Baiting Deer in MI

[gorillabows]

Fellas here in MI we have had a heck of a time with baiting. For years and years it was allowable and then for a couple of years it was banned.

Those two years were great, it really cut down on the numbers of hunters, and it really let the deer settle into natural movements through out the day...as natural as it can be here.

And I am not saying that I am for or against baiting ethically, other than it really effects my way of hunting when others do it,

but I kinda wanted to know everyones feelings on it, and how you adjust to people baiting around you, when you don't bait?

An old bowhunter once told me, "keep those does close, and when the rut comes, the bucks won't be far behind."

Now we hunt for meat, first and foremost, but a nice buck sure is pretty exciting to see every once in a while.

Thanks fellas,

Joe

[KodiakMag]

I personally don't like baiting and in Indiana it's illegal. I have noticed some people around me must have a snack of apples while they're in the stand and accidently drop all of them on the ground beneath their stand...

[stevewills]

i hate to say this but i dont see a difference between a harvested field and a food plot or a bait pile.i like to hunt the big woods,really get in natures lap...i dont judge anyone for the way they hunt...

[gorillabows]

That was something you saw a lot of in the woods.

But, economically I think MI was taking such a hit on all those people who just didn't hunt if they could not bait. I remember hearing some figure like in the billions of lost revenue.

[gorillabows]

Steve, that is why I mentioned that in the first comment, Im not judging one way or another, just wanted to get some ideas on how to work around it.


I agree with you Steve, biscuits are great, and to hunt a little patch of hay or clover, in an attempt to not call it baiting is just the same thing.

Really not judging, just trying to get some advice

[huskyarcher]

I dont see why everyone gets so tore up about others baiting, you will rarely ever see a mature buck in a bait pile. If they are its at 3 n the morning. So really their not hurting anything, they may actually be helping you.

[Blaino]

Originally posted by huskyarcher:
I dont see why everyone gets so tore up about others baiting, you will rarely ever see a mature buck in a bait pile. If they are its at 3 n the morning. So really their not hurting anything, they may actually be helping you.

it dosn't take long for them to get conditioned to corn pile.....  i think the origional post say that baiting makes them feed more at night therefor hurting people that don't bait.

[gorillabows]

Thanks Blaino, that is exactly the point that I am speaking to. Just seeing if there is any good ideas out there about working around it.

These last couple of years were great, but they will be more nocturnal. Just trying to figure a way around it without offending.

[Blaino]

gorillabows, a 50lb bag of cob is going for $12 here. that will slow a good many down.  from what i have noticed the deer don't mess with a bait pile until the crops are finished in the fields and all the acorn are done.

find oaks that are droping acorns like rain (i'm being 100% serious) and you will have deer all over you. most of my scouting is looking at the acorn crop and finding active trails.

[gorillabows]

That is real good advice, we do have some good oaks on a good year will drop "like rain". I have seen it where you couldn't even set up below the thing just cuz of the acorns plinking off my bow.

12 dollars is a lot of money for corn....on the cob!

[Orion]

Baiting's effectiveness is somewhat determined by the availability of natural crops.  In Wisconsin, for example, it's prohibited in the southern part of the state, which is mostly agricultural, and where CWD is prevalent, and permitted in the northern part of the state, which has big woods and few agricultural crops.  

Baiting is quite effective in the northern part of the state, where deer don't have a lot of alternative field crop food sources.  There's no doubt that baiting  pulls deer from their normal haunts, consolidates them and changes their feeding patterns and the distance they'll travel to feed.  This isn't my opinion, it's fact born out by several scientific studies done by our own DNR and others.

I haven't figured out a work around.  When folks move in and place bait where I'm hunting, I move, but I've about run out of places to move.  

Baiting in this state leads to high level of hunter conflict as well because baiters consider the land adjacent to their baits off limits to other hunters, even though it's on public land;  a lot of the land in Northern Wisconsin is public.  Hunter conflicts caused by baiting is the no. 1 enforcement problem in this state and has been for several years.

I'm amused by those who argue that baiting doesn't guarantee an animal and that it's no more effective than hunting.  Sure seems to give one a leg up on those who don't bait.  I can't see why folks would do it if it weren't easier and more effective than hunting.  OK, have at it.  I imagine I'll take some heat on this one.  

[Jeff Strubberg]

Baiting is an issue because of the disturbance.  I'm not gonna argue that baiting makes hunting too easy...that's a side issue.  Baitign withotu a doubt disrupts normal deer travel and density patterns.  It's also a great way to spread disease through saliva and droppings, since deer yard together around bait.

No baiting for me, unless it's for some kind of pest removal, like hogs or armadillos.

[Dave Pagel]

I hunt southern Michigan now and see no big benefit to baiting.  There are plenty of crops around and good scouting provides you opportunities.  When I hunted northern Michigan the baiting drove me nuts.  I hated the way you could have an area you scouted completely changed by someone putting big piles of bait out near you.  I think it completely took the deer out of their natural movements.

Just my opinion.

Dave

[Ranger44]

When every other hunting show on TV promotes commercially produced baits like it's the "must have" "latest and greatest" the people that don't do their homework and think it's as easy as a half hour TV show then the baiting will continue whether legal or not.

