Baiting

[runhunter]

You can't kill a mature buck over bait, is one of the biggest myths in the hunting world. From my own experience, and from friends who bait.... I've seen deer killed year in and year out, on heavily pressured state woods, from our typical NJ 110", to 190+ in the Midwest, over shelled corn and sweet potatoes. Most guys will dump bait and hope to bring the deer from the depths, and then say oh, he only comes at night. I'm a firm believer that there is somewhat of a science to it. One of the biggest keys, is baiting in a spot where a buck feels comfortable. If he's only coming at night, most times, you're in the wrong spot. Now, you will have those ghost deer, that are 100% nocturnal, and there isn't much you can do but pray. But get close to where he beds or feels safe, and he will come in daylight. Deer are slaves to their stomach's, and yes, it's a LOT of extra work. However it is absolutely effective, any time of year. Standing corn, cut corn, doesn't matter. It works... flat out works

 

[Bigcountry40]

You can't kill a mature buck over bait, is one of the biggest myths in the hunting world. From my own experience, and from friends who bait.... I've seen deer killed year in and year out, on heavily pressured state woods, from our typical NJ 110", to 190+ in the Midwest, over shelled corn and sweet potatoes. Most guys will dump bait and hope to bring the deer from the depths, and then say oh, he only comes at night. I'm a firm believer that there is somewhat of a science to it. One of the biggest keys, is baiting in a spot where a buck feels comfortable. If he's only coming at night, most times, you're in the wrong spot. Now, you will have those ghost deer, that are 100% nocturnal, and there isn't much you can do but pray. But get close to where he beds or feels safe, and he will come in daylight. Deer are slaves to their stomach's, and yes, it's a LOT of extra work. However it is absolutely effective, any time of year. Standing corn, cut corn, doesn't matter. It works... flat out works

We also had the debate over dumping v. electronic feeders and majority said they liked dumping better (please correct me if I am wrong and do not remember correctly). I agree with you by the way, I just think dumping is more effective in some areas than others. I've always been worried/curious about the amount of activity,scent I am putting in the woods when baiting. My best stands I only hunt a few times during the rut, would'nt the same apply for baiting and educating mature whitetails?. I have always tried to bait close to places with high farm machinery traffic to mask my baiting activity and scent maybe I should consider a more liberal baiting tactic.

 

[Gordo]

I'm planning on dumping 200 pounds of corn and putting up a feeder over Xmas weekend. I will set the feeder to throw once a day for 60 seconds which should make it last for 10 to 14 days (I have a small cheap Moultrie feeder).

I figure by the time I show up for ML season the deer should be aware of where it is and hopefully hitting it regularly. I don't plan on hunting directly over the bait though. I plan on sitting back about 100 yards in the direction I anticipate the deer coming from. My past experience is that deer, bucks in particular, like to hold back and hit it later in the day. Hopefully I can catch them in the staging area, but be close enough for a shot if they hit the corn.

I'd scrap the feeder idea and take that couple hundred pounds and spread it over a big area. Not sure what food is like where your hunting(ag land?). I'd guess 200 pounds spread out so they have to pick around for it, will be good for at least 10 days. Don't pile it. If anything, make it hard for them to get. Get a big ass scoop or cup and sling it. Got some thick shit that doesn't make sense to put corn in because it's nearly impossible to penetrate? Make it rain, rain man. They'll put the time in to get it.

I'm not nearly the baiter I used to be, but I still take a load back every couple weeks and do what I just described. I don't hunt over it, but put it in a spot on the property to keep the deer around.

It works. It also helps even out 'master baiter' neighbors down in these parts.

 

[NWOHhunter]

Having not much experience with it, one thing I think we can all agree on is that, does will come feed during the day time! If it is during the rut you MIGHT get the 100% nocturnal buck come buy on his cruise to scent check a known doe hang out.....just my thought. I would agree that it has to be placed in a place that makes sense and makes deer feel safe and natural.

Soooooo MAYBE you bait for does and use a natural decoy to bring the big boys in????? But I also know I got a lot to learn and maybe I am way off!

 

[Lundy]

I'm a firm believer that there is somewhat of a science to it. One of the biggest keys, is baiting in a spot where a buck feels comfortable. If he's only coming at night, most times, you're in the wrong spot.

I agree 100% except for the part that it is "somewhat of a science", it is a science. Location is the primary key to success.

 

[runhunter]

I agree 100% except for the part that it is "somewhat of a science", it is a science. Location is the primary key to success.

haha touché!

