Baiting, I know this has been discussed and discussed this is just my rant....LOL

[SwampCat]

If I grow five acres corn - which is not native - bush hog it and hunt over it - what is the difference if I spread corn someone else grew. Does me growing it make it different than if someone else grew it?

 

[Telemark]

3) Modern box blinds. Heck you can have sex with your girlfriend while drinking champagne on ice. and a deer 50 yards away would have no idea you are there.

Well now I'm going to build some box blinds.

 

[Mortenson]

I took a pic of my favorite box blind a few days ago. Only the squirrels are having sex in there.

Why can't I enclose pics anymore? A while ago they were all sideways. Now they don't even load. From my Samsung phone

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Just checking back in on this thread and glad to see everyone has convinced everyone else of their opposing point of view. Baiting? Are the glory days over? All points of view in perfect alignment . Remarkable. Got me to thinking. recognizing so many like to slice and dice what is appropriate, what is fair chase, you should do it like I do it, I'm right your wrong, I hunt the way one should, I miss the glory days when hunting was really hunting, etc etc what developments have had the biggest impact on hunting and profoundly changed the game?

My list in order:
1) Trucks or sxs Anyone here walking to their hunting territory? I can cause I live on my farm. Indians did back in the glory days of hunting . Major advantage to modern hunters that helps kill more deer than anything. Anyone willing to give that up?
2) High powered rifle with scope. Bet that kills more deer than any other development in any other circumstance. Kuddos to you archery only hunters especially the ones that eschew compounds, crossbows and other developments that profoundly change archery. Long ways from recurve bows I grew up with shooting cedar arrows about 1/4" thick.
3) Modern box blinds. Heck you can have sex with your girlfriend while drinking champagne on ice. and a deer 50 yards away would have no idea you are there. Suspect the vast majority of deer killed every year are from a modern box blind { with a high powered rifle}
4) Any elevated blind---ladder stands, climbers etc. I've whacked countless deer from climbers with my bow. On the ground one on one...not so many. Anyone climbing trees to sit in a fork anymore?
5) Food plots Most people plant food to attract a deer to shoot { from a box blind with scoped high powered rifle } My experience is ...excepting Mexico s. Tx where it doesn't rain...this is the technique many [ most? ] use to kill a deer. Wasn't that way 50 years ago { in the glory days ] but everywhere today. Game changer!
6) Baiting. Lord knows that has been debated enough here but I think it has led far less to the demise of deer than all the above.
7) trail cameras . They let you know where a deer is and possibly what time he is moving but most likely you will use some or all of the above techniques to whack one along with skill and luck
8) Game fencing Oh boy. No argument here right. My experience is where scale is right and deer have normal escape cover, appropriate habitat to lead a normal life hunting a specific deer is no different game fenced property vs low fence. I'm not interested in arguing this but have abundant decades of experience simultaneously managing both to prove my point of view. Let the arrows fly.
9) Drones. I only bring drones up because some have an issue with them. Good luck using a drone anywhere I've ever hunted to increase your ability to kill a deer. No value for that. Terrific for all kinds of research, censusing and mgt benefits but for hunting not so relevant. Regarding the research and educational values I suppose we could outlaw drones and leave the research to the " experts " to tell us what we are supposed to know . Thats worked so well lately.

I've only had 2 cups coffee and cant think of anything else that has made hunting easier or given more advantage to the hunter over the deer. Now back to the incredibly creative ways to debate baiting and if one can make it to heaven as a master baiter.

Now do battery heated socks...

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Now do battery heated socks...

and vests and gloves and the heater body suit....my dad wears his battery socks when hes in the house....haha

 

[H20fwler]

You cannot control how others legally hunt.
If they put out feed or grow it, how they manipulate cover and water…what bow or gun they hunt with.

Much more important things in life to worry about, don’t think about how the neighbors hunt just enjoy your season and family.

This^^^^^^

 

[Turkish]

This^^^^^^

He took the words right out of your mouth, huh?

 

[H20fwler]

He took the words right out of your mouth, huh?

That's funny.....

 

[Feelslikefar.]

Baiting, blinds and hunters.... all things are not equal. We're not equal. It's not that you're better than me, or I'm better that you... I'm not even better than myself anymore.

