Baiting For Deer, Do you do Bait?

[HuskerInIowa]

See the article above. The NDA suggests that baiting and food plots differ.

I read it before I posted. The article is speaking to the relationship of food plots and baiting with the spreading of disease, not the general idea of baiting to shoot a deer.

Edit to add in screen shots showing the intent of the article.

 

[Still Kicking]

It's illegal in Illinois and I know it is still going on but I never felt it was "sporting". I have dropped several deer with a mouth full of corn but it seemed a bit more fair in an 80 acre field. Not judging anyone else for doing what they feel is acceptable, it's just not my thing.

 

[HuskerInIowa]

It's illegal in Illinois and I know it is still going on but I never felt it was "sporting". I have dropped several deer with a mouth full of corn but it seemed a bit more fair in an 80 acre field. Not judging anyone else for doing what they feel is acceptable, it's just not my thing.

Great Midwest reply that summed up my feelings on it. I don’t shoot birds (other than turkeys) off the ground and don’t dump a sack of corn out for deer.
I do hunt over or close to fields when I can and think my buddies that own ground and have food plots are lucky to have that opportunity. Not sure planting a field of turnips that matures at the same time as bow season starts is much different than a sack of corn but I’m not here to judge how people do things, traditions they have, or complain that my folks didn’t leave me land that maybe I’d be doing the same thing on if I had the chance.
I put of bunch of meat in the freezer from an urban hunt last year, plenty of people would say that’s easy pickens. Threads like this just stir a pot, we’re all on the same darn team.

 

[Plebe]

Nope because it’s illegal in Michigan but all my neighbors do it anyway.

U.P. CWD Surveillance Zone: The Upper Peninsula Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Zone (including parts of Delta, ****inson and Menominee counties) has been removed. As a result, hunters in this area can resume baiting and feeding practices.

 

[MattMan81]

Baiting seems like an expensive way to kill deer. Usually average sized if in high hunting pressure areas.
Im not against it. If you got the property, time, and money to hunt that way. Have at it. I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do ATM. I wanted to put a little food plot behind my parents house to try and bring in some deer for the kids. But never made it happen. Lucky the other guy hunting the farm put a food plot in and nice blind. It draws deer in and great place to sit when it's cold. No doubt. But they know how to use it better than I do. I just try to hunt the down wind sides and access areas.
As far as I recall he got one nice buck out of it during the rut in gun season. I have seen big ones on the field in day light in archery. But not with In 50yards of the blind.
Plenty of young bucks and does..

 

[Robert loper]

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.

agreed 100% but they are supposedly seriously talking about doing away with baiting in 2025 they have already gave a lot of farmers a heads up on this because farmers make a ton of money on bait during the season in Jersey
where do you hunt at? I am in Cape May and would be cool to meet up with some people and go scouting some areas.

 

[Robert loper]

Great Midwest reply that summed up my feelings on it. I don’t shoot birds (other than turkeys) off the ground and don’t dump a sack of corn out for deer.
I do hunt over or close to fields when I can and think my buddies that own ground and have food plots are lucky to have that opportunity. Not sure planting a field of turnips that matures at the same time as bow season starts is much different than a sack of corn but I’m not here to judge how people do things, traditions they have, or complain that my folks didn’t leave me land that maybe I’d be doing the same thing on if I had the chance.
I put of bunch of meat in the freezer from an urban hunt last year, plenty of people would say that’s easy pickens. Threads like this just stir a pot, we’re all on the same darn team.

That's some great points and really makes sense what would be considered bait and not baiting alot of different opines out there and very curious and interested in them thnks bro

 

[Robert loper]

Baiting seems like an expensive way to kill deer. Usually average sized if in high hunting pressure areas.
Im not against it. If you got the property, time, and money to hunt that way. Have at it. I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do ATM. I wanted to put a little food plot behind my parents house to try and bring in some deer for the kids. But never made it happen. Lucky the other guy hunting the farm put a food plot in and nice blind. It draws deer in and great place to sit when it's cold. No doubt. But they know how to use it better than I do. I just try to hunt the down wind sides and access areas.
As far as I recall he got one nice buck out of it during the rut in gun season. I have seen big ones on the field in day light in archery. But not with In 50yards of the blind.
Plenty of young bucks and does..

