting for deer instates that is legal is fine with me. One will use scents, plant food plots and use any other legal method to harvest a deer. Food plots are growing in popularity with a large percentage of deer hunters and that seems fine. I cannot figure out what the difference between baiting and food plots might be.

I have baited in North dakota for a handicapped hunt that I guide for and have seen very few bucks hit these baits during the daylight shooting hours. I would rather have a natural food plot in a remote location for attracting deer.

Now days, most hunters want better scopes and guns with longer accuracy, scopes on muzzle loaders, faster, flatter shooting bows and anything else that will take deer easier.

Very few deer hunter hunt the way of 30 years ago.

[dogs]

When I started hunting deer 40 years ago baiting was unheard of, but deer were pretty scarce to. I could take a track and walk it all day and never worried about who's property I was on; no one cared about the kid trying to shoot a deer. Find a stand of oaks with good acorn drop and they will be there. Now in Burnett County in Wisconsin, I don't think there is a deer there that can digest an acorn. The land is a split into 5 and 10 acre pieces and everyone has a couple of bait piles. Baiting right or wrong does not matter. The days of "hunting deer" are over for the majority of people it is sit on your acerage and hope to get one coming to dinner. Plus they are a lot tastier nowdays that they were before the corn pile days.

Things change.

[Fish&Fowl]

I agree on what's said about deer hunting changing so much from what it used to be in the "good ol' days," but I don't see where you guys are coming from on the baiting being like using scents or decoys. That's like saying throwing corn out for ducks on shore is the same as setting out decoys and calling them in. Animals HAVE to eat, they don't have to come in to a scent or to the sounds of a grunt or bleat.

I didn't realize this post was going to turn into such a big deal, but it does raise some good points. I've become much more of a waterfowler than a deer hunter anyways in the last few years, but it really is sad to see what a lot of people consider "hunting" nowadays.

[Boar]

I guesse I'm eating my words when i said on the high fence hunting thread, "If it's leagal an done by the law, have fun hunting." Then I said on this thread that I wont bait an dont agree with it, That came across as like I dont respect the hunting rights of others. Thats not the case. Reading these post has educated me interms of how people hunt an have hunted. Certainly we have read an seen on TV, shows that are upsetting, or come across a wrong sittuation that needs to be reported, that sucks too. From the Impression I'm getting on this thread is that were not those people on TV or the ones that need to be turned in. Were hunters an we all know there are alot of people out there with alot of money that dont want us to hunt, that dont care about our heritage, That dont care about the memories we make with family an freinds in the fellowship of hunting. Hunting has diffenatley changed. Even if I dont agree with baiting I'm gonna respect it as another hunters right to hunt as the law allows. I wish everyone a safe an memorable hunt this comeing fall weather you bait or not. Good luck an be safe, Later boar

[BobT]

I beg to differ with you, fish&fowl. A mature buck in rut does "have" to respond to scent. It's in his nature. As far as baiting being their food supply, I would have to believe that they are not responding because it is the only food supply they have. They, like the buck responding to doe-in-heat, are taking advantage of an opportunity. When we use scents, rattling, grunts, food plots, and other natural environmental features, we are using a deer's natural instincts to our advantage. This is how I relate them all to baiting. Doesn't mean I disagree with baiting so long as it is legal. Just pointing out how I question the difference.

Bob

[chucker34]

I guess if the differences between using scents and calling, etc. and dumping corn on the ground were called into question by a majority in the court of public opinion -AND the DNR decided to act one way or the other on it. I'd say do away with it all. Make it all illegal versus letting baiting become legal.

I've used scents. I've rattled and 99.9 percent of the time these tactics have been fruitless. And yes, I've followed all the advice on how to do so properly.

What I'd love to see happen is for the DNR to do a wide-ranging survey on this, asking do you think baiting should be made legal. And make every deer hunter answer when they apply for a license. Then we'd get a true picure - one way or the other - of what people's preferences are.

[KOTTKE]

I was just checking out the trail cam photos on this link and wouldn't you know the first photots that come up have a corn pile in it and the very next photo has a little buck staring at the camara with corn still stuck to his nose. These images make you sick, great white hunters hard at it, in a couple of months you will see a smiling hunter with his buck and the long story of how he patterned it and watched it all summer long. What a joke!!!

[outdoor ran]

Pail of corn and growing a food plot - same thing. Your putting food down for the purpose of killing a deer. I think Mn has better hunting for big deer because they don't allow baiting all though its done alot more then you think. What do you think brings all them deer to the gravel road on them texas hunting shows, corn. Most of the hunting shows you see now days are full of dump anyway.

I just can't believe how some people can say baiters are not real hunters, cheaters, lazy etc. Last year a friend of mine had a 12yr old son that wanted to try deer hunting. They have no land, 2 jobs and a big family to take care of. They only had time to hunt two evenings so they placed a legal amount of corn down. The boy shot a little 5 point, he said it was the most exciting thing that ever happened to him. He put meat in the frezzer for his family and wants to be a hunter for life. Thought of someone ripping on this 12yr old boy and calling him a cheater, lazy and not a real hunter would be sad JMO guys

[jlm]

Baiting sure seems to get a bad rap, however, there certainly are some pros to using it as a management tool. Good clean kills at standing deer with safe back grounds when shooting. That in itself can certainly be seen as a benefit to using bait. We have to remember that we all see "hunting" differently. Some of us enjoy the hunt and want it to be challenged in every aspect of it so placing a pail of corn out would not seem that challanging or maybe even not ethical. While others view hunting as just getting a deer in the freezer and a pail of corn is a good tool to get the job done. Ethical or not, baiting as a great management tool and gives some the opportunity to get meat in the freezer! I have also found that those who REALLY are against baiting are those that hunt public ground or ground that has other hunting pressure. I can certainly see why that would be a problem. Whatever the case, baiting is illegal in MN and should be reported to your CO if you happen to see this activity. I will say however, there is a pretty big movement to make this legal. Time will tell!

[harvey lee]

Great post outdoor ran and I agree 100% with you.