A story of frustration, and a less than awesome solution

[BenAllgood]

I'm in a similar situation being in the highly baited state of Kentucky, but with only about 50 acres. I came from the highly baited state of Louisiana and didn't really get a huge benefit from doing it there. I did setup a feeder this year near the corner of my property. I do have daylight pics of some bucks on it, but I wouldn't consider it a sure thing of taking a mature buck. I did it to take a couple of does off in an area that wasn't intrusive. I don't even know if I'll leave it. This is in a highly baited area. I know a neighbor who feeds tons of corn. I see some going down the road in front of my place with their SxS overflowing with corn. Maybe I'm being naive, but I firmly believe when I have my property setup right, a feeder will not benefit me.

 

[buckdeer1]

You honesty don't think that mature bucks tend to leave an area with lots of pressure?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I'm in a similar situation being in the highly baited state of Kentucky, but with only about 50 acres. I came from the highly baited state of Louisiana and didn't really get a huge benefit from doing it there. I did setup a feeder this year near the corner of my property. I do have daylight pics of some bucks on it, but I wouldn't consider it a sure thing of taking a mature buck. I did it to take a couple of does off in an area that wasn't intrusive. I don't even know if I'll leave it. This is in a highly baited area. I know a neighbor who feeds tons of corn. I see some going down the road in front of my place with their SxS overflowing with corn. Maybe I'm being naive, but I firmly believe when I have my property setup right, a feeder will not benefit me.

I hate to tell you…50 acres or 250 acres set up absolutely to a Craig Harper T will be completely useless against 200lbs of corn

 

[BenAllgood]

I hate to tell you…50 acres or 250 acres set up absolutely to a Craig Harper T will be completely useless against 200lbs of corn

If I hadn't seen it done, I would probably agree with you.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

If I hadn't seen it done, I would probably agree with you.

Trust me I want to believe.

 

[BenAllgood]

Trust me I want to believe.

Where I saw this done was in Louisiana. This was in a highly baited area. The owner had several pieces of property and none bigger than 100 acres. What he did was make defined borders and inside of those properties he had wide, straight lanes that you could see from the air. Picture a checker board where the lines between the spaces where roads or shooting lanes. No one went into the inside of those spaces exceptto recover deer. Anything that came into that property knew there was a definite border. He would plan the hunts before and assign people to stands to where nothing could enter or exit the property without someone seeing it. He would jump people to different properties for different hunts, rarely hunting the same property twice. It was a concerted, tactical strike. They killed some monsters like that with those sanctuaries while the landowners around him sat at their corn piles.

 

[Mortenson]

Our dnr now snipes less than a half mile from our fence. They start baiting corn before the final season in Jan then continue to bait and snipe with silencers and night vision until nearly April. They get some of the bucks but not all of them. 3 of the better survivors i had from last yr made it.

 

[SwampCat]

I have a next door neighbor cattle rancher who owns 1400 acres. It is also very good deer habitat. Of the 1400 acres, 700 of it is wooded, or five year old clearcuts, creeks, drains, etc. The only people who are allowed to hunt it are a nephew and his buddy, and I have permission to hunt 100 acres. The nephew and his buddy hunt three weeks out of the year. The rules are bow only, one buck only, and if you kill it, you mount it. It did not have a deer killed on it last year and has not had one killed on it yet this year. The property is one mile wide and over two miles long. No baiting allowed. You would think this property would be the honey hole in this area of the county. Me and the nephew compare pictures. No buck is immune from being killed on a neighboring property where there is plenty of bait. No where on this property is a deer over 1/2 mile from a property line. I promise, there is no buck that remains totally on this place. I dont know how much land you have to have to keep bucks from getting on adjacent property - but 1400 acres is not enough.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

So a tip to the warden goes nowhere?

As I said above - BIG money people with CONNECTIONS ......... so not really. They carry enough cash on them to pay a field receipt. Warden gets the fine $$$, he leaves - they continue hunting. Been a known situation for years. You & me - we'd get pinched, lose our license - and probably our firearm, and maybe have our vehicle impounded.

Certain "special" people ......... "pillars of the community" .......... get different treatment.

