Baiting deer?

[buckwacker]

I use mineral licks to put cams over, not to hunt over. It helps draw and hold deer to a particular place so I get a better inventory of what's in my area. Deer quit hitting them about September anyway so I put the last out in August. If a Barney Fife CO wants to make an issue of something that's clearly not hunting over bait, I'll argue that in court and likely prevail if for no other reason than the completely vague nature of the rule.

 

[two70]

Hey maybe if we're lucky, Indiana will become a state where you can load up a spreader and throw corn behind your 4wheeler as you drive to your stand. Then get your "hunt" on.

I mean today's society is all about everyone getting a trophy.

So you actually think legalizing baiting would make it easier to take trophy deer in Indiana?

 

[Willie]

I watched a well known hunting couple celebrities on TV doing a very late season MZ hunt on their farm. They had planted corn just for the deer. A couple days before the hunt they went in and bush hogged the first dozen rows of corn on the treestand side. Yep...the deer fogged into that area as late winter that was about all that they had. Crops was grown but I still would call that baiting..

 

[two70]

If you are the only one baiting you have quite an advantage at first..... until the deer figure it out and start using the bait only at night. When baiting is legal everyone would be competing to put the most attractive bait out. When deer have plenty of food they don't move much and when they are pressured on the food sources, they don't come to the food sources during legal shooting hours.

 

[gregr]

I use mineral licks to put cams over, not to hunt over. It helps draw and hold deer to a particular place so I get a better inventory of what's in my area. Deer quit hitting them about September anyway so I put the last out in August. If a Barney Fife CO wants to make an issue of something that's clearly not hunting over bait, I'll argue that in court and likely prevail if for no other reason than the completely vague nature of the rule.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that...

But anyway, most people want to get cam pics of the deer traveling naturally, when and where they`ll be anyway...

 

[gregr]

i think the baiting law is kind of stupid.......you can't set a tree stand over a place where you put corn but you plant corn in your food plot your can hunt over it????......

bait should be bait grown or thrown on the ground.......they are both baiting......

Nah.

 

[gregr]

I watched a well known hunting couple celebrities on TV doing a very late season MZ hunt on their farm. They had planted corn just for the deer. A couple days before the hunt they went in and bush hogged the first dozen rows of corn on the treestand side. Yep...the deer fogged into that area as late winter that was about all that they had. Crops was grown but I still would call that baiting..

Absolutely agreed.

 

[gregr]

So you actually think legalizing baiting would make it easier to take trophy deer in Indiana?

For starters, baiting isn`t generally about "trophy" deer. In general it`s about stacking deer for meat. Don`t get me started on the trophy guys, and before everyone jumps in, I do not mean the guys who simply choose to only kill mature deer. I`m talking about the clowns who demand that their standards be foisted onto every white-tail hunter in the state, as in, the OBR.

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

I've hunted in many states and countries and have seen all sorts of baiting and baiting laws. I can tell you ours is vague and insufficient regardless of your stance on baiting. I've witnessed people unable to use their own land because a neighbor "baits" just to look at the deer and watch them.

If you hunt private land, and you want to be sure you're legal (as sure as you can be - you don't know what CO will be called to investigate you), then call IDNR, have a CO come assess your situation. I've seen it done and seen private land rendered unhuntable because of neighbors. It's ridiculous and should be written better.

If the majority of hunters in Indiana don't want baiting, I'm fine with that. I think they need to hunt out of state and out of country before they really know the "benefits of baiting", but it's their right to have that opinion and if that is the prevailing opinion then so be it. However, Indiana's baiting laws are insufficient and vague. It leaves far too much in the hands of the CO and the land owner or hunter can be left vulnerable though they be against baiting and didn't even place the "bait".

I had a CO tell me kicking a persimmon - if he saw you do it - then hunt, he'd cite you. That's how vague our laws are. Private land rendered unhuntable by neighbors, and natural masking scents make you a criminal. Ridiculous.

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

If you think they're not vague, here's a test...(before you ask about the answer, I've put these before several CO's during teaching Hunter Education).

Ready?

You're hunting a persimmon grove. You've decided to hunt near enough the persimmons you'll have persimmons under your tree. You set your climbing stand and get your gear loaded. Just before climbing your tree, you bend over, pick up a hand full of persimmons and smear them on your tree. Are you legal?

