Baiting means $500 less in pocket this season if you count corn, sugar beets, minerals and food plot seed. Why? I don't know. I haven't killed a deer by spending that $500. I do care for the herds in my area and I hope my $$ helps them a bit.
Baiting, what's it mean to you?
- Thread starter giles
- Start date
Joel
Senior Member
I think planting a food plot to hunt over and dumping a bag of corn on the ground are pretty close to the same thing. Both involve putting food in a specific spot so that deer will come there and hopefully you can shoot one when they do. That doesn't mean the deer will do that but it may help.
I've dumped probably 300 pounds of corn behind my house this year and haven't seen a single deer from that spot during daylight. So it's not a sure thing. Worked great last year and isn't working in the same spot this year.
As far as acorn flats or close to crops yes it's a similar strategy. The only difference I can see is in one situation you put food where the stand is and in the other you put a stand where the food is. To each their own. I killed one deer from a stand with no bait and killed the other from a blind over a corn pile this year. If I had to pick, I got more enjoyment shooting one over the corn because my plan worked. The one I shot from the stand just happened to be wandering by when I was in my stand.
I've always thought this was kind of a silly debate. If "baiting " becomes illegal I'll just hunt at the edge of a corn field and maybe have to wait a little longer but maybe not. Sure as hell hasn't helped behind my house. If I would have dumped no corn there this year I probably still could have seen zero deer.
I've dumped probably 300 pounds of corn behind my house this year and haven't seen a single deer from that spot during daylight. So it's not a sure thing. Worked great last year and isn't working in the same spot this year.
As far as acorn flats or close to crops yes it's a similar strategy. The only difference I can see is in one situation you put food where the stand is and in the other you put a stand where the food is. To each their own. I killed one deer from a stand with no bait and killed the other from a blind over a corn pile this year. If I had to pick, I got more enjoyment shooting one over the corn because my plan worked. The one I shot from the stand just happened to be wandering by when I was in my stand.
I've always thought this was kind of a silly debate. If "baiting " becomes illegal I'll just hunt at the edge of a corn field and maybe have to wait a little longer but maybe not. Sure as hell hasn't helped behind my house. If I would have dumped no corn there this year I probably still could have seen zero deer.
twireman
Senior Member
Here is what baiting and a wireless cam will do for you lol. Dad fed corn at 230 today. Now ass in stand time is all I'm lacking... Damn full time job and kids... Ah well still havin fun!!
To me baiting is throwing out a pile of food for the deer to eat. I have bought 3-4 bags of corn in my life. All in efforts to put my son on his first deer. It didn't work. Apparently, they liked the corn Brock was feeding them better. So we had to go kill one of the deer he fattened up for my son. Moving forward will I bait? Probably not unless my son requests it. Will I throw apples in a pile on my property? Yes. Only because they were not worthy of cooking and I had to put them somewhere. I do enjoy seeing local deer at their healthiest. This is the same reason i will plant a little food plot here and there. I don't hunt over them. I just enjoy the feeling that I am giving back to the local herd.
I am not a fan of hunting over a pile of bait. I have done it before, but very little. I don't care if someone else does. I have been known to tease them and call them "master baiters" though. Really doesn't bother me if they choose to hunt over it or not. Maybe I will hunt over it someday as well. Maybe I will use a crossbow someday. Maybe I will shoot expandable broad heads someday. I don't care what others do if it is legal.
I am not a fan of hunting over a pile of bait. I have done it before, but very little. I don't care if someone else does. I have been known to tease them and call them "master baiters" though. Really doesn't bother me if they choose to hunt over it or not. Maybe I will hunt over it someday as well. Maybe I will use a crossbow someday. Maybe I will shoot expandable broad heads someday. I don't care what others do if it is legal.
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We can debate what it means to us all day. The reality is we have to look at it from the animals perspective. The key element is the animal is enticed. Food plots, cornfields, soybeans, Oak flats, even a hot doe is enticing and caused the deer to be there. The method is largely irrelevant as long as the outcome is the same. This state can decide where they want to draw the line on baiting, but that doesn't mean everything below the line is not considered bait to the animal.
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No because fish can't be anywhere but in water. But it's very similar to fishing with a naturally occurring worm you dug up in your yard, or fishing with a worm you grew in a worm bed in your garage. One is a cornfield the other is a corn pile. To the fish it's the same thing.
I should not tell you guys this because I feel like I'm betraying a family secret. But I will use it to illustrate a point. My grandfather was probably the best damn bluegill fisherman I've known in my life. He kept this secret to himself except from very few people. He would go out on the backside of the lake or anywhere you would typically find bluegill and take a dead raccoon or possum or any other type of roadkill and tie it up in the bushes that overhung the lake. Flies would lay eggs on them and produce a ton of maggots which when the wind blew would randomly fall into the water. He would go out there and slay bluegill as soon as his bobber splashed. Yep. He was fishing over bait. Or under bait. Whatever. He was baiting bluegill with basically a maggot food plot. The bluegill didn't know the difference between a planted maggot or a natural maggot. It just knew free maggots.
