Would you bait these deer? (Just went a new direction Pg 8!)

[J-dog]

If its legal. Not sure you'll pull em out of there but worth a try.

[PAPA BEAR]

i would bait them but just be sure that if you stick one its not so close to the houses that are feeding them that the deer runs to someones yard and falls over dead.that would be my only concern.

[Orion]

Buckeye:  You have to make this call yourself based on your own ethics. I would only suggest that some things that are legal aren't  ethical, and some things that are ethical aren't legal.

[ckanous]

Papa Bear beat me to it. I have no prob with baiting them to a spot to hunt but would hate for them to wide up in someone's front yard tacking out. Aim small miss small--Fill the freezer man!!

[Bowmania]

You do have two options.  Drive 'em out or bait 'em.  I'd use cracked corn and something I head about call Big & J or J & Big.  Believe it's available at Cabelas.

Bowmania

[Trooper]

Absolutely!

[Greyfox54]

I feel for you . I'm in Jersey and we have a lot of retirement communities that are surrounded with good deer woods . I was doing a job in one last spring and the woman I was working for called me to go to the back yard as there was a deer there acting funny . As I came around the house the acting funny part was actually giving birth by the back patio .I kept my distance not wanting to screw things up . The problem here is that the deer grow up feeling safe around the houses and don't wander into the woods too far .  That coupled with the fact that baiting is now legal here it seems anytime you find good deer sign it is usually going to someone's feed site . If you don't bait and hunt runs you're probably cutting off someone else 's spot . Your best chance for a good deer here is the first week . Guys put out so much bait that the deer just feed at night . The ends have to justify the means and the means have to justify themselves .

[KYArcher]

If legal DO IT!    KY

[gobblegrunter]

Sounds like there's some need for a bit of population control anyway.

[/QB]

Well put.

[randy grider]

I would not, simply because I despise the practice! One ,for the very reason you mention, it concentrates the deer away from those that don't, then,for the potential of spreading disease (CWD comes to mind),Also, its expensive, and i'm a tightwad,and then ,its unsightly and ruins the natural beauty of the hunting surroundings, and , ethics, if everyone has to check from one locale to the other if its legal...., lastly, I would just feel like I cheated my self out of actually hunting, by sitting over a bait pile. I Actually pity the new crop of bowhunters, and rifle hunters that hunt this way, and this way only. They are missing out.

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

I would, if they're not feeding together on your corn pile they'll just feed together somewhere else.  Deer are social animals and I would think that if you could get them to start coming to your area others would surely follow.

[Bud B.]

Find their water source and use mineral attractant. I put out a mineral block, one of the small ones that's like a brick, and the deer have pawed it in half. It's only been out a few weeks. They have to drink soon after the mineral lick.

Around here if you don't bait then someone else's bait pile will draw them away. I'm fortunate enough to hunt an area that the deer travel frequently all times of the day so baiting is not a must.

[Bowwild]

It must be legal or you wouldn't be asking. Therefore, do what feels right to you.  I wouldn't because it wouldn't feel right to me.

[$bowhunter$]

i wish i could bait. i have a doe tag and im having troble trying to fill it with all the gunhunters walkin aroun. sorry to burst your bubble but as far as i know your not allowed to bait deer in ohio. at least that what ive herd.

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

Originally posted by $bowhunter$:
i wish i could bait. i have a doe tag and im having troble trying to fill it with all the gunhunters walkin aroun. sorry to burst your bubble but as far as i know your not allowed to bait deer in ohio. at least that what ive herd.

It's been legal to bait deer in Ohio for a couple years now.  You can't bait turkeys.

[buckeye_hunter]

1. In Ohio you can bait deer on private land but not public land.

2. The deer polulation is rediculous here in the neighborhood. We counted 12 bucks and 9 does walking in a line/groups behind one house in the course of 5 minutes. That is a conservative number. I think there were more does. One area of the woods where they like to hang out the most has zero brush/undergrowth left. They do need thinned out.

3. The reason I asked the original question is that I am on the fence about this. I have little chance without baiting, but I WANT to take a deer without resorting to baiting. Ethically, I am fighting with myself. I don't want to cheapen the experience in any way if I can avoid it.

Still not decided....

[LC]

Sounds to me like you just answered your own question and we have 3 pages of those who condone baiting. Where I live there are more bait piles than deer, and everyone uses the same ol excuse if you don't bait you'll never kill a deer. A hunter can scout and hunt a place for several years and then go in one year and find a huge bait pile with a ladder stand 15 yards away and that territory is "claimed". I never have baited and never plan to start and my freezer is always as full as I want it to be. Yeap it's tuff at times but I sleep good at night.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I'd find a new place to hunt.

[Jeff Strubberg]

I wouldn't.  I don't like the consequences of baiting and the concentration of game species.  

Yeah, yeah, everyone else is doing it.  You could just as easily say if you won't stand up for doing things right, who will?

Just my opinion, but I don't need venison that bad.

[Molson]

Bait the deer and enjoy the venison. There's a reason Ohio has urban deer zones and antlerless tags.   The best way to hunt deer near urban areas is to bait them, especially when properties are small with residential close by.  There is a management side to what we do and the fact is there are times when it is all about the kill.

BTW...  The concentrations of deer already exist in urban areas in Ohio.  That's why they need hunted.   Baiting these deer has nothing to do with that.  Big difference between hunting urban deer and wilderness deer.  Not even remotely the same situation.