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Baiting For Deer, Do you do Bait?

Robert loper

Robert loper

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Messages
1,772
Location
NJ
Baiting​



Growing up in Extreme South Jersey (Cape May) hunting and fishing was always challenging and an educational experience lmao. Baiting for deer was as regular as getting up to go to work. My father and Brothers were big influences on my outdoorsman skills. They were great teachers and very knowledgeable. I was Taught to look for areas near bedding that baiting would bring the deer under you way before dark. It works great but, I was missing out on so much more.

Baiting

Now please do not take this post wrong because I am not for baiting nor am I against Baiting.

You do You and hunt how you want to hunt. If the Tactic is legal and ethical than I am all for whatever works for you. With that said Baiting deer can be a controversial subject in the hunting community. People are really either for it or dead up against it. My first 15 years or so I was a big baiter. I would get everything together in mid-August and then when September came, I would be out in several different areas Hanging several stands in each area. Then I would be dumping bags of sweet potatoes and corn for luring deer into my ambush spot Probably 2 times a week at each stand location. This got expensive with Fuel and Bait prices.

One late afternoon I was perched 18 foot high in a tree overlooking a bait station I setup about a month earlier. I was watching A young doe with A fawn munching on my corn pile and realized that I was just not learning anything from this type of tactic. I have killed a ton of deer doing this but, I just was not seeing the quality of deer hunting over bait that I wanted to start seeing consistently. This way just was j not challenging me anymore. I did always setup near good bedding because I knew most pressured deer do not leave their bedding areas until just before or even after dark especially older more educated bucks. So, I was always would set my stands and bait piles up just outside of good bedding. I would see good bucks quite a bit but most times they only came into the bait during the rut or very early season when there was not much pressure yet on them. They still were very Leary in coming all the way in to present a shot. Most times they would come in down wind and check the bait pile for other deer then circle back around and still stay well away until way after dark. Very frustrating to constantly observing this.

I finished that season doing what I did and told myself that I am going to change What I do next season. That post season I scouted probably hundreds of miles day after day looking for previous seasons deer sign and then tried to figure out why and when this sign was made. After a few seasons of trial and error with a new climber I then started to figure so many things out. I started to realize how important Reading sign then interpreting the sign was. Trial and error started to reveal the knowledge of where and when to hunt. My buck sightings absolutely skyrocketed and my buck harvests got a lot better hunting this way. My only problem was I was not being aggressive enough and I started to read and talk to a few guys who were going through the same thing. You got to be aggressive if you want to be consistent on killing what your after on high pressured properties.





My point is Baiting Really held me back for a long time from learning and really getting on top of good bucks. Since I went to 100% mobile type hunting and got rid of the bait it has been very educational and rewarding. Baiting is in my opinion holds people back from a great rewarding way of hunting. To each his own but, scouting with gear on back and bow in hand for people with limited time is a way more effective tactic to get more encounters with better bucks. I do admit that I hope most states outlaw Baiting just because I love to deer hunt and I just could not see my life without being able to hunt. I worry about the spread of CWD and baiting does bring more chances of this virus to spread. CWD does not go away it has been proven that it stays in the soil forever and most Fish and Games do not divulge a lot of the info on how dangerous CWD is to our deer herd. We as hunters are the ones who can dictate what the outcome of most seasons are and how we go about doing things to preserve our great rights to hunt. Anyone who would like a mentor, Help, or just to chat about how I do things Please pm anytime.
I love Helping people
Helping people helps me alot.
 
100% against it, but I am a realist so I’ve come to terms with it since it is keeping a large number of people paying for leases and sitting in a shooting house overlooking a corn pile with a crossbow instead of them hunting on public land.

See? We can all get along.
 
dalton916 said:
100% against it, but I am a realist so I’ve come to terms with it since it is keeping a large number of people paying for leases and sitting in a shooting house overlooking a corn pile with a crossbow instead of them hunting on public land.

See? We can all get along.
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Definitely my friend
 
Nope because it’s illegal in Michigan but all my neighbors do it anyway.
 
I don't and never have, but I've been around some guys that do, on private. Truthfully, there are some guys that do it better than others. Ill stop short of saying there is an art form to it, but again, some guys definitely have techniques that work better than others. I have one friend in particular, that is extremely successful with it opening week, and during rut. I also think, if you rifle hunt, you can obviously have a lot more success with it. I will also say that it can be an expensive style of hunting, when you figure in the cost of feeding them, trail cams, methods for getting the corn to the feeder etc..... Especially, for the guys that feed them year round. I also think it makes for lazy hunters in some cases, but I encourage them to do it, since I know exactly where they will be sitting almost every hunt. Dogs are another item all together.
 
I see baiting no different than poaching. It’s just not hunting, it’s entrapment. I doubt you’ll see it go away here in NJ because fish and game know that 90% of NJ hunters don’t know how to hunt without a corn pile 10 feet away. They will fear license purchases will drop and it’s all about the money. Not the health of the heard. Great read my friend.
 
I don’t bait with corn or other feed….but I do have salt licks.


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Weldabeast said:
I have no facts to back it up but if they didn't allow baiting here I'd say the number of deer harvested annually would drop by 3/4 % if not more
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I bait on private in some cases. If GA were to make it illegal tomorrow I’d be fine with it. I think baiting for deer hunting purposes is more detrimental to turkey populations, than the DNR wants to admit.


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Baiting is illegal in my state. And yet the hardware stores all sell it and they clearly stock up on inventory and promote it just before the season starts. There are definitely a lot of people with small private parcels who bait despite the rules. Our deer population is small, so on years when the wild food sources are limited deer seem to gravitate toward the people who have big bait piles. Every region is different so I can’t speak for all baiting. But in my region I wish people wouldn’t do it.
 
I find that baiting made the deer turn nocturnal - except a timed feeder. Then, it was like an alarm clock. I haven't baited in over twenty years, but I do like to know where the feeders are because I can use that info to find the deer on their way in or out if it is a timed feeder to go off during daylight.
 
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