How do y'all feel about baiting?

[horsemen61]

Ok let's stick with deer hunting right now and lets also say its private land at least 12 acres worth.You use a feeder year round except during deer season cause that is considered illegal. You put a stand were you can see the feeder does this bother you? On th other hand let's say it is legal does it bother you to sit over a big pile of corn. For me I am ok with both situations and here is why I hunt soley for the purpose of eating the meat antlers are nice but they don't
we'll so any advantage I can get on mr whitetail I'm all for it so what do y'all say yay or nay

 

[PonyKiller]

If it's legal why not, I look at it this way, if you have a bigger pool to choose your shot from, you have a better opportunity to make a good shot, on a better deer.

The catch is, in my experience, (all on public land) is that it tends to draw smalls bucks and does, the bigger guys tend to blow through in the wee hours of the night. On private land not pressured like a Manhattan sidewalk your results may be much better.

 

[Outlaw Man]

I'm more of a meat-hunter, too. I haven't put pen to paper, yet, but it seems like baiting with corn, and all the other contraptions out there, you can start to reach a point of diminishing returns. Sure, it's not as tasty or fun, but you can fill your freezer full of beef for much less than some people spend for the chance of getting a deer.

As to the ethical side, I see no real problem with it. Don't go pounding your chest about how great a sportsman you are, though.

 

[v8stang289]

Personally I have no problem with it as long as it's within the law, and in some cases with small tracts of land it may be the only way to get deer to visit your property.

 

[Sam1911]

Seems like a good way to get animals to come to you so you can harvest them efficiently.

If I want to see 20 miles of countryside, I'll go for a hike. If I want to sit in the woods for hours and hours, I could take up meditation. If I want to shoot an animal to feed my family, I'll try to get them to come to where I can get a decent shot.

I could see doing it the hard way, but I'm not buying meat out of a freezer case so I'm ALREADY doing it the hard way! Heck, I've got to cut the thing up myself and drag it out of the woods. Why would I want it to be any harder than it has to be?

If I ever retire and I want to just mess around in the woods, yeah I could see long stalks and hiking for miles, and whatever other things folks do if they can't bring themselves to try and induce the animals to come to them. Maybe I'll take up primitive archery, or spear hunting.

Or Muai Thai against wild boars!

 

[Sam1911]

We had a great thread on "fair" hunting a few years back: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=8288804#post8288804

One of the funniest threads ever. (And there's a link to an even better one in there!)

Yes. I only hunt one-on-one, naked and bare-handed. Until the deer are taught to use firearms (and not just pull the trigger -- I mean really aiming, here) I don't think hunting with a gun is fair at all.

It is distressing, though, as beating a deer to death with my fists is not at all what I'd call a "clean kill" but you've got to uphold fairness, right? Whatcha gonna do?

So far my attempts at duck hunting "fairly" have been extremely unsuccessful, though. I think I'm approaching a breakthrough in my attempts to fly, but since I won't use unfair cammo they seem to see my bluish-pink butt shivering in the marsh pond WAAAY too early.

 

[rbernie]

When I lived out east, all the guys that I knew put up stands near natural bait - oak trees that dropped acorns, or clover plots (that may or may not have had help), or apple trees, or similar. To them, encouraging and using natural bait was smart hunting. Many of them 'helped' the natural bait along, planting forage that was desirable to the critters. It just never seemed rational to me that it's OK to do that but not OK to use a mechanical corn feeder. But hey - that's just me.

On the other hand, I don't hunt over a feeder as a general rule because I wanna walk. But I certainly won't tell others that there is anything wrong with using a game feeder.

 

[desidog]

Save your back from dragging around bags of corn, and plant a few apple trees. Its win/win and you can get some cider to boot.

 

[rondog]

Sounds like a wonderful plan to me! Some of us just aren't physically capable of hiking for miles through mountains and wilderness, doing the "snoop 'n poop" to sneak up on the deer, and then packing them out several miles. Some of us can't do tree stands either. If I can sit in a shady spot and wait for an opportunity, you betcha I'm going to do that.

I know a guy that has to do nothing more than put on his orange vest and sit on his back deck drinking coffee, until a nice fat doe waddles into his back yard. He happens to live on 5 acres in a rural neighborhood that's flat over-run with whitetails. He told me he counted 44 of them in his yard one day.

In that situation I sure wouldn't care about "sporting". They're so thick around there that they're considered vermin and traffic hazards. And the Wildlife folks are concerned about them getting chronic wasting disease in the local herds. I know another guy that gets 10 depradation permits every fall, good for about four months. The local Game Warden wants him to thin the deer as much as he can. No baiting necessary, just a little patience and a clear shooting lane.

 

[MCgunner]

I don't drag any corn. I haul it out to my feeders on Booger, my KLR 650 Kawasaki.

Apples grow in TEXAS? I see little difference in planting oats and setting up a feeder, myself. The feeder is just easier to do with less expensive equipment.

 

[MCgunner]

I know a guy that has to do nothing more than put on his orange vest and sit on his back deck drinking coffee, until a nice fat doe waddles into his back yard. He happens to live on 5 acres in a rural neighborhood that's flat over-run with whitetails. He told me he counted 44 of them in his yard one day.

You know ME? I'm not sure we've met.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Lets just say we spend a lot of money on corn and rice bran over the course of a season.

I know a guy that has to do nothing more than put on his orange vest and sit on his back deck drinking coffee, until a nice fat doe waddles into his back yard. He happens to live on 5 acres in a rural neighborhood that's flat over-run with whitetails. He told me he counted 44 of them in his yard one day.

