A story of frustration, and a less than awesome solution

[b116757]

I have a mile section and do not believe for a second I can hold bucks exclusively on my property come the rut. Bucks move that’s simply the way it is except it. I simply try and make it as appealing to the resident doe population that come the rut we have very good chance of luring bucks from neighboring properties to us. Living in any state where baiting is legal I wouldn’t consider not doing it because all the neighbors almost certainly will. As you say fight fire with fire.

 

[Bill]

Is it legal to bait where you are?

If it we’re me and baiting was legal and I had the bedding, I’d bait the crap out of the place…and do food plots.

And if my neighbors were dumping a 100lbs I’d be dumping truck loads and keeping my mouth shut. And I like my neighbors

 

[TreeDaddy]

I really cant complain.......

I "steal" my neighbor's bees every spring when they swarm

I bait swarm traps and place them on property fence lines.........

bill

 

[roymunson]

Is it legal to bait where you are?

If it we’re me and baiting was legal and I had the bedding, I’d bait the crap out of the place…and do food plots.

And if my neighbors were dumping a 100lbs I’d be dumping truck loads and keeping my mouth shut. And I like my neighbors

This has been our resolution.

May or may not have drug a gravity wagon along the edge of the sanctuary in the meat of the farm. May hunt in and around that area, but realistically, we're trying to hold deer.

I think a lot of hte neighbors want to do better, they just don't know how. That'd an easy fix.

 

[b116757]

This has been our resolution.

May or may not have drug a gravity wagon along the edge of the sanctuary in the meat of the farm. May hunt in and around that area, but realistically, we're trying to hold deer.

I think a lot of hte neighbors want to do better, they just don't know how. That'd an easy fix.

I may do this that’s good

 

[Natty Bumppo]

This has been our resolution.

May or may not have drug a gravity wagon along the edge of the sanctuary in the meat of the farm. May hunt in and around that area, but realistically, we're trying to hold deer.

I think a lot of hte neighbors want to do better, they just don't know how. That'd an easy fix.

Roy, can I ask you and the others a question. I have no experience with baiting here in Mass. I think a lot of guys do bait, though it is illegal here. I routinely see guys heading out of Tractor Supply with 50 bags of "deer corn" obviously headed out to the pile. Seems like 7 out of every 10 stands I come across have a pile of corn somewhere nearby.

Anyway, I have always heard and read that feeding deer corn suddenly is dangerous to them. Story goes that their stomachs don't have the proper bacteria to process the corn and if they eat too much all of a sudden it risks becoming impacted in their stomach. Worst case scenario...there is little room for their natural foods and they slowly starve. Probably not a problem in ag country where corn is grown and they are used to it. Just wondering if there is any truth to this in big woods country where there is no ag. Are overnight November corn piles in the big woods doing harm? Do you have an opinion or knowledge about this?

When I first bought my home and land in 2001 I put out a little hanging feeder the first winter we were here. I used a wildlife grain mix I found at my local ag place. A month later I found a dead deer (think it was a yearling) on the land that had been ripped apart by coyotes. It sure looked like the stomach contents were a solid mass of impacted grain mix? Always felt guilty and a bit stupid about that one.

 

[Bill Loser]

Roy, can I ask you and the others a question. I have no experience with baiting here in Mass. I think a lot of guys do bait, though it is illegal here. I routinely see guys heading out of Tractor Supply with 50 bags of "deer corn" obviously headed out to the pile. Seems like 7 out of every 10 stands I come across have a pile of corn somewhere nearby.

Anyway, I have always heard and read that feeding deer corn suddenly is dangerous to them. Their stomachs don't have the proper bacteria to process the corn and if they eat too much all of a sudden it risks becoming impacted in their stomach. Worst case scenario...there is little room for their natural foods and they slowly starve. Probably not a problem in ag country where corn is grown and they are used to it. Just wondering if there is any truth to this in big woods country where there is no ag. Are overnight November corn piles in the big woods doing harm? Do you have an opinion or knowledge about this?