Minnesota didn't have any problem with baiting until Michigan banned it and then MN thought they should too!  So many people thought it must be a sure fire method if it is banned.  Kind of like shining deer is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Baiting would probably become an issue sooner or later with the way it all evolved anyway but it's still fun to blame MI.  

I'm not sure how to work around it as you really have no control over what others around you do with bait.  Sorry if none of my rambling makes sense but ranting can relieve a little stress sometimes.

[last arrow]

I was disappointed when they removed the ban. I was seeing more hunters and more deer during the ban on the public land I hunt.

Orion pretty much summed up the problems with baiting as they are in Michigan,

[Homebru]

Joe,
Tough subject, from a number of angles.  I'll offer one man's experience and you can take it for what it's worth.  

I "grew up" hunting in Presque Isle county, in Michigan.  I can't say that we killed hundreds of deer but, that's hunting.  

Fast forward to  1991.  At the time, I wasn't bowhunting, but that's neither here, nor there.  I shot a doe.  We took it in for processing (hell, I'd have been lucky to tie my shoes at that point in my life, let alone process a deer).  Anyhow, we dropped it at the processor and figured it was "done".

Yeah, done.  The processor called us and asked us to come out. He had "issues" with what he was encountering while he butchered the meat.  Without going into great detail and dragging out the story, I believe we had encountered one of the early cases of tuberculous disease in deer, in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, easy to say.  The processor did not just call us.  He called the DNR.  To be short and blunt, the DNR was puzzled by what they'd seen.  The deer / carcass was ultimately destroyed after the DNR had a chance to look at things and "take samples".  I am a health professional and have some level of understanding of disease in man, if not animals.

My biggest concern with any baiting is concentrating game animals at "feeding areas" and increasing the risk of perpetuating communicable diseases.  This is not an entirely natural phenomenon (concentrating wildlife around feeding piles).  Yes, deer will congregate at apple trees and things like that.  But, those events don't last for days / weeks / months on end.  They are discreet, natural concentrations of wildlife that don't persist as long as a bait pile could.

What I've presented is nothing more than anecdotal evidence.  It only relates to potential (not proven) effects of baiting on deer (assuming that transmission of tuberculous illness happens in close contact, such as that which may occur at a bait pile).  That does not prove anything.

Despite that, I'm reluctant to advocate baiting as part of deer hunting.  Also, I believe that there are certain situations where baiting may be a relatively important tool in resource management.

A nasty, icky, difficult and painful topic in hunting / wildlife management.  I'm gonna go have a beer.

homebru

[mrjsl]

Well, having lived and hunted most all my 45 years in a state where baiting is not only legal, but now pretty much the only way people hunt, I'm not ashamed to say I think it sucks.

It's not that I disapprove of one person doing it, I understand all the whys and wherefores. It's not a horrible moral wrong on a small scale, but when every hunter on every piece of private land in a whole state is baiting as efficiently as they can, with the help of every piece of technology they can enlist, the situation you end up with is just sad.

Thankfully it's off limits on public land here, so there is still a lot of land where you can actually hunt.

People here talk about the same things too - makes deer nocturnal, potential spread of disease. I don't know. What I do know is that without a doubt, baiting makes deer move around less.

When deer move around less, hunting is worse all around. However, since when they do move they are visiting feeders and setting off trail cameras, the perception is that hunting is much better. Meaning it's easier to figure out where the deer are and why at least some of the time without straining your mental capabilities.

I've managed to hunt here all my life without ever hunting over bait, at the cost of never being able to join a lease or club or even hunt on most private land. I've been on one of the nicest deer properties in the country, which happens to be in Louisiana on the river, and guess what - they put out corn religiously. They would have better hunting and more deer than most of you have ever seen without it. So... why? It's an amazing place, but I wouldn't go back and deer hunt. What would be the point?

[tracker1]

I agree I think baiting makes deer more nocturnal,but we can't control other hunters actions if it is legal so each their own.  Hunt the way you want to and have fun and be safe.

[TxAg]

I can't speak for all of TX, but I don't mind baiting on the 2000 acre ranch that I hunt.  It's low fence and there are water tanks, a creek, mesquite flats, oak thickets, and pecan trees. The rancher also plants a 30, 60, and 90 acre field in wheat. We have about 5 other food plots that are 1-3 acres..generally planted in clover or wheat.  We throw out cottonseed in the off season as a supplemental protein and corn from now until January.

All that said, we hunt a variety of ways on this ranch. It's all bowhunting (some trad, others wheels), but some is done on feeders, some on trails, and some on water or food plots.

We aim to kill 40 deer every year between 9 guys and never do. We usually get around 30.  It's not as easy as you'd think.

I wish TX had more public land to hunt, but my hunting buddies and I are at least blessed that we have a large acreage and the surrounding ranches are large as well. Unfortunately, it is a lease so we do have to pay to play.

I can definitely see where it would be tough if everyone was hunting on private 100 acre tracts and also baiting.

In the end, I suppose we just have to make the best of what we have.

[Seeking Trad Deer]

Baiting is not hunting IMHO...its more like sniping.