Thoughts on Baiting

[RC]

Here in Ga. its been legal to bait on private land for a couple of years now. I put some out and put a a camera on it and almost every picture was after dark of deer. I hunt trails and acorns in the swamp and kill stuff during the day.Not against bait but I seem to do better without it.RC

[Bjorn]

Bait just does not do it for me-not my style at all. I hunt hogs regularly but never over bait. Tried it a few years ago-not how I like to get it done. But I won't judge you if that's your bag at least I'll try not to.  

[john moore]

In my opinion, if your hunting by a white oak your hunting over bait! If it's legal, I'm all for it!

[Jakeemt]

I feel it is un sportsmanlike to hunt white tail over bait piles.

[johnnyk71]

This is an interesting thread to me because I've seen the effects for a good while now. I've lived and hunted in Alabama for many years, and I know for a fact that one club I was in for 10 years saw a dramatic lessening in the number of deer seen over time. The reason ? The clubs on every side were dumping a boatload of corn, and we were not at all. It most definitely pulled deer off our land and on to theirs. This year, I am in a club just barely over the state line into Florida, where hunting over feeders is legal. I will be very interested to see how it works out. We have designated "areas" on our place that we pick, and no one else can hunt. I scouted out places for stands, basing them on visible travel routes and terrain, but I am genuinely excited about seeing how adding a feeder to those spots will work. I am planning on hunting a lot from the ground in homemade blinds, and I wonder how a bit of corn nearby will help with that. My plan is to be somewhat sparse with it, to see if it pulls them near. One thing is for certain that a lot of people have said. AL hunters have been baiting the heck out of deer for years anyway, so  the change was probably inevitable.

[gringol]

I've hunted a private hog outfit here that baits.  They hunt it one weekend a month.  Bait definitely brings them in, but after one evening and one morning of hunting, the hogs have figured it out and you don't see many.  Like others have said, it seems to keep game on the property, but it won't necessarily fill your freezer.  Pressure is pressure with or without bait.

[Sam McMichael]

I have hesitant thoughts about hunting deer over bait. I recognize that it is almost impossible to successfully hunt certain animals without bait but am still not crazy about the idea. However, if it is legal, I certainly will not criticize any hunter who uses bait.  I know it definitely affects the chances of success if the surrounding properties use bait and I don't.

I hunted with a baited situation once, in another state, I felt like I was bullhead fishing. In Iowa, food, the blocks, the powders like Deercain, all of it is considered baiting and is illegal by our local wardens.  I hope it stays that way.

[Gen273]

Originally posted by JamesV:
I have no problem with any kind of legal hunting or the use of any weapon that is legal.

x2

[Killdeer]

Whatever my feelings on baiting, looking at Alabama's new regs, I am left scratching my head. WTF?

Seems like I can keep people off by laying bait. So can folks from PETA.
Killdeer

[floodman]

Yea, cut down all the oak, hickory, persimmon, apple trees and lets make more toilet paper, oh dont forget them corn, alfalfa, and soy fields, and I almost forgot, that doe piss....yaw hold on a bit, I need to check my camera, at my 55 gallon drum feeder.

[Tall Paul]

I think its a damn sad day for the state of Alabama.  I didn't realize that this had been passed.

I own a 143 acre farm in Pickens county that I lease to a local hunting club.  I don't think I would allow anyone to bait on my land.

I'm kind of in shock, although I should'nt be.  In the past few years I heard that someone named Moultie was on the State Wildlife Board.  Moultrie is a manufacturer of baiting equipment.

I can't believe that its finally come to this...

[tarponnut]

We have had feeders on my deer lease for three years. The property is adjacent to crop fields.
Until the corn is gone from the fields the deer all but ignore the feeders(turkeys are all over it, though, but it's illegal to hunt them at the feeders).
After harvest, we see more activity at the feeders but they are on high alert when they are there.
We've had better luck hunting trails going to and from the feeders. At least on our place, it doesn't affect deer movement as much as you'd imagine.

[tarponnut]

I put a game camera on a feeder and one on a primary scrape. We got far more daytime pics on the scrape than at the feeder. Lots of night time pics of deer at the feeder,though.
In general, those that are opposed to hunting over bait have never done it(or have for a very short time). It's definitely not like shooting fish in a barrel.

[Bear Heart]

this thread seems to be going towards the deer direction but what are your thoughts on Bear

[jonsimoneau]

I used to be against it 100%  Then I started hunting other areas and in different cultures.  Get this.  The very first time I hunted in Africa I told the P.H. that I did not want to hunt anywhere near bait.  For some reason, the waterhole did not bother me, but bait was out.  The P.H. was offended! Later on during that trip I was talking about calling whitetails with grunt calls, rattling antlers, etc., around the campfire and 3 P.H.s got this look on their face and everything went kinda quiet.  I eventually pulled one aside and asked what I said that offended everyone and he told me that they consider calling animals to be unethical! Baiting was cool, but not calling!  Different strokes for different folks I guess.  Anyway, these days I'm not against baiting at all, although I'm glad it is not legal in Illinois.  And I gotta admit, even though I have never hunted bears, the whole baiting process for bears sounds very exciting to me.

[McDave]

Just out of curiosity, Jon, were you able to find out why they considered calling to be unethical?  I wonder how they would feel about calling ducks?

[TGbow]

My personal opinion is, I dont see any difference whether you plant something to draw the deer [which is legal in Alabama] or put out corn. Either way it's something that is not there naturally. Because something is illegal doesn't necessarily mean that it's unethical. Because something is legal doesn't necessarily mean it's ethical. Last year if I hunted with corn 100 yards from my stand I was illegal, this year I wouldn't be.
Game & Fish would be better off concentrating on the essentials of game management..IMO

[jonsimoneau]

McDave, they thought it was an unfair advantage.  Thought calling game made it too easy!

[Joshua Polland]

With all of these comments about the effects of baiting on the deer herd, I can't believe someone hasn't brought up CWD. The use of bait, especially in condensed areas will greatly increase the chance of saliva transmission. That is why WI has banned baiting in the CWZ zone, now if we could only get it banned in the rest of the state.