Deer Baiting?

[MTCOMMER]

Hey fellas, so this is a question that comes up every year - with that is considered 'baiting' during hunting season.  Alot of companies are coming out with attractants that make the law harder to interpet.  With C'mere deer, their buck juice, it has natural extracts, but I dont know if that is considered baiting since its not the actual food source.
Also, can a liquid spray really be considered bait since it isnt food?
The 2010 handbook states "Liquid scents, sprays, salt and minerals, are not considered bait or feed" but "Any attracant that contains grain or other food sources is considered bait or feed"

So what is your take?  Anyone use buck juice, or any of that deer liquid attractant scents?  Anyone talked to a CO about the matter?

[Cody Gruchow]

the thing is, deer dont find the need to come to any of those things especially during the season. as to corn they need those nutirunts(sp) especially corn dumped in the woods, because then they feel safe. minerals they just come to it whenever they want. with the buck juice they are eatting at a rotten log or dirt, or maybe they pull the minerals out of the soil, something along those line. anyways, the companies advertise this stuff because ppl are always looking to get a advantage over everyone else.

[beeker]

there is also talk that they now make a device that sounds like a feeder going off... and the dnr has no idea how to regulate that. I'm at the point where sell a permit and let people bait... with the food plots and all the scents and attractants people are always going to look for an advantage and when it comes down to it you can only take one buck and they don't play by anyones rules but their own

[MTCOMMER]

there is also talk that they now make a device that sounds like a feeder going off... and the dnr has no idea how to regulate that. I'm at the point where sell a permit and let people bait... with the food plots and all the scents and attractants people are always going to look for an advantage and when it comes down to it you can only take one buck and they don't play by anyones rules but their own

Never thought of that before - good point.  I almost think, that if you let people bait, and they may know there is a big buck in the area, they will wait for that buck, instead of maybe settling for a smaller one.  IDK, but I am with you, I dont think it will make that big of a difference.  It does take time to make a food plot and will get a sustainable food source, instead of tricking the deer.
I thought this topic might spark some conversation, who knows 
You get out of deer hunting what you put into it, and its just like golf, it doesnt feel as rewarding when you know you cheated or took an edge.

[FireRanger]

I think it all depends on what you are looking to get out of it. Some people are meat hunters and don't care about racks...they just need to put meat on the table. Others may use the bait as a way of getting a bigger deer. Either or I've seen it done both ways in WI. Some guys I hunted with would wait for the bruiser all season long and then at the end of the season take whatever came in for the table. Other guys who spent the time and money and only had the weekend would shoot the first good table deer that came in. Either way I agree with Beeker.

[thunderpout]

I'll play devils advocate here I guess..... What ever happened to being a "sportsman"?  What happened to the idea of "fair chase"?  At what point is it just harvesting or killing....? What happened to "hunting"?  To me, if we take deer over bait piles.... you may as well be shooting a deer let out of a cage at a "game reserve".....  history tells us driving buffalo of a cliff as some native american tribes did was a method used to "harvest" the quarry as opposed to donning wolf skins to get up close on a bison to put a well placed shot with bow and arrow.... Im starting to think we should let people take deer any way they want, but then abolish the record books (P & Y/ B & C) to take that greed factor off the table... you know the types... they will go to any lengths to get what they want... at all costs.....  Is it just me, or does any one else get a sick feeling in their gut when trying to watch the "hunting" shows, usually in texas, or somewhere down south on a "game farm/reserve", father and son sitting in a box on stilts right over a moultrie feeder.... ahhhh.... there's a nice one jonny.... take yer shot when yer ready..... (shot) HE"S DOWN! unbelievable shot jonny.... hunt of a lifetime!   I think weve been brainwashed by that mentality, and Im afraid there's probably no turning back.... Just my three cents

[FireRanger]

A very valid point! I feel that the evolution of hunting itself has been changing to better the odds of the hunter year after year. We all know back in the day hunting was men with spears.....and a lot of them died doing it! As the years pass and we become more advanced as a society...so do our hunting methods. I'm sure the old cave men would be a little upset that we are even using guns...kind of unfair comparatively speaking. I do agree though....there is nothing more sad to me then watching someone shoot an animal and seeing a 12 foot high fence behind them. Might as well just go to the zoo with my 308 next year. I don't agree with the selling and purchase of live big game either.....raising deer with big racks and selling them to tv shows for higher ratings. I am all for fair chase. I guess it is all personal opinion though. Where would we draw the line I guess is the question.....baiting, scents/ attractants, calls etc... all of it sways the odds in our favor to some extent.  My 2 cents as well.

[beeker]

once people quit hunting out of need and turned it into a recreation it then became a "profit" generated business regulated by the government and all motivated by money. you can never unmix the profit once it's been dumped in. and ever since the first caveman clubbed his first deer, his neighbor has been trying to club a bigger one with a better club.

[Go Big Red!]

Here we go again.....     

[FireRanger]

Here we go again.....     

What??

[beeker]

hey red.. don't you have some bus tread to scrub off your back?

[Cody Gruchow]

hey red.. don't you have some bus tread to scrub off your back?

ouch he went there red hahaha oh no he didnt! hahaha

[Go Big Red!]

hey red.. don't you have some bus tread to scrub off your back?

