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

[Howboutthemdawgs]

How about dropping red maples in the late season?

I've struggled with this one. I could easily kill a buck every year in December if I sat over my recently fellled maples. It's not how I want to kill a deer. But I know I could. I've often wondered where this practice would fall.

Doesn't seem much different to throwing a bag of corn out in the woods to me. The intent is the same.

Yeah idk. I guess if you did something in season with the sole intent to attract deer to you, I suppose you could make the argument.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Yeah idk. I guess if you did something in season with the sole intent to attract deer to you, I suppose you could make the argument.

At least there’s the effort part there of having to run the saw and probably using what’s left after the deer feast for firewood….

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Yeah idk. I guess if you did something in season with the sole intent to attract deer to you, I suppose you could make the argument.

At least there’s the effort part there of having to run the saw and probably using what’s left after the deer feast for firewood….

Yeah agree to both. Trying to wrap my head around baiting just as a purely philosophical argument.

In Massachusetts....
1) I can bait coyotes, but not deer. So it's not "the act" of baiting that presents a moral, ethical, legal challenge..its the target species.
2) I can use a fake water hole (I don't need to...but I could) to sit over to attract deer...but not a salt block.
3) I can use a turkey decoy to lure or "bait" turkeys...but not a deer decoy? Makes no sense.
4) I can plant and grow apples, but I can't throw bags of them out.
5) I can plant and grow corn to attract deer, but I can't throw corn out..to attract deer.

Not sure if "effort' should be the line in the sand as to what's considered baiting and what's not. I get the argument. I go through a lot of time and energy to make and maintain my food plots. A lot of time and energy to plant and grow apples. So...not baiting. Whereas a guy who dumps a 50 lb. bag of corn out spends 10 minutes and $17. Baiting. Seems like the "cheap" way out. But in the end, we are both doing the same thing...manipulating deer movements to make an ambush easier.

 

[Feelslikefar.]

1) I can bait coyotes, but not deer.

I never thought about that. I can bait a trap for a coyote. But if I sit off a ways and watch the trap, and shoot it before it gets caught in the trap, I'd be breaking the law. Shooting it after it's in the trap, totally legal.

 

[Baker]

I plant a lot of food plots mostly to feed deer thru late fall and winter. Small grains, clover, radishes, turnips chicory; a blend to provide high nutrition for as many months as possible. They range in size from 3 acres to about 10 acres and we definitely hunt them. In some of the bigger fields I place a spin feeder with corn close enough to a blind to help assure a good shot especially for some of the kids and elderly that hunt with me. These are prime spots to help manage population and doe harvest.

I think I can safely say that a deer never enters the field just to come to the corn. They come grazing what's planted and some will ultimately make their way by the feeder. Some never make their way to the feeder. Everyone of them come to the field for what's planted. Attraction is attraction at least on my farm. Consider that for whatever it's worth.