When I baited years ago It became very expensive I did not only use corn, I would also buy bins of sweet taters or sugar beets, it became like a job keeping up with refreshing the pile Most of my bucks I killed and I would bet most bucks that are killed over bait is or probably during the rut.
I used to hear all the time " bring the does and the bucks will come" even though The rut changes everything with bucks, they throw a lot of safety out when it comes to finding does to breed I love and am so glad I finaly learned and switched over to what I call hunting Natural

 

[Jammintree]

In stares / regions with unhealthily high deer numbers it might make sense to allow Baiting as a management tool - drawing in people Who just want easy meat. But in regions like mine with 12 deer per square mile one house that has a bait pile by the back deck so the family can watch deer is all it takes to lock the entire herd up together in one place. Doing so makes them far more susceptible to disease and to predation by coyotes. And that’s been the case around here: the “animal lovers” who bait for enjoyment are killing what they love. Meanwhile there are a bunch of poachers who bait the backyard, sit in blinds on the deck and illegally harvest more than their fair share.

 

[Islandshooter]

If I had private lease I'd be corn holing the shiz outta them.

However much more satisfying when u can kill 1 without

My favorite are the urubers who throw corn and them kick leaves over it like nobody will notice

Yeah, pretty hard to “pattern” mature deer in 2000 acres of pines! I have hunted (gun and bow) over feeders, food plots, swamps, oaks pretty much my whole life. Were the properties fenced? Of course! But not to keep deer in. Mainly to mark property lines and keep poachers (and dogs) out. I don’t really gun hunt anymore, I just like archery better. But if someone says bring your rifle and help thin the herd…why not? Life’s too short to miss ANY time in the woods with friends. @Weldabeast , if I won the big lotto, I’d ask you and stalker to come live there and manage the property for us. We’d have a silo for the corn!

 

[Weldabeast]

Yeah, pretty hard to “pattern” mature deer in 2000 acres of pines! I have hunted (gun and bow) over feeders, food plots, swamps, oaks pretty much my whole life. Were the properties fenced? Of course! But not to keep deer in. Mainly to mark property lines and keep poachers (and dogs) out. I don’t really gun hunt anymore, I just like archery better. But if someone says bring your rifle and help thin the herd…why not? Life’s too short to miss ANY time in the woods with friends. @Weldabeast , if I won the big lotto, I’d ask you and stalker to come live there and manage the property for us. We’d have a silo for the corn!

Job excepted.....just let me know

 

[BTaylor]

Grew up hunting a timber company lease that did not allow baiting even though it is legal here. Currently I hunt and help manage a friends farm. I dont hunt there exclusively by any stretch, maybe a 1/4 to a 1/3 of the time. There we use chum primarily for keeping the doe herd in check. There is a high deer density and primarily only 3 of us hunting the 1k acres. We have been short on taking enough does the last 2 years and need to thin them pretty good again. The spots we will set up for that are away from our primary hunting locations because we are just trying to draw the does. We scatter the spots to try to focus on the various does family groups too so we dont create a sink in any one area and try to target dry does if possible. Usually I will do a hunt or two each season on a club a different buddy is in that is a lease from the same timber company as the lease I grew up hunting so no baiting there. They do have plots though and with the limited amount of mast production on the property do too heavy cutting, the plots are just as heavy a draw as a chum pile. They have a doe quota they are expected to fill and I am always happy to help with that. I struggle to look at hunting those places as really hunting though. It is just herd management and it is fun but different and less rewarding than hunting public. No hunt, for me, is as rewarding as killing deer with my bow on public ground where it is incumbent on me to find and put myself in the right position to kill.

 

[shamus275]

U.P. CWD Surveillance Zone: The Upper Peninsula Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Zone (including parts of Delta, ****inson and Menominee counties) has been removed. As a result, hunters in this area can resume baiting and feeding practices.

I’m not in the U.P.