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

Let's try this one. You're hunting a trail that leads to a corn field. The field is currently being harvested and so you believe your chances are better since some corn will be spilled as a natural occurrence of harvesting. You hunt and see the truck spill corn in the corner of the field and the deer are on it by evening. So, you decide to change your setup for the following day and hunt near enough the spill to catch the deer coming in. Are you legal?

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

Let's try this one...During the summer months you've decided to bait an area with corn and put a camera on it in an attempt to see what's in the area. You know the law and that the bait must be cleared up 10 days before you hunt it, so to be certain you're legal you use PVC pipe with both ends threaded making it easy to clean up the area without having to pack anything out. So 20 days before you hunt you visit the area, set your stand, remove all the corn from the ground and seal up the tube. For all intents and purposes the corn is gone and you are well within the 10-day clause of the law. Are you legal?

 

[bobjones223]

JeremiahJohnson.

Thanks for all the posts as this is my point. I feel that this leaves WAY to much room for interpretation and is my point exactly.

If my neighbor has a mineral block out and I know about it does that mean I can no longer hunt MY property because of what they are doing on theirs?

On the flip side if my neighbor puts out a mineral block and I DON'T know about it because I don't believe in TRESPASSING on someones property am I now guilty having no knowledge of it in the first place.

I understand why food plots are not baiting because if they were every corn field and adjoining property in Indiana would be off limits and the DNR would have a huge problem keeping the population under control.

If I have livestock on my property and leave a mineral block and feed in the fenced in area for them does that mean I can no longer hunt my property or is DNR going to say I need to put in a high fence for my dwarf goats?

 

[gregr]

Let's try this one. You're hunting a trail that leads to a corn field. The field is currently being harvested and so you believe your chances are better since some corn will be spilled as a natural occurrence of harvesting. You hunt and see the truck spill corn in the corner of the field and the deer are on it by evening. So, you decide to change your setup for the following day and hunt near enough the spill to catch the deer coming in. Are you legal?

Since this is a result of farming activity, and not something you`ve done to influence deer, or deer movement, uh, yeah...it`s legal. This isn`t rocket science...

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

Since this is a result of farming activity, and not something you`ve done to influence deer, or deer movement, uh, yeah...it`s legal. This isn`t rocket science...

That's what the law says. However, in the real world, it's still up to the CO. Results were about 50/50 on this one. If the CO thinks the spill looks "suspicious" - and that's totally up to him and his interpretation - he may still site you stating you put the corn there...he doesn't believe it was a spill. Then it's up to you to prove your innocence. Pray the owner steers you to the right share-cropper - to the right driver - and they remember it spilling...which they won't because they don't remember them all and certainly don't see them all. So, yes - technically legal - no, you may still get a citation.

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

Since this is a result of farming activity, and not something you`ve done to influence deer, or deer movement, uh, yeah...it`s legal. This isn`t rocket science...

Care to try the other two?

 

[ChrisK1977]

I say legalize it, tax anything everything that would be considered bait or lure 2% and that money goes straight to the DNR for land management or to keep our license inexpensive. People get to worked up about baiting.

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

I say legalize it, tax anything everything that would be considered bait or lure 2% and that money goes straight to the DNR for land management or to keep our license inexpensive. People get to worked up about baiting.

If you teach hunter-ed, or know someone who's been wrongly accused (I know plenty), then it's a big deal. The laws are vague no matter which side of the fence you're sitting on.

 

[bobjones223]

If you teach hunter-ed, or know someone who's been wrongly accused (I know plenty), then it's a big deal. The laws are vague no matter which side of the fence you're sitting on.

Yes I had a friend that hunts some ground in southern Indiana that he gets to a couple of times a year. He had a feeder out there and a cam set up from another trip down. It had been empty for months as he seldom gets down there. Pulled the cam card and climbed into his stand. Got sited for baiting even though the last time he was there was 6 months prior.

 

[JeremiahJohnson]

Yes I had a friend that hunts some ground in southern Indiana that he gets to a couple of times a year. He had a feeder out there and a cam set up from another trip down. It had been empty for months as he seldom gets down there. Pulled the cam card and climbed into his stand. Got sited for baiting even though the last time he was there was 6 months prior.

Believe it or not, not the first time I've heard this one. If the CO doesn't believe the cite was cleaned 10 days prior, he may cite you anyway and it does happen. I know no law can protect you from an officer just doing what they want, but it does happen. For this reason I won't hunt anywhere near a cite that I know has ever been baited - purposely or not - accidental or not, and still you may get bit by neighboring property and something you don't know anything about.