It's illegal to hunt Deer over bait here in Missouri. CWD is spread through saliva. That being said I'm in a CWD zone and I wish we could hunt over bait like other states.
In the off season I will put out a salt lick and occasionally put out some corn.
I'm not a scientist, but I will offer what is on my mind- yes, CWD is spread through saliva. But deer are very social creatures anyway- they tend to lick the same branches, eat from the same sources (natural or otherwise), lick on each other in various places and for various reasons, and so on. So if a CWD deer eats from a ear of corn left behind after harvest, and his or her fellow deer comes behind to eat whatever the CWD deer didn't finish- then what? And what about the corn, salt licks, mineral bait blocks, and so on that hunters place in the woods (legally) prior to hunting season - dutifully making sure they are depleted or removed prior to hunting that site. Does CWD only get spread during hunting season? Cause I don't think that is what is happening. I place the CWD-from-bait narrative in the same box as "the danger of hunting flat terrain in the midwest with rifles". For some reason, people think that rifles with straight wall calibers are "safer"; I think any firearm in the hands of a dummy who shoots at movement or commits other safety violations is a very dangerous situation, There are virtually no rifle restrictions in the southeastern US, and in many areas of these states, its pretty flat. I mean, really flat. Yet somehow, we go into the woods every winter/fall in large numbers with our rifles, hunt lots of deer, but somehow manage not to wipe ourselves out every year when fall comes around. I think that is worth thinking about too, even if it is off-topic.
As far as the "type" of corn, I only bait deer (legally) using the cheapest whole livestock corn I can find, starting at about 2-3 weeks prior to season, with the feeder shooting out a brief stream of corn mid-day. Enough to keep them coming back, but not so much that other animals end up eating it all. So the individual deer aren't eating that much of it on a "per capita" basis, which then makes using the "special" corn types with the various claims on things like protein, antler growth, etc. just a waste of $. Not to mention, the 46 acres I hunt is bordered by 200 acres that is leased to a hunting club- whatever they are doing or not doing has a major effect on the deer where I sactually hunt- deer are not very good at paying attention to who landowners are. Also, I noticed that livestock corn seems to always come in 50 pound sacks, but the "gourmet majic corn" comes in 40 pound sacks, but costs more than the larger bag of "welfare corn". That said, it is a normal practice here for people baiting hogs to buy kool aid powder, jello mix, or a similar sweet powdered substance to add an odor to the plain corn that they claim is irresistable to a pig.
I've been tempted to stick a whole bunch of salt licks out there a couple months / weeks before deer season, maybe next year.
Which I am convinced is worse for spreading CWD than corn broadcast over a larger area, no matter when it is placed or removed. Those licks and blocks and such are maybe a couple foot square, at most. I've seen 2 deer eating off the same block at the same time, with other deer pushing and shoving there way in there to get in on it too. At least with corn broadcasted out in a perimeter, its is spread out and they don't have to be in each other's faces to get to it. Kind of like social distancing (lol).