 

[weekender21]

Where I saw this done was in Louisiana. This was in a highly baited area. The owner had several pieces of property and bone bigger than 100 acres. What he did was make defined borders and inside of those properties he had wide, straight lanes that you could see from the air. Picture a checker board where the lines between the spaces where roads or shooting lanes. No one went into the inside of those spaces exceptto recover deer. Anything that came into that property knew there was a definite border. He would plan the hunts before and assign people to stands to where nothing could enter or exit the property without someone seeing it. He would jump people to different properties for different hunts, rarely hunting the same property twice. It was a concerted, tactical strike. They killed some monsters like that with those sanctuaries while the landowners around him sat at their corn piles.

You can definitely kill bucks in baited areas without participating. I have zero feeders on my place and have only occasionally dumped a few bags of corn out in random places just to see. Most of the neighbors properties are baited for months, some all year.

Even with 172 acres, there is no way to ensure you’re protecting age structure. Bucks know corn feeders are a likely place to find an estrus doe. Even mature deer die over bait in my neighborhood.


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[weekender21]

As I said above - BIG money people with CONNECTIONS ......... so not really. They carry enough cash on them to pay a field receipt. Warden gets the fine $$$, he leaves - they continue hunting. Been a known situation for years. You & me - we'd get pinched, lose our license - and probably our firearm, and maybe have our vehicle impounded.

Certain "special" people ......... "pillars of the community" .......... get different treatment.

We have federal law enforcement for this scenario.

But…maybe they don’t care either?

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[BenAllgood]

You can definitely kill bucks in baited areas without participating. I have zero feeders on my place and have only occasionally dumped a few bags of corn out in random places just to see. Most of the neighbors properties are baited for months, some all year.

Even with 172 acres, there is no way to ensure you’re protecting age structure. Bucks know corn feeders are a likely place to find an estrus doe. Even mature deer die over bait in my neighborhood.


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You can't protect all the bucks in the area. But you can protect some of them with enough regularity to kill mature bucks every year in a highly baited, brown is down area.

 

[Telemark]

As I said above - BIG money people with CONNECTIONS ......... so not really. They carry enough cash on them to pay a field receipt. Warden gets the fine $$$, he leaves - they continue hunting. Been a known situation for years. You & me - we'd get pinched, lose our license - and probably our firearm, and maybe have our vehicle impounded.

Certain "special" people ......... "pillars of the community" .......... get different treatment.

Unfortunately reporting people like that can get you into more trouble than the offenders.

 

[Telemark]

We have federal law enforcement for this scenario.

But…maybe they don’t care either?

I can't imagine a scenario where they would. It would probably be bad for their career, and they are human beings.

 

[Bassattackr]

Roy - That’s a tough one, I feel for you. I think I would also want to try baiting with corn, feed, etc first so they have everything on your property and no reason to leave. I wouldn’t hunt over the bait piles either.

I don’t think I could ever hunt a state where baiting is legal. We have a hard enough time to get 3 year olds to live around here in MO..

 

[roymunson]

I think the answer is to co-op with the neighbors. At least1 of the big land owners around would be open to a conversation.

I have no problem with the baiting, but what I'd like to see is letting that younger buck walk.

If you wanna kill a 4 or 5 year old (we can get them to that age if we try here) over corn, I'll gladly be the first number you call to help drag.
But the 2-3 year old bucks is like fish in a barrel

A mature deer can be killed over corn, but not nearly as easily or readily as the younger bucks, at least in my area.

 

[weekender21]

I can't imagine a scenario where they would. It would probably be bad for their career, and they are human beings.

If there is zero proof I understand this being low priority in high deer density areas (it’s high priority out west).

However, state game and fish looking the other way for high rollers is a big deal anywhere in the U.S.


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[Baker]

I would imagine almost all of the mature trophy bucks taken in Texas and Mexico are shot over corn

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I haven't read all of this. If it was me and I could feed deer (cwd area) and I was in your shoes, I would plant all of my plots into soybeans and then broadcast hundreds of pounds of shelled corn in each of the standing bean plots. It would help make it feel like you weren't baiting but you would still get the benefit of the corn. The other option I would use is planting corn and bushhog half of it 10 days prior to your gun opener. I'd mow the rest of it down the week after the gun opener.

 

[Telemark]

If there is zero proof I understand this being low priority in high deer density areas (it’s high priority out west).

However, state game and fish looking the other way for high rollers is a big deal anywhere in the U.S.


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Seems to be almost a different world hunting out West. I've watched the warden shows, and they are all from Montana or thereabouts. Based on those shows they really seem to take game laws rather seriously out there. I'm not sure what you would have to do to get in trouble in Ohio, but probably something pretty brazen.