Baiting

[chato]

Any thoughts out there on baiting deer and whether it should be legal and what is considered baiting?

 

[chato]

Also, I read on the DNR sight that public/govt land cannot be baited, but can you bait for your deer cam prior to season as long as it was removed 10 days prior?

 

[ilikeguns]

Bait on cameras is fine before season. The bait AND affected soil must be removed at least ten days prior to hunting...... IMO baiting for hunting is laziness. In the Midwest if you can't get on a deer without bait you should hang up your camos. There are areas in this county and Canada that I could see baiting but not here.

 

[snapping turtle]

We have two old persimmon trees at the farm. Always gone fruit wise when I hunt but we have a camera on them. And when the time is right the deer can't resist the fruit. A few apple trees also but the persimmons get the cam. Planting food is much different than baiting.

Where I see baiting helping or feeding helping is getting nutrients to grow antlers for QDM in areas. I am sure some of the commercial baits would increase antler size if the deer would take the bait as a major food source. We here in flat land Indiana have corn and beans with winter wheat that gives off plenty of feed. I will admit that the new combines leave very little corn ears or bean pods in the harvested fields that the older machines tended to. We have contacted the farmers about leaving two rows up at a certain area next to a core bedding section of the farm. I couple of rolls of summer sausage seemed to get that accomplished.

I have seen a couple of spills of corn/beans in the transfer of grain in a field that could have been mistaken as bait.

About as far as baiting I go is leaving an apple core or two around after stand lunch. Now I have seen others use corn/sorghum/salt and dig down and bury it inside the tree line where deer scent the area before dark. I believe this is the effected soil they talk about.

I wondered why the guy who showed me the mix got plenty of deer each year. Private land owner none of my business and far from my hunting area so I just shut up. If he gets in trouble that is all on him not me. I like the hunt more than the harvest.

 

[MRP2003]

I see no issue with putting out food in front of your cameras and a salt lick to help promote good antler growth. I have done this in the past and it seems that when I remove it within 14 days of opening day, the deer stop the pattern within 10 days. Funny how it happens. I am basing this on my trail cameras.

This year I have done nothing due to family time and the fact that this season, there should be more than enough as we never had a drought. I am hoping that the deer are healthier this year.

I don't believe in baiting for hunting but I started hunting in PA where it is illegal for deer and bear. I watch the hunting shows where they bait for bears and it seems a little unfair but this is just my opinion. Those who bait legally, I make no judgement and I am sure there are many valid reasons.

I wonder if there is corn in my sh*t and it drop it nearby, is that baiting

 

[Onebad06vtx]

I dont think they should allow food plots or trail cameras.
They offer a unfair advantage for the hunter.

 

[amboy49]

I dont think they should allow food plots or trail cameras.
They offer a unfair advantage for the hunter.

Perhaps we should high fence off all crop fields to prevent deer from entering at any time throughout the year. Or let's restrict all deer hunting weaponary to wooden spear with hand made clovis points. That should even the odds a little for the deer vs hunter.

Let's add in another topic. Mechanical cross bows during archery season. I know several people who aren't handicapped but have started using cross bows during archery season. In my opinion they are simply too lazy to become proficient with a recurve or even a compound bow. Instead, they know a cross bow will allow them to use a scope, increase the effective yardage, and also allow them to "hold" indefinitely while waiting for the right shot presentation.

I say we don't allow cross bows during archery season unless the use can specifically demonstrate an actual handicap of arms, shoulders, etc.

Flame on.

 

[phylodog]

I hunted over bait (a feeder) in Texas one year and I've got mixed feelings on the matter. For me, at the time, it was a good thing. It brought the deer in to a known distance and they were pretty calm and comfortable there allowing me plenty of time to make a clean, ethical kill on a doe (first and only deer I've killed). At this point in my life/hunting career I don't care to hunt over bait. We do use it to get deer in front of the cameras so we can take an inventory of what is on the farm and decide which deer we want to go after. We stop putting anything out mid September and this year we won't be hunting much before the last week of October so it's been long gone by the time we hit the stands.

I guess it's more of a "to each, his own" topic for me. Lots of different reasons why people hunt so it makes sense that there would be lots of different ways people hunt. I'll sit in the woods for three weeks and not kill anything and that's just fine with me. Some guys only have a few days to get meat to feed their families. As long as no one is taking more than their share of the resources I don't guess I've got any room to complain about how they obtain them. I don't consider it an ethical issue unless someone is lying about their tactics.