Thanks Beeker!!!  

The whole baiting issue is what it is.  People are going to bait to improve their chances and are going to take the risk of getting caught.  Others are not due to a number of reasons: #1 Illegal  #2 Unethical/Not Sporting #3 Don't have time to #4 Don't feel it does improve their chances.

If we could bait here in MN, I would be dumping corn and molasses and apples by the truck load.  Where we hunt, we have some agriculture, but it doesn't seem to be a deer magnet.  I would bait to help hold deer to the property.  We have a cattail swamp that borders the entire west side of the property, a big bow hunter to the north (he seems to get a nice buck every year before gun season and rightfully so, he puts in the time), a big group to the east who shoot everything on sight, and cabins on the south.  If it helps draw a deer in, great for me.  Say what you will, but I hunt for meat. Would I prefer a buck over a doe? Sure, dead does cannot breed, but I would shoot one without batting an eye.

Wisconsin is on the other side of the coin.  I have baited in Wisconsin before and I can honestly say I have never shot a deer eating from my bait pile.  Have they been walking through and are near it, sure.  But never nose down chomping away.  Does it help? Sure, as long as other people in the area are not and that is unlikely.  All the local hunters I have met in N. Wis say the bait and have out multiple piles.  They're very clear on where they have placed bait so I don't walk in on the spot.  (We hunt public land and I respect their wishes even though I don't have to due to public land and the rights of hunters on it).  I will drop apple slices on the way to my stand or in the shooting lanes to stop a deer from cruising through, but in all honesty, I don't have time to bait as much as I would like to.  In the past few years, I end up eating the apples anyways.  I like to sit out all day long so.....

If I could bait, I would.  And say what you like, but that's my personal choice.  I still consider myself to be a sportsman and an ethical hunter, but since I would bait and I have, some of you my have a different opinion and that's okay by me.

[Sew Sille]

The thing I dont like is, I live close to a big lake,The cabin owners and some perment res. feed the deer this time of the year sooo it changes there patern.They dont have to look for food.Only time they move is in the rut Just my thoughts.

[beeker]

who loves ya red!??   

until there is a univerasal regulation/standard that all states or sportsmen follow this will always be a divider amongst hunters since some states allow it and others take your rifle over it.

[Go Big Red!]

who loves ya red!??   

until there is a univerasal regulation/standard that all states or sportsmen follow this will always be a divider amongst hunters since some states allow it and others take your rifle over it.

You better love me....  And you're right, baiting is divider between us.  I can see fellow MNO members boiling over about this and calling me this and that, saying I'm not a sportsman,  blah, blah, blah....  Don't care really but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

And the debate continues on. 

[BiggA]

I am with red on this. If I could bait I would. I could just argue that I am supplying nutrients for the deer herd. I also am a meat hunter and would be happy to use any advantage I could to put meat in the freezer. After all meat in the freezer is food on the table for the family.

[steiny]

 
I proudly say I am a baiter!
In WI I am allowed 2gals. per the size of my property.  If I could, I would pull a gravity box into the center of my food plot and leave it sit.
I think of it as supplemental feeding.  Same with the food plots I put in. 
I am fortunate enough to have an area that I can actually manage my deer herd.
Woud I shoot a giant if he was eating out of my food plot or nibble the meager 2gals of corn I put out each night I hunt?  Damn skippy.  As matter of fact I had a blast last night as I watch a 130" 8pt eat 5yds outside my Double Bull.  I just kept thinking - eat up boy, my wife/daughter is going to shoot you next year. 

To each their own - I know there are pros and cons to baiting.  I also feel each situation is different.  Each area is different.

As long as everyone is having fun in the woods, seeing lots of deer and are happy with what they harvest, how they harvest it.... Who gives a  what others think.  Just stay on the right side of the law and do what you can.

 

[Go Big Red!]

I proudly say I am a baiter!
In WI I am allowed 2gals. per the size of my property.  If I could, I would pull a gravity box into the center of my food plot and leave it sit.
I think of it as supplemental feeding.  Same with the food plots I put in. 
I am fortunate enough to have an area that I can actually manage my deer herd.
Woud I shoot a giant if he was eating out of my food plot or nibble the meager 2gals of corn I put out each night I hunt?  Damn skippy.  As matter of fact I had a blast last night as I watch a 130" 8pt eat 5yds outside my Double Bull.  I just kept thinking - eat up boy, my wife/daughter is going to shoot you next year. 

To each their own - I know there are pros and cons to baiting.  I also feel each situation is different.  Each area is different.

As long as everyone is having fun in the woods, seeing lots of deer and are happy with what they harvest, how they harvest it.... Who gives a  what others think.  Just stay on the right side of the law and do what you can.

 

Where do you hunt in Wis if I may ask?  I hunt in the Hurley/Kimball/Gile/Montreal areas off of US 2 and Hwy 77.

[Cody Gruchow]

I proudly say I am a baiter!



hope your not a master ahahhahaha

[beeker]

I'm gonna pull the feeders out this weekend. would hate to donate my rifle to the cause

[Go Big Red!]

You get 10 days and my math hasn't been that good lately.

[Cody Gruchow]

you got 4 days to pull them.....