In the late 80's "we" (my dad, brother in law and myself) built "the box". Originally it was just a blind, a front wall, a back wall and a roof. No sides. Something to get out of the rain/snow. A structure roughly the size of a thing you'd store two garbage cans in. After a couple years they added sides to it. It's in sad shape now, but still sort of usable. In near 40 years I could probably count the number of times I've hunted out of it on my fingers. I don't really fit in the dang thing, but mostly because I didn't enjoy. Didn't feel very ethical/sporting, I didn't like being closed it and it wasn't particularly fun. My view was always "I'd rather being walking around and NOT seeing deer, than sitting and seeing them."

Skip ahead some decades.... last night I was thinking about an ultralight rifle I own. And that I really have no use for it anymore. My days of 10-15 mile walks are long gone. I don't think I've been farther than 600 yards from the cabin in the last 4 years. Age and various injuries, some fairly serious have started to make box blinds a whole lot more attractive to me. Not happy about that, but that's where we are.
I have more thoughts on that, but this thread might not be the place.

As for "baiting", I'd love to be able to put mineral blocks out for the animals, but can't legally. Not as "bait" to hunt over, just for general welfare-health. Can't do that because it concentrates the deer in one spot and it's not healthy for the deer. What deer? There's like seven of them. And they're already "concentrated" on the same spots, the natural water holes they drink out of, the mud hole they eat dirt out of, they tree limb they rub on. Silly.

 

[SwampCat]

Baiting, blinds and hunters.... all things are not equal. We're not equal. It's not that you're better than me, or I'm better that you... I'm not even better than myself anymore.

In the late 80's "we" (my dad, brother in law and myself) built "the box". Originally it was just a blind, a front wall, a back wall and a roof. No sides. Something to get out of the rain/snow. A structure roughly the size of a thing you'd store two garbage cans in. After a couple years they added sides to it. It's in sad shape now, but still sort of usable. In near 40 years I could probably count the number of times I've hunted out of it on my fingers. I don't really fit in the dang thing, but mostly because I didn't enjoy. Didn't feel very ethical/sporting, I didn't like being closed it and it wasn't particularly fun. My view was always "I'd rather being walking around and NOT seeing deer, than sitting and seeing them."

Skip ahead some decades.... last night I was thinking about an ultralight rifle I own. And that I really have no use for it anymore. My days of 10-15 mile walks are long gone. I don't think I've been farther than 600 yards from the cabin in the last 4 years. Age and various injuries, some fairly serious have started to make box blinds a whole lot more attractive to me. Not happy about that, but that's where we are.
I have more thoughts on that, but this thread might not be the place.

As for "baiting", I'd love to be able to put mineral blocks out for the animals, but can't legally. Not as "bait" to hunt over, just for general welfare-health. Can't do that because it concentrates the deer in one spot and it's not healthy for the deer. What deer? There's like seven of them. And they're already "concentrated" on the same spots, the natural water holes they drink out of, the mud hole they eat dirt out of, they tree limb they rub on. Silly.

My cattle ranching neighbor always laughs when we discuss some of those regs. He owns 1200 acres and keeps a mineral block out per 40 acres - that the deer use in addition to the cattle. He also has 500 gallon plastic water tanks connected by underground piping all over his place. He says he has seen 12 deer at one time using one of those tanks.

 

[Bill]

If I grow five acres corn - which is not native - bush hog it and hunt over it - what is the difference if I spread corn someone else grew. Does me growing it make it different than if someone else grew it?

I did that just this past season because EHD had deer numbers down. Crazy how well that works.

Never did shoot one though.

 

[Mortenson]

I interpret the law in IL to mean that corn can't be mowed. Another IL poster here said in the past that his local game warden cleared him to do it. IMO mowing corn isn't an ag practice under any situation.

 

[Bill]

I interpret the law in IL to mean that corn can't be mowed. Another IL poster here said in the past that his local game warden cleared him to do it. IMO mowing corn isn't an ag practice under any situation.

What if it's all wormy

Legal in MO. You just can't hunt any federally managed migratory birds. Personally I think it's nuts also but it was an eye opening experiment.