 

[chato]

Good discussions. I put bait out so I can pick them up on camera and see what's out there. I think each school of thought is different depending on what each individual feels is fair and also depends on how much the hunter wants to feel that they are out smarting the game with little to no aids. Some don't care and value the kill over the means to achieve it, while others (as mentioned above) get great enjoyment out of the hunt itself. I did put some corn out on public land and will make sure it is all gone by 10days before opening day.

 

[ModernGunner]

Not sure if you can 'bait' in Indiana, but once you 'switch', it's a

 

[yote hunter]

Baiting , Hmmm Isn't hunting a corn field , bean field, alfa field baitng ??? Or are we talking a pile of corn/apples in a woods ??? They already allow food plots, so if you plant a food plot your already baiting , right ?? Theres a fine line ... Best thing you could do if you have your own land is plant alfa and plant bunches of pear trees and persimmion trees around in the alfa they are all deer magnets....

 

[ilikeguns]

Baiting , Hmmm Isn't hunting a corn field , bean field, alfa field baitng ??? Or are we talking a pile of corn/apples in a woods ??? They already allow food plots, so if you plant a food plot your already baiting , right ?? Theres a fine line ... Best thing you could do if you have your own land is plant alfa and plant bunches of pear trees and persimmion trees around in the alfa they are all deer magnets....

I see this argument all the time wherever this discussion pops up. Let me start by asking a question. Why do you think all these people, myself included, use some form of bait in front of their trail cameras? If the bean field and the food plot and the fruit trees do the exact same thing why go to the trouble of baiting? Because bait puts the deer not just in the area but in an EXACT spot. Indiana has over 15,000,000 acres of cropland and hundreds of thousands of fruit trees. To compare a bait pile or a feeder to a wide open field or some fruit trees is, with all due respect, ridiculously flawed logic to say the least. Have you ever used a timed feeder? After it is established in an area deer come to it like fat guys to the dinner bell. You can literally set your watch to the deer movement to that feeder. A bait pile will not do that, but it will put the deer at an exact spot. You can sit on a field and not see a deer in the same spot twice. Using naturally occurring food sources to try and pattern deer is hunting, not baiting. There are states and regions and situations where I am not against baiting. But IMO if you can't get close to deer in this state without baiting, you need to do some more learning.

you

 

[cce1302]

Give the animals a chance.

The truly sporting hunter hunts with no more equipment than he was born with.

 

[MRP2003]

Are you suggesting that we cant use rifles, bows, or even a knife since we were not born with any of those??

 

[yote hunter]

I see this argument all the time wherever this discussion pops up. Let me start by asking a question. Why do you think all these people, myself included, use some form of bait in front of their trail cameras? If the bean field and the food plot and the fruit trees do the exact same thing why go to the trouble of baiting? Because bait puts the deer not just in the area but in an EXACT spot. Indiana has over 15,000,000 acres of cropland and hundreds of thousands of fruit trees. To compare a bait pile or a feeder to a wide open field or some fruit trees is, with all due respect, ridiculously flawed logic to say the least. Have you ever used a timed feeder? After it is established in an area deer come to it like fat guys to the dinner bell. You can literally set your watch to the deer movement to that feeder. A bait pile will not do that, but it will put the deer at an exact spot. You can sit on a field and not see a deer in the same spot twice. Using naturally occurring food sources to try and pattern deer is hunting, not baiting. There are states and regions and situations where I am not against baiting. But IMO if you can't get close to deer in this state without baiting, you need to do some more learning.

you

You hit the nail on the head, thats my whole point too.... +1

 

[ghuns]

Give the animals a chance.

The truly sporting hunter hunts with no more equipment than he was born with.

I have tried using my powers of persuasion to get them to jump into my freezer and was unsuccessful. I'm sticking with my .458 SOCOM.

Of course I have never claimed to be "sporting" either.

 

[ChrisK1977]

Of course if they state allowed it and put a special tax on it they could generate a lot of money on it. Not saying it will happen. I don't care either way. We already get to bait or if it makes you feel better "lure" deer and we do have lots of corn and bean fields around Indiana. But they are just lured there not baited.

 

[ChrisK1977]

no no it's ok they can use a lure also to catch a fish they don't have to use a worm

 

[chato]

I hear you on the fishing point. I was thinking about that yesterday. Fishing is all about bait. Real or artificial; can't argue there.

 

[Willie]

A bait bucket is a poor man's food plot......


The baiting rule is the worst rule going for understanding what is legal and what isn't. The DNR either needs to legalize baiting/mineral sites for hunting or say none and no time ever..