 

[Weldabeast]

The rule here is ur bait station has to be established/maintained with feed for at least 6 months before u can legally kill deers at the spot

 

[Plebe]

I’m not in the U.P.

Roger, but the UP is in the state of Michigan, so baiting is legal in (parts of) Michigan.

LP has an on and off history of legal baiting. It’s been less an ethical issue for the state than a response to disease, from what I recollect.

Old habits die hard, unfortunately. Sorry your neighbors don’t follow the rules.

When I hunted in the LP years ago, I found some bait buckets and corn piles and just avoided those sections. It may have been legal at the time, but often enough folks who go that route aren’t on the same page as me, so I’d just assume avoid run-ins.

 

[shamus275]

Roger, but the UP is in the state of Michigan, so baiting is legal in (parts of) Michigan.

LP has an on and off history of legal baiting. It’s been less an ethical issue for the state than a response to disease, from what I recollect.

Old habits die hard, unfortunately. Sorry your neighbors don’t follow the rules.

When I hunted in the LP years ago, I found some bait buckets and corn piles and just avoided those sections. It may have been legal at the time, but often enough folks who go that route aren’t on the same page as me, so I’d just assume avoid run-ins.

The U.P. rule change just came out. LP bait ban has been in effect for several years and they’re talking about removing it because nobody can follow the rules.

 

[Jammintree]

The U.P. rule change just came out. LP bait ban has been in effect for several years and they’re talking about removing it because nobody can follow the rules.

That’s a scary precedent.

 

[Plebe]

The U.P. rule change just came out. LP bait ban has been in effect for several years and they’re talking about removing it because nobody can follow the rules.

Yes. I am aware it’s a rule change in UP. More of a removal of a ban instated due to herd disease concerns.

As well, in the LP…

“Hunters with disabilities who meet specific requirements may use bait in the Lower Peninsula during the Liberty and Independence Hunts only. Eligible hunters may begin baiting for the Liberty Hunt five days prior to when the season begins. Eligible hunters may begin baiting for the Independence Hunt five days prior to when the season begins.

Bait volume at any hunting site cannot exceed two gallons. Bait dispersal must be over a minimum 10-foot by 10-foot area. Bait must be scattered directly on the ground. It can be scattered by any means, including mechanical spin-cast feeders, provided that the spin-cast feeder does not distribute more than the maximum volume allowed.”

 

[shamus275]

Yes. I am aware it’s a rule change in UP. More of a removal of a ban instated due to herd disease concerns.

As well, in the LP…

“Hunters with disabilities who meet specific requirements may use bait in the Lower Peninsula during the Liberty and Independence Hunts only. Eligible hunters may begin baiting for the Liberty Hunt five days prior to when the season begins. Eligible hunters may begin baiting for the Independence Hunt five days prior to when the season begins.

Bait volume at any hunting site cannot exceed two gallons. Bait dispersal must be over a minimum 10-foot by 10-foot area. Bait must be scattered directly on the ground. It can be scattered by any means, including mechanical spin-cast feeders, provided that the spin-cast feeder does not distribute more than the maximum volume allowed.”

I’m well aware the Disabled Vet rule as I am a 100% Disabled Veteran however, I still refuse to take advantage of it. I also know for 100% that none of my neighbors are Disabled Veterans and conscientiously choose to break the law. I had a whole thread about this last season.

 

[Plebe]

I’m well aware the Disabled Vet rule as I am a 100% Disabled Veteran however, I still refuse to take advantage of it. I also know for 100% that none of my neighbors are Disabled Veterans and conscientiously choose to break the law. I had a whole thread about this last season.

Like I said, sorry your neighbors don’t follow the rules. I’m just pointing out current legal standards of baiting in MI and the culture behind the bans and the bait.

Memo to Ted Nugent: Not all hunters hate Michigan’s deer bait ban | Bridge Michigan

A ban on deer baiting is prompting fears of a plunge in hunting (and objections from the Motor City Madman) but conservation groups say the move is necessary to stop chronic wasting disease from decimating the herd.

www.bridgemi.com

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Currently, baiting is restricted in MI, that’s what’s accurate