 

[Thunderflight]

I'd scrap the feeder idea and take that couple hundred pounds and spread it over a big area. Not sure what food is like where your hunting(ag land?). I'd guess 200 pounds spread out so they have to pick around for it, will be good for at least 10 days. Don't pile it. If anything, make it hard for them to get. Get a big ass scoop or cup and sling it. Got some thick shit that doesn't make sense to put corn in because it's nearly impossible to penetrate? Make it rain, rain man. They'll put the time in to get it.

I'm not nearly the baiter I used to be, but I still take a load back every couple weeks and do what I just described. I don't hunt over it, but put it in a spot on the property to keep the deer around.

It works. It also helps even out 'master baiter' neighbors down in these parts.

Hmmmmmmmm that's actually not a bad ideal. Another thing I used to do would mix sweet feed in it. The nice thing about sweet feed is that it's small and hard to see because it's dark brown.

 

[Gordo]

Hmmmmmmmm that's actually not a bad ideal. Another thing I used to do would mix sweet feed in it. The nice thing about sweet feed is that it's small and hard to see because it's dark brown.

If you take your time and really spread it, 200 lbs won't look like anything unless someone is 'inspecting' the area.

It'll all disappear as soon as it hits the ground.

 

[BCamp]

I was thinking about using a Scott's broadcast spreader to really spread corn out but am unsure if the kernels are too large. I'm going to check dad's out on Thanksgiving to see, but has anyone else already tried this?

 

[Bigslam51]

I was thinking about using a Scott's broadcast spreader to really spread corn out but am unsure if the kernels are too large. I'm going to check dad's out on Thanksgiving to see, but has anyone else already tried this?

You're overthinking this. Just dump it in a pile.

 

[Gordo]

You're overthinking this. Just dump it in a pile.

Lmfao.

Think there's a market for a 'corn bomb'?

"The Corn Bomb"
Slogan: "Make it Rain"

 

[Gordo]

I was thinking about using a Scott's broadcast spreader to really spread corn out but am unsure if the kernels are too large. I'm going to check dad's out on Thanksgiving to see, but has anyone else already tried this?

Someone's had to of done that. Instant picked corn field.

 

[bowhunter1023]

The spreader works. Just sayin...

 

[Hogmister13]

This is a copy and paste to a reply that i made to another person on baiting . Hope it helps

Bait PILE? If you really mean pile... don't pile it. Take a little bit of time and scatter the corn. Deer don't need to see a 10" deep gleaming pile of corn in order to be able to find it. Also... the only reason to put corn out before season is to get pictures. Otherwise you are hurting yourself instead of helping. I'm not saying don't do it but just know what you are doing it for. It is not going to help you kill a given mature buck during season and it will probably be detrimental.

Once season is in look to scatter it in a cut corn field if at all possible and if you can try to start it immediately after the corn is cut. If that isn't possible another food source like standing beans, clover, etc would be an ok choice. Two problems I see with corn in the woods... it's not natural and it too often has young deer laying too close making approach impossible. You can't blow fawns and spikes out every time you show up and expect to kill a big deer there. If in the woods is your only choice then you need to pick a spot you can access with least risk of bumping deer or being seen.

You are saying you want to kill big bucks on your corn. To do this you have to break it down into 2 different scenarios. 1) He's coming to eat corn (which means early season thru mid Oct and then again late season) or 2) Prerut/rut where he's primarily coming to look for does that are eating the corn.

For scenario 1 you have to think about the fact that he is in wary survival mode. Because of this he is not going to want to consistently frequent a spot that is inundated with deer activity. This is why he comes inconsistently and eventually almost exclusively at night. Think about what happens to a spot where you have been feeding corn for 2 weeks, a month... it turns into a hoglot. Sure he still shows up some but as you said there is no pattern and it's almost all in the dark. You will never kill him like this. The key is to only put the corn out right before you plan to hunt. Next (and this is the key) you have to know when he finds it and hunt him immediately. If you put corn out and set a camera and go back on day 7 and run the camera and see that a target buck found it on day 2 or 3 and has been there during daylight... you get excited. Sorry it's probably already too late at that spot. You missed your window. When they find it you have to hunt in the next day or so or your chances drop off the cliff. The day after they find it is your best chance. I've watched this unfold on big deer a hundred times by now. They find it and then show up during daylight for a couple days and then they quickly fade back into inconsistent nocturnal oblivion. If they have already done this by the time you see they have been there... it's over. You have to know the instant they find it. Cell cameras are the best and probably only way to pull this off unless you can watch the spot every afternoon from a distance. If you don't have a cell camera then you have to go in blind. I'd go on days 3-5 after first putting it out as that seems to be the sweet spot. You can't run a regular camera every day or you will screw yourself with scent. If you can't make it work in that spot... let that corn go to zero and wait a couple days and try again somewhere else. This will be way better than just pounding the same spot into powder with a long running corn pile.