In that situation I sure wouldn't care about "sporting".

My dad has shot two deer while standing inside his house, out the back patio door. Was it sporting? Well no, but once they were in the freezer, you couldn't tell them apart and that's all he gave a rat's derriere about. It was in season and his property, perfectly legal.

 

[tahunua001]

if we are sticking to deer hunting then I think it's kindof cheating. you feed the animals year round to the point that they are no longer bothered by your scent and not quite as wary of entering a specific location and develop the habit of walking into the same place every day looking for food. this is not the kindof hunting I am used to. I'm used to super skiddish deer that hear, see or smell you coming long before you see them. never frequent the same exact spot more than a couple times a week, many times they can be anywhere over a 30 acre plot and most of the time they have a lot of cover to hide in unless they are in stubble fields.

now if you are talking about bears that's a different story. I've hunted bear over bait because unless you have bait or dogs it is very difficult to happen on a bear, especially when our season normally runs right when they are coming out of hibernation and are covering a lot of ground to find dependable food sources. then it's kindof a necessity to bait.

I guess if your deer behave like that then I see nothing wrong with baiting but in many of the places that allow it, populations are far from scarce.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

If it makes it easier to feed your family, I am all for it.

 

[PapaG]

Illinois has weird laws about baiting. Mostly, NO! You can plant food which we do, corn, forage oats, turnips, other brassicas, clover. We get some really fat deer. Most of the neighbors don't leave anything standing much past October. That helps us.
Early on, years ago, we did put a little corn and some apples out way preseason to check out the population but quit that. (lots of good trail cam pics).
From what I've learned lately, putting bait in concentrated places also concentrates the deer and helps the spread of blue tongue, CWD, and other bad things.

 

[tahunua001]

If it makes it easier to feed your family, I am all for it.

the OP did mention feeding year round. figure a $5 bag of deer corn ever couple weeks or so so that's a conservative $100 before any tags, gasoline or manhours fits into the equation. I could buy a heck of a lot of beef for that price. if someone is baiting, I doubt that feeding the family is their number 1 priority.

 

[41 Mag]

Well I try and feed something to our deer year round. Either being a food plot, or from feeders throwing protein, and yes they both get expensive. Not only financially but with the hours of my time, plus fuel for the tractor wear and tear on it and the implements as well as fuel for the 3 hour trek up and back on the weekend.

As for hunting over either the food plot or close to the feeders you bet we do, but not for the deer, we only shoot hogs under the feeders. The deer we leave be and it's funny as you can have half a dozen deer out in a pasture or under a feeder, and shoot a hog, and they simply trot away for a minute and go right back to doing what they were before the shot.

Not that we DON'T hunt the deer we do, but we hunt them from natural stands or simply sit out under a tree to do so. We have stands set up but as mentioned they are for killing hog from, and nobody really sits in them to hunt the deer anyway unless I haul one of the half pint grandkids out.

I have right at 115 acres which is mostly pasture. I set aside one 15 acre pasture with woods in it for nothing but a sanctuary for the deer to come and have a place of peace. I keep two feeders running as much as I can afford in there along with a 4 acre food plot I try to get in each fall and spring. The past 8 or more years we have had does have their fawns within 50yds of the house. This year they have been laying out in the front and back yard with them showing them off to my mom who lives there. She said they stand there while she talks to them and look as though they are proud of those little ones. Me I'm thinking bow stand on the back porch.

I wouldn't do so for the deer but the hogs come up as well. They all like the pear and peach trees we have as well as the persimmons.

I don't worry about what folks thing one way or the other on "baiting". I feed them period. If I want to shoot one under the feeder so be it. If one feels it is unsporting then they should go out as in the post above naked and bare handed, then they can talk all the smack they want to. Personally I am not as mad at them as I once was anyway, and usually leave them be for years at a time now. Of course if the right one lights my fire then I have no issue dropping the hammer or loosing an arrow. I go out, all I can, I just don't shoot much as I used to do.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

the OP did mention feeding year round. figure a $5 bag of deer corn ever couple weeks or so so that's a conservative $100 before any tags, gasoline or manhours fits into the equation. I could buy a heck of a lot of beef for that price. if someone is baiting, I doubt that feeding the family is their number 1 priority.

The topic is about ethics, not economics.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

deleted.

CPE is right. Not about economics.

 

[3212]

My objection is due to the spread of disease by concentrating the deer.

 

[Claymore1500]

Note: image shared on facebook, I have no idea who to credit. If it does not meet the guide lines, please feel free to delete.

 

[Art Eatman]

What's with this corn stuff? Ever try vanilla wafers?

 

[tahunua001]

The topic is about ethics, not economics.

true but from the sounds of your original post which stated if it helped put food one your table, suggesting someone having a hard time putting food on the table.
I was simply stating that if a person has the resources to bait year round, which 41 mag confirmed as quite expensive and time consuming, putting food on the table is a secondary objective here and there are better ways to put food on the table.

perhaps it was not your intent but you were the one that opened the door to economics.

 

[Patocazador]

My personal thought is that hunting over bait isn't hunting. It's taking advantage of an artificial situation. I have killed deer on food plots but never enjoyed it. I felt as if I cheated.
To feel good about the whole hunt, I have to kill the deer on natural "bait" aka acorns or on a trail in the woods after scouting quite a bit.

If you like it, Fine! It doesn't bother me but it would bother me if I did it.

 

[DammitBoy]

I have no problem with harvesting food over bait, but its not hunting and I like to hunt. Ymmv