How many hunt feed(ers)?

[katman]

Pat I agree it is a challenge to hunt around a feeder, however if setup nicely a good one may come in in daylight, the feeder is ten yards to the bucks right. Tree stand is 10 yards to the bucks left. A good one for the SC coast. I will admit this is not the norm though. The date is from the day taken from my wall paper on i-phone. Actual date was mid October 1 hour before dark. Operator error kept me from putting an arrow thru him the following week.
 

[Pat B]

Gery, that is a good coastal SC deer. Not many like that around...at least not 26 years ago. I hunted near Bluffton(now Colleton River Plantation, and Victoria Bluff WMA[no corn there]) and in Yamasee and had very little luck hunting over corn.

[katman]

Yep, I hunted him for 2 years before getting a shot. I hunt some private land below Georgetown, primarily a bow hunting club for 38 years, I am only trad guy. Showed pic to a friend that was the local biologist with SC DNR, he agreed 135-140, a heck of a buck for us on the coast especially with with no agriculture around.

[catman1]

Feeding deer corn is just not my gig.

[highlow]

I thought I had logged on to that "other" site. I will not pass judgment on those who do or don't. I shot a little six point last night after spotting it a couple of days earlier and planning an ambush, which just happened to work out perfectly. Certainly no monster but a very satisfying experience. No baiting involved. Nothing better with this type of archery than spotting and killing a specific animal on its own terms.
Baiting is a personal choice and there is no right or wrong involved with that choice.

[Eric Krewson]

I hunt red and white oak feeders, some years someone forgets of fill them and they don't scatter any acorns. I plant food plots but don't hunt over them.

I would hunt hogs over a corn feeder but not deer.

If the freezer happens to become empty with no hope for replenishing it in sight, I will shoot a deer on one of my plots. So far one of my hunting buddies has always given me enough deer to keep me going so the deer on the food plots are safe.

[The Whittler]

No baiting in Maine.

[Rod in SC]

If the argument is that baiting is unethical because it makes it too easy , then all rifle hunters are unethical. And maybe even compound hunters are unethical. What about modern recurves, longbows, carbon arrows, Tree stands,  trail cameras , etc.  Do only real hunters use a rock? And what kind of rock would be the most ethical to use?
Maybe we should just go hunting with whatever makes us happy. Kill whatever size deer that makes us happy.  Just hunt with what makes you  enjoy the hunt the most.  Yeah it's got to be legal of course but even the game laws are very political nowadays.   Just go hunting and quit trying to shame someone for the way they do it.  Sure you can tease your compound buddies that they use training wheels etc but you can still give them a congratulatory pat on the back and listen to them excitedly tell their story of how the hunt unfolded. Those are memories that make hunting great. And nobody should be shamed out of the memory of a successful hunt.

[mlsthmpsn]

I wish the WI Natural Resources Board and DNR had gotten the permanent ban on baiting and feeding wildlife back in 2002-03 after the temporary moratorium when CWD hit.

In areas of northern WI, people bait so hard that the deer herd is kept artificially high and they have no natural browse left over when people stop feeding them just before winter sets in....a hard winter hits and many of them die.

They die way back in the winter deer yards where no one ventures, so they aren't really seen by the public. The public just sees no deer the next few seasons and then blames the DNR and Wolves.

For me, on a biological or ecological basis, baiting is just bad practice. On a personal level, sitting over a pile of corn just seems wrong and that's enough reason for me to rule that out as a way that I'll ever hunt.

On the upside for me, Sheboygan County doesn't allow baiting. So when I hunt near home in the State Forest, which straddles the Sheboygan/Fond du lac county border (in FDL county baiting is legal)....you see, most everyone around here hunting that area jumps over into the FDL county side to hunt over a bait pile.....leaving vast areas of public land relatively free from other hunters.

I roam a lot, have little spots or hides dotted all over the place fr different winds or conditions or seasons....I could never be pinned down to one spot in one tree....too much land that I haven't seen yet, and I add new spots every year.

[katman]

"I would hunt hogs over a corn feeder but not deer"

Now there is an interesting statement.

I agree with Rod's comments.

Basically it is whatever the individual is comfortable with.

[Bowwild]

Rod in SC.
Your point about what makes a hunter happy is actually my barometer for an ethical decision...as long as it is legal.  

Doesn't matter a bit to me what another hunter chooses regarding equipment, bait, crops, blind, stand, wool, camo, sights, release, etc.  

EXCEPT: I'd like the hunter to know that if he/she talks about their decisions and results, they may be seen by some as "representative" of the typical bowhunter.  I'd like that "typical" bowhunter to be a positive example for the rest of us so we will have opportunity to pass our passion down to as many generations as possible.

Case in point. I have a bear bowhunting story that I never share with non-hunters.  Outcome was a dead bear but the process too graphic.

I think most bowhunters choose their equipment to increase their sense of satisfaction getting ready to hunt, hunting, and for whatever results they achieve.

My Dad asked me long ago, after an out-of-state bow hunt, "why take a bow when you take a gun (WY)".  I told him that I wanted to milk as much fun and challenge out of the experience as I could. Nothing against the firearm or firearms hunters. I'm one of those as well, on certain critters at certain times.

[Mint]

If legal I don't have a problem with it. I've hunted hogs over feeders in Florida and have really enjoyed it. As for deer it would depend on the place and the available food source.

[tarponnut]

I hunt hogs over corn feeders(and spot and stalk, and still hunting). The deer don't come to the corn for some reason where I hunt in south Florida.In five years running trail cameras over corn I've only gotten two or three pics of deer but tens of thousands of pics of hogs and other animals.
Feeders are great for watching animals. I took my girlfriend and son with me last weekend they had a ball watching squirrels, raccoons, cardinals,songbirds, turkeys, and a bobcat!

[Shadowhnter]

I never realized bobcats ate corn....  

[Bvas]

Originally posted by DanielB89:
I am curious as to many guys here hunt a non natural food source while hunting?  

Hey Daniel, Have you got the answer you were looking for yet?          
I noticed you went a little quite???

[last arrow]

I'm not a fan, so I don't.

[Tom]

Not legal in Va.-we can't use deer pee either since last season.

[Russ Clagett]

Where I live in Central Texas if you don't hunt with feeders you will never see a deer.

Unless you figure out how to bowhunt from a helicopter.

[wingnut]

I love the guys that are anti feeder yet have 5 food plots on there land.

Kinda funny.

I don't hunt feeders for deer.  Much prefer natural food sources like acorns.

Mike

[Alexander Traditional]

I have to agree with Russ. I hunt on about 30 acres. I have a highway on one side,and the other sides are thick cover. The deer stay in these other places,and the only way to draw them over is with a feeder.

When my buddy lets me walk the 600 acres I really love to spot and stalk,but for the people that say they would never use a feeder,I always say never say never you might not always have the perfect set up.