For the prerut/rut scenario it's much simpler... probably not as successful but simpler. Don't try to get him to walk up into the corn so you can shoot him. Run 2 spots at least 100 yds apart and you hunt between on the travel route he will use to check them. Choose your spots so that he can travel in reasonable security cover to visually check the areas where your corn is. For this scenario it is fine (even preferable) to start this corn in early Oct and keep it going. You don't care that he is too wary to walk in during daylight to eat because that's not what you are trying to get him to do. Even if he does by some miracle... that is not his main purpose and you are still sitting there waiting between the spots.

Anyway these are my opinions and thoughts based upon experience and are built heavily on me chasing my tail for years and always being one step behind big deer. You have to be ready for your windows because they aren't open for long. If they were we'd all be killing a lot more big bucks.

Good luck.

 

[Isaacorps]

This is a copy and paste to a reply that i made to another person on baiting . Hope it helps

Bait PILE? If you really mean pile... don't pile it. Take a little bit of time and scatter the corn. Deer don't need to see a 10" deep gleaming pile of corn in order to be able to find it. Also... the only reason to put corn out before season is to get pictures. Otherwise you are hurting yourself instead of helping. I'm not saying don't do it but just know what you are doing it for. It is not going to help you kill a given mature buck during season and it will probably be detrimental.

Once season is in look to scatter it in a cut corn field if at all possible and if you can try to start it immediately after the corn is cut. If that isn't possible another food source like standing beans, clover, etc would be an ok choice. Two problems I see with corn in the woods... it's not natural and it too often has young deer laying too close making approach impossible. You can't blow fawns and spikes out every time you show up and expect to kill a big deer there. If in the woods is your only choice then you need to pick a spot you can access with least risk of bumping deer or being seen.

You are saying you want to kill big bucks on your corn. To do this you have to break it down into 2 different scenarios. 1) He's coming to eat corn (which means early season thru mid Oct and then again late season) or 2) Prerut/rut where he's primarily coming to look for does that are eating the corn.

For scenario 1 you have to think about the fact that he is in wary survival mode. Because of this he is not going to want to consistently frequent a spot that is inundated with deer activity. This is why he comes inconsistently and eventually almost exclusively at night. Think about what happens to a spot where you have been feeding corn for 2 weeks, a month... it turns into a hoglot. Sure he still shows up some but as you said there is no pattern and it's almost all in the dark. You will never kill him like this. The key is to only put the corn out right before you plan to hunt. Next (and this is the key) you have to know when he finds it and hunt him immediately. If you put corn out and set a camera and go back on day 7 and run the camera and see that a target buck found it on day 2 or 3 and has been there during daylight... you get excited. Sorry it's probably already too late at that spot. You missed your window. When they find it you have to hunt in the next day or so or your chances drop off the cliff. The day after they find it is your best chance. I've watched this unfold on big deer a hundred times by now. They find it and then show up during daylight for a couple days and then they quickly fade back into inconsistent nocturnal oblivion. If they have already done this by the time you see they have been there... it's over. You have to know the instant they find it. Cell cameras are the best and probably only way to pull this off unless you can watch the spot every afternoon from a distance. If you don't have a cell camera then you have to go in blind. I'd go on days 3-5 after first putting it out as that seems to be the sweet spot. You can't run a regular camera every day or you will screw yourself with scent. If you can't make it work in that spot... let that corn go to zero and wait a couple days and try again somewhere else. This will be way better than just pounding the same spot into powder with a long running corn pile.

For the prerut/rut scenario it's much simpler... probably not as successful but simpler. Don't try to get him to walk up into the corn so you can shoot him. Run 2 spots at least 100 yds apart and you hunt between on the travel route he will use to check them. Choose your spots so that he can travel in reasonable security cover to visually check the areas where your corn is. For this scenario it is fine (even preferable) to start this corn in early Oct and keep it going. You don't care that he is too wary to walk in during daylight to eat because that's not what you are trying to get him to do. Even if he does by some miracle... that is not his main purpose and you are still sitting there waiting between the spots.