I had heard that somewhere longer ago also. I would think it would only be a problem with "big woods" deer that dont see crops most of their lives. Most deer now pretty much live on corn and beans it seems.

 

[Catscratch]

Rumen Acidosis | Northeast Wildlife<br>Disease Cooperative

www.northeastwildlife.org

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[Baker]

Corn can definitely kill a deer if even too much before adapted. Bucks have been found dead underneath feeders before. The trick is to give them smaller amounts at first and let the rumen adapt. Once adapted it doesn't bother them.

Kinda in line with this thread, give me 10 acres next to 5,000 acres and I could wreck the 5000. Put a corn feeder out a month before the season and lay it out heavy. Hunt it every day and shoot every buck that comes thru. At some point in time a reasonable percentage of the deer on the 5000 will do a walk about and check the feeder. Do this several years in a row, and the 5000 acre guys ranch will struggle to grow a decent buck...or he builds a fence then Shazam quality starts to improve . Thousands of miles of fence has been built in Texas for this very reason.Perhaps one in La. as well.

 

[b116757]

Corn can definitely kill a deer if even too much before adapted. Bucks have been found dead underneath feeders before. The trick is to give them smaller amounts at first and let the rumen adapt. Once adapted it doesn't bother them.

Kinda in line with this thread, give me 10 acres next to 5,000 acres and I could wreck the 5000. Put a corn feeder out a month before the season and lay it out heavy. Hunt it every day and shoot every buck that comes thru. At some point in time a reasonable percentage of the deer on the 5000 will do a walk about and check the feeder. Do this several years in a row, and the 5000 acre guys ranch will struggle to grow a decent buck...or he builds a fence then Shazam quality starts to improve . Thousands of miles of fence has been built in Texas for this very reason.Perhaps one in La. as well.

Lol if only we could build a fence along our southern boarder Shazam think of the possibilities.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Heck Roy, I’m glad baiting is illegal in MN but I haven’t gotten a single buck that looks 3 years old on camera since closing on my first “hunting” property in august..

Tough call.. baiting does sour the way I perceive things but I’d probably play the game and dump bait if I were you.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Rumen Acidosis | Northeast Wildlife<br>Disease Cooperative

www.northeastwildlife.org

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Great info. Thanks for the link.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Corn can definitely kill a deer if even too much before adapted. Bucks have been found dead underneath feeders before. The trick is to give them smaller amounts at first and let the rumen adapt. Once adapted it doesn't bother them.

Kinda in line with this thread, give me 10 acres next to 5,000 acres and I could wreck the 5000. Put a corn feeder out a month before the season and lay it out heavy. Hunt it every day and shoot every buck that comes thru. At some point in time a reasonable percentage of the deer on the 5000 will do a walk about and check the feeder. Do this several years in a row, and the 5000 acre guys ranch will struggle to grow a decent buck...or he builds a fence then Shazam quality starts to improve . Thousands of miles of fence has been built in Texas for this very reason.Perhaps one in La. as well.

That's amazing Baker...the power of a corn pile. Really had no idea. I've always wondered to what extent 1) guys who bait are pulling deer away from the guys who don't, and 2) guys who bait are damaging the deer population unintentionally through their activities.

Thanks for taking the time to get back.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I would think it would only be a problem with "big woods" deer that dont see crops most of their lives. Most deer now pretty much live on corn and beans it seems.

Yes, I would think the same. The deer population around here has tanked in the past 10, 15, 20 years or so. I often wonder if illegal baiting plays a role.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Big woods in the northern mountains of Pa. here. No ag around for miles. Other camps plant food plots like we do, but one neighboring camp brings in dump truck loads of corn each year. And baiting is ILLEGAL here!!! Big money folks in that camp - with connections - so it's been going on for years. But the corn gets put out for rifle season - so my own answer is to go out archery hunting when the deer are hitting our food plots and scavenging on our apples and crab apples.