I am indifferent about hunting over concentrated bait but its not my cup of tea. My concern with baiting/feeding is that I think we are actually doing more harm than good to the deer in terms of disease transmission and an unnatural diet. I can't imagine the last time a healthy deer in the State of Ohio would have starved to death. They are fully capable of taking care of themselves in all conditions.
http://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/feeding-corn-to-deer-could-be-death-sentence/14324.html
http://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/feeding-corn-to-deer-could-be-death-sentence/14324.html
An interesting subject than no one will ever agree on. Do it if you want, don't do if you don't want to, I won't knock any who does or doesn't bait. I will continue to increase the areas I plant as food plots as I feel the deer and other wildlife benefit more than I ever will. Cost me over $600 in 2015 and didn't even shoot a deer in my food plot but I have a larger budget set for 2016 and beyond.
I like reading the different point of views on this subject. I could care less what people do as long as it's legal.
Sorry broseph but that wasn't no family secret lol. I've heard of that trick from several old timers over the years. It's a damn good one.
I don't really care one way or the other about baiting because it's legal. Nothing I can do about it. I don't agree that it's the same as hunting over an oak flat or a picked corn field though... It's not even in the same ballpark of you ask me. Yea by definition you could say both scenarios are "baiting" but they're not one in the same. That's like saying hunting ducks over a picked corn field is the same as hunting ducks in flooded corn, or more closely related, hunting them in a wetland where you've been pouring shelled corn. Ha! Yea, OK. Tell the ducks it's the same thing. That is nothing short of laughable.
Like I said it's legal so I really don't give two shits. What I really struggle to wrap my head around is how hunters can spend so much money on frickin corn. Guys spend more on corn per month than they do on some of their utility bills. Seems foolish to me. I understand we spend money on a lot of different things we dont necessarily need. Hell, I'm as guilty as anyone in that department. But dropping hundreds of dollars on shelled corn??? Ay ay ay...
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Lol. Probably so. But hearing it from several old timers is far less than 18,000 unique visitors a month. Lol.
This is where I am as well. Don't care what others do, but I don't see it anywhere close the same as hunting an oak flat. I have roughly 4acres of woods. Lots of oak trees that have put out a good crop every year but this year. Do they feed thru? Yep. They also feed thru my neighboring properties with similar trees. There is another 10-15acres of woods with a decent amount of oak trees. That is nothing like concentrating them on a pile 20yds from my stand. Don't care if you do it, but I disagree with the comparison.
I also scratch my head at the dollars spent on corn. Mind blowing to me as I am a cheapskate. Ironic when I look at how much I spend on boots, binoculars, gear, bows, arrows, guns, ammo. . . . Not a problem spending money on items to keep me warm or practice. Too cheap to spend the money on corn. Maybe I should spend a couple hundred bucks on corn in the early season and save money on cold weather gear? lmao
I don't see the logic here in the context of this topic. hunting deer in or near a naturally occurring food source is not baiting them. putting 500 lbs of corn in a pile every week for 6 month is totally baiting. hunting down wind of a primary scrape near a well used deer trail is not baiting. putting a mock scrape where you want it to be is baiting.
utilizing natural food sources, terrain features, known travel patterns, etc. to your advantage is called "savvy deer hunting". baiting is purposefully, artificially attracting them to a specific place with whatever.
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Umm... Phil, that was apples, not corn. And as you may recall, I told you those deer were coming through there every morning when there were no apples there. Those apples were there to stop a deer where your son would have a good opportunity for a standing shot...
Baiting deer is not in the same ballpark as hunting deer, IMO. From my limited experience, both are fun however. I cannot imagine being a person just starting out in the hunting world having never experienced what hunting really is... If from day one a person hovers over the top of a pile of bait, they have missed out on the true experience. The learning curve would not be there, and that is where the enjoyment of hunting really comes from. Killing is a lot easier over bait, but killing and hunting do not go hand in hand all the time.
Fullbore
Senior Member
I'll put out apples,trophy rock and salt blocks with a camera over it for inventory. If they make it illegal it's no biggie to me as I get nice pics at creek crossings and travel corridors as well. It just nice having something there to get the to stop and give me more video or pics.
IMO, hunting oak flats and AG fields are not the same as hunting over a pile of bait. As long as it's legal though I have no problem if others do it if that's what they want to do. If it starts causing diseases to be passed around though the ODNR needs to prolly step in and examine this practice more closely and start banning it.
We have to draw a line on the "definition" of baiting though because Hunting the rut(hot does),mocking scrapes and rattling in bucks can't be considered as baiting IMO! That's just hunting tactics and trying to outsmart our prey.
IMO, hunting oak flats and AG fields are not the same as hunting over a pile of bait. As long as it's legal though I have no problem if others do it if that's what they want to do. If it starts causing diseases to be passed around though the ODNR needs to prolly step in and examine this practice more closely and start banning it.
We have to draw a line on the "definition" of baiting though because Hunting the rut(hot does),mocking scrapes and rattling in bucks can't be considered as baiting IMO! That's just hunting tactics and trying to outsmart our prey.
True. That stand was placed there because of the cow path the deer had worn into the ground. The apples were there to stop them. After you wrote this, it came back to me. Sorry about that. At the end of my days, the time spent with Garrett and watching him tag his first deer is what will be remembered. You and Mason and your hospitality will be remembered. That was a very special weekend to me and I owe you many thanks Brock. Truly appreciate it.