Anyway these are my opinions and thoughts based upon experience and are built heavily on me chasing my tail for years and always being one step behind big deer. You have to be ready for your windows because they aren't open for long. If they were we'd all be killing a lot more big bucks.

Good luck.

This is probably the best advice I’ve read on this topic. Thanks for posting. I’m going to give the “days 3-5 sweet spot” approach a try this weekend. Plan on scattering some corn in an area I’ve never baited but know has decent deer. I plan on putting the corn out Friday AM and leave it alone until gun opener Monday. We shall see!

 

[Thunderflight]

This is a copy and paste to a reply that i made to another person on baiting . Hope it helps

Bait PILE? If you really mean pile... don't pile it. Take a little bit of time and scatter the corn. Deer don't need to see a 10" deep gleaming pile of corn in order to be able to find it. Also... the only reason to put corn out before season is to get pictures. Otherwise you are hurting yourself instead of helping. I'm not saying don't do it but just know what you are doing it for. It is not going to help you kill a given mature buck during season and it will probably be detrimental.

Once season is in look to scatter it in a cut corn field if at all possible and if you can try to start it immediately after the corn is cut. If that isn't possible another food source like standing beans, clover, etc would be an ok choice. Two problems I see with corn in the woods... it's not natural and it too often has young deer laying too close making approach impossible. You can't blow fawns and spikes out every time you show up and expect to kill a big deer there. If in the woods is your only choice then you need to pick a spot you can access with least risk of bumping deer or being seen.

You are saying you want to kill big bucks on your corn. To do this you have to break it down into 2 different scenarios. 1) He's coming to eat corn (which means early season thru mid Oct and then again late season) or 2) Prerut/rut where he's primarily coming to look for does that are eating the corn.

For scenario 1 you have to think about the fact that he is in wary survival mode. Because of this he is not going to want to consistently frequent a spot that is inundated with deer activity. This is why he comes inconsistently and eventually almost exclusively at night. Think about what happens to a spot where you have been feeding corn for 2 weeks, a month... it turns into a hoglot. Sure he still shows up some but as you said there is no pattern and it's almost all in the dark. You will never kill him like this. The key is to only put the corn out right before you plan to hunt. Next (and this is the key) you have to know when he finds it and hunt him immediately. If you put corn out and set a camera and go back on day 7 and run the camera and see that a target buck found it on day 2 or 3 and has been there during daylight... you get excited. Sorry it's probably already too late at that spot. You missed your window. When they find it you have to hunt in the next day or so or your chances drop off the cliff. The day after they find it is your best chance. I've watched this unfold on big deer a hundred times by now. They find it and then show up during daylight for a couple days and then they quickly fade back into inconsistent nocturnal oblivion. If they have already done this by the time you see they have been there... it's over. You have to know the instant they find it. Cell cameras are the best and probably only way to pull this off unless you can watch the spot every afternoon from a distance. If you don't have a cell camera then you have to go in blind. I'd go on days 3-5 after first putting it out as that seems to be the sweet spot. You can't run a regular camera every day or you will screw yourself with scent. If you can't make it work in that spot... let that corn go to zero and wait a couple days and try again somewhere else. This will be way better than just pounding the same spot into powder with a long running corn pile.

For the prerut/rut scenario it's much simpler... probably not as successful but simpler. Don't try to get him to walk up into the corn so you can shoot him. Run 2 spots at least 100 yds apart and you hunt between on the travel route he will use to check them. Choose your spots so that he can travel in reasonable security cover to visually check the areas where your corn is. For this scenario it is fine (even preferable) to start this corn in early Oct and keep it going. You don't care that he is too wary to walk in during daylight to eat because that's not what you are trying to get him to do. Even if he does by some miracle... that is not his main purpose and you are still sitting there waiting between the spots.

Anyway these are my opinions and thoughts based upon experience and are built heavily on me chasing my tail for years and always being one step behind big deer. You have to be ready for your windows because they aren't open for long. If they were we'd all be killing a lot more big bucks.

Good luck.

Dang that is pretty good! Thanks!

 

[Diablo54]

Hogmister... that could be one of the most nfrormative posts I have seen on here in a long time. You are absolutely correct. On the day 3 to day 5 window. Have countless pictures of this scenario over the years.

 

[Lundy]

 

[Lundy]

 

[Lundy]