I find no challenge in shooting over bait - even if it WAS legal here. That's my own thought process. I LOVE the challenge of reading the woods & sign, and taking a deer at close range with a bow. Others have different opinions on shooting over bait - and that's up to them if it's legal where you live.

Hard to expect a kid hunter to have trigger restraint. That's taking them to a candy store to "just look." Some older, experienced hunters who might be more "in tune" with holding out for older, bigger deer may be open to talking about bigger, mature buck goals ........... for your local area. Will everyone get to kill a monster each year??? NO - but the odds of seeing and taking a bigger buck increase with some trigger restraint - and not shooting every 2 & 3 year-old buck seen. Might be worth a BBQ and a few beers to get the "bigger bucks" conversation started. A few camps near ours agreed to hold off on shooting does for a few years to let the herd build back up locally after some years of "tag floods." Agreements CAN be reached once the conversations get started. ----- FWIW.

If your neighbors are "meat hunters", and bigger bucks aren't a priority for them - I'd agree with the others here who said "out-bait 'em." Put out even more corn, apples, acorns - whatever it takes, if it's legal to bait there. But the one thing I'd be doing is ........... creating a thick, ugly MESS of a piece of cover so the BIG BOYS will be coming to MY place to hang out when the shooting starts. In my area of Pa. where the pressure is heavy ------- after 49 years of hunting -------- I can say the biggest, wisest bucks will head for the thickest, ugliest, piece of crap cover they can find. People don't want to go into those tangles, so the wise old bucks head right into those spots.

Good luck with your goals there.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

For everyone who says create a sanctuary for to hold big bucks, that sounds great from a habitat-cures-all perspective…but it’s not reality. Big bucks die by the truckload over bait piles at all times of the season. They don’t avoid them like people like to believe any more than they avoid any other place with human disturbance. It’s the great dis-equalizer in hunting. You can be the best hunter and do everything right and never ever outcompete the pile.

The only solution is buy a big enough piece of property to where you can hold some deer long enough to keep them on you…or move your hunting to a place it is illegal. Even that isn’t a cure all because hunters by in large are very selective on which laws we chose to abide by, but it might slow it down.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

For everyone who says create a sanctuary for to hold big bucks, that sounds great from a habitat-cures-all perspective…but it’s not reality.

It may not be the "total cure" where you hunt, and it's not here either. But here in the mountains of Pa. - once the shooting starts - corn won't bring out the big bucks in daylight. They head for the thickest crap they can find ............. and later come out at night to head for corn or any other food sources. Cams tell the tale - 10:00 PM to 4:00AM is when the bigger bucks hit the feed. Total darkness, no one in the woods, no scent of people on the wind. If you're one of the lucky EARLY OPENING MORNING hunters to shoot a big buck over illegal corn here in the mountains - you won't see more bucks coming out in daylight - even for corn.

It may be different where you are. Ag deer are more used to people than big woods deer are.

 

[weekender21]

I’ve struggled with the decision to put out “defensive baiting” stations or not. We own 172 and all the neighbors bait on 10-30 acres which is perfectly legal in NC. There was corn in my last spring turkey and in the buck I shot last weekend.

IF we didn’t have bears I would participate. They’re the main reason I haven’t started baiting.


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[Wind Gypsy]

Big woods in the northern mountains of Pa. here. No ag around for miles. Other camps plant food plots like we do, but one neighboring camp brings in dump truck loads of corn each year. And baiting is ILLEGAL here!!! Big money folks in that camp - with connections - so it's been going on for years.

So a tip to the warden goes nowhere?

 

[Bill Loser]

Baiting is illegal in my area, but you routinely see blaze orange dudes at the feed mill loading 50lb bags of corn by the dozens in their trucks, wonder where those are going?
I personally dont care, maybe im a terrible hunter but when i did bait years ago i NEVER killed a deer on the bait. A few on trails leading to it, but i dont recall ever killing one on it.
Dnr here doesnt care about bait unless they can see it from the plane