Attention: Master Baiters Only!

[Bwhana]

We shall see if this thread can stay on track, but doubt it with this crew! This is not a thread about Paul Ruebens techniques, unless they somehow lead to deer in a specific spot. This is also not a soap box thread to debate baiting vs not baiting, only looking for serious info here for a location that is totally legal to bait and I want to ensure some youth I'm taking will see something, almost 100% guaranteed. I am also looking for something that only the deer will eat and our flock of 20+ turkeys will leave alone.

NO CORN or other turkey foods (acorn rage and other powders don't work here and apples are getting scarce in bulk locally, so not a good option)! Anyone willing to share ideas on this? I know some of you are serious master baiters and have some good techniques!

 

[Jwiggins762]

 

[kyler1945]

Alfalfa hay

 

[LAKY]

Rice bran

 

[Mengle]

Sweet potatoes. You can get a pallet of the cull potatoes for real cheap

 

[Nutterbuster]

Sweet potatoes. You can get a pallet of the cull potatoes for real cheap

I second this. We bait with taters, precious up at the lease and deer love them.

Only caveat is if they've never eaten them they have to learn. Helps to cut them up and mix them with Korn.

 

[Bwhana]

Just found sweet potatoes on deep discount and will throw some magic dust on them to get the deer interested (cherry jello). Thx!

 

[Bwhana]

Alfalfa hay

I tried this many moons ago when my son was getting started climbing on his own after seeing it on a Canadian hunt. He texted and said he killed a deer in the hay. I naturally assumed he meant eating it. A small doe came and laid down in it and he shot her bedded! NC deer have short elevators

 

[Scott F]

I've read peanut butter can do wonders but honestly never tried it.
The only reason I am replying at all is to ask if you've seen the price of turkey lately? May want to toss that corn out in a pile after all !

 

[gameflogger]

Turnips. You can buy a 50 lb bag of turnip seeds from amazon and plant them in concentrated areas. The deer love the greens that they sprout up

 

[Nutterbuster]

Turnips. You can buy a 50 lb bag of turnip seeds from amazon and plant them in concentrated areas. The deer love the greens that they sprout up

They do love turnips, especially if they get cold and sweet. Deer also love rape. And everybody, just once in their life, should open a 50lb bag of rape.

Sorry. Low hanging fruit.

 

[rutjr]

I worked at BPS and someone from Canada came in and said they bait with carrots. I tried it and the carrots rotted on the ground. LOL Planting Turnips sound good.

 

[michigandrake]

Carrots and sugar beets are what I used when it was legal. Only deer and the occasional porcupine seem to like them.

 

[Jfow85]

Just found sweet potatoes on deep discount and will throw some magic dust on them to get the deer interested (cherry jello). Thx!

Let me know know how the taters work out. I may have to give that a shot. Although if the turkey go away all I've got left to watch is the squirrel

 

[Micneador]

I top sow my wheat pasture in turnips, the deer hammer them until I put my cattle on it in mid December. 40 acres of wheat and turnips will save you from feeding hay to the 60 head of cattle for two weeks btw.

I remember a really bad January ice storm here in NE Oklahoma. Late 2000's I believe. I fired up the tractor and took the disc to all my turnip food plots just to break up the hard crust caused by the ice build up. Parked the tractor and drove back by, not 15 minutes after I broke it up, already had 25 or so does/bucks in the plot munching away.

I've fed alfalfa hay during huge snow storms, just to give the deer something to access during super harsh weather. They've usually cleaned it up pretty quickly

 

[Bwhana]

They do love turnips, especially if they get cold and sweet. Deer also love rape. And everybody, just once in their life, should open a 50lb bag of rape.

Sorry. Low hanging fruit.

Now that is a response fitting the thread title and what makes this forum fun!

 

[Bwhana]

I have over 4 acres planted in several fields, mainly in white dutch clover, with strips of turnips, rape, and forage oats. No problem seeing deer, but looking for something to see them in an exact, predictable spot to make the shooting easier and close.

 

[Scott F]

In your original post you stated that you wanted to take some youth hunting, and you are asking for 100% chance at seeing deer. That is cool, keeping the young excited about hunting will always help our sport regardless of whether they get a shot. In fact, for most it is the chase they are after when the dust has all settled.

Say, come to think about it...I am only 50. Is that youthful enough for you to take me to that paradise??

 

[1simplemann]

Lot's of good bait out there. In my young days. My dad used to use the apple mash from the Apple Cider plant. They loved it and could smell it a long ways off. Any way, after he moved away, I hunted w/ some guys that were pretty good baiters. They had some good techniques. One guy always used a pile but made a V out of logs and forced them to give you quartering away shot. He easily killed over 100 before he died. Most w/ a bow. Another guy NEVER made a pile. He spread corn around in big area. His thinking was multiple deer could feed but they had to work for it. They were so intent finding every Kernal that they were more focused on finding it than paying attention for danger. Lot's of does feeding were the real bait. Big bucks will come in during daylight during the rut if there are does feeding. He has killed 365 deer and a ton of them were killed on bait so know his techniques work. He also likes to hunt really high. 28'-40'. Deer like to come into bait down wind. The higher the better he says. Also he looks for trees w/ a TON of cover. They know a human has placed the bait. Mostly likely they know the tree your hunting so if they can't see you or smell you, most likely they will come in.. Another trick he uses is to try to set up somewhere where they can't some in down wind. He tries to used terrain or features to his advange. One of his best spots is his house. The wind blows right at his house and they can't circle so they have to come in upwind. There aren't any good trees to hunt in so he built a wood hut and completely brushed it in. He calls it the Kill'n Shack! For Jersey a 125" is a big'n and They are smart. They've been hunted a bunch and don't usually come to bait in the daylight. He however routinely has one show up every year coming out of the big swamp behind his house. Usually he gets him. Another trick is to use water. He has another spot where the beavers have flooded the woods.. They have to come in from dry ground upwind from the bait. He's 35' up and has put a bunch of brush around his stand. He calls it The Nest. They can't see him or smell him. He has killed so many deer out of that spot I can't even count them.

 

[Arrowsquirrel]

I have a buddy that swears by rice bran. Says the deer love it and nothing else really eats it. I don't know what it is or where you get it and don't bait but sounds like it might be something to try.