To hunters, do you bait your game??

[JOERM]

Here in WA. you cannot bait your deer or bear or what ever. However, back in my younger days we butchered our cows we would haul the guts to the gut pile and the bears would sooner or later show up. Not baiting by any means, just dumpen the guts at the gut pile. Why, it only made sense to hang out there and pop a bear off.

Also, there were lots of old apple orchards around my neck of the woods, bears would show up in the late fall to feast. And yes, I'd be there once in a while to bag one. Not breaking any laws to boot.

Around here, the brush is so damn thick it would be a long shot to get a 100 yard shot off. Impossible to find game, deer or bear, without bait. Still, it is not legal here. Having said all the above, I sort of think that it is not really sport hunting when I see folks sitting in their tree stand waiting for the game to walk up to a man made feeder and pop them off. Uncle Ted Nute is one one of the best at this. Not really hunting in my book. Did I really just say that???

Joe

 

[gunsmith11]

In texas that is the only way they Hunt, well it is not hunting ,,IT IS BAIT AND WAIT

 

[Spotteddog]

Stuck my thumbs in my ears and wiggled my fingers at a Tennessee hawg once?

 

[Forester]

Originally posted by Spotteddog:
Stuck my thumbs in my ears and wiggled my fingers at a Tennessee hawg once?

What was her name?

 

[Spotteddog]

"SIS"

 

[zercool]

Not legal to bait in NY.

We have been known to hunt coyotes in the same area a deer was gutted, though...

 

[JOERM]

Originally posted by Spotteddog:
"SIS"

yah, right. Honey suckle may be more appropriate. (sp)

 

[jkc]

Baiting bears has long been banned here in AZ, and more recently even feeding wildlife, except birds, and I think, squirrels in some places, has been banned. No one, to my knowledge, has as yet been charged with impersonating bait, as by predator calling... I guess federal regs apply to migratory waterfowl and hunting them over planted fields and such, but I'm unfamiliar with those regs. Huge, magnificent flocks of sandhill cranes can be found in harvested farm fields near Wilcox Playa, but what constitutes "baiting" I don't know...

As for the ethics of the practice, my take is that traditional "dump station" bear baiting, and similar placement of artificial food sources, be it a pile of sugar beets or carrots on the north forty in Michigan, or an automated, timer controlled corn spreader in Texas, just cheapens and diminishes the "true" hunting experience. Assassinating a bait-habituated animal from a tree stand doesn't strike me as being either ethical or authentic, in which case, what's the point?

We hunters need to be careful about internal divisiveness --- but, we also need to put our most ethical/honorable foot forward, and condemn unethical and distasteful hunting practices. It's us against them, and there're way more of them...

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Last buck I got came in for a Ham & Cheese on Rye.LOL.

 

[CJofWolfcreek]

Don't know if its concidered baiting, but I've been known to toss an apple or two near my blind. not enough to lure them in but perhaps enough to get them to pause for a clean kill shot with my bow. Have yet to have success with this, so far all of my bow kills have been on the move and within 10 yards of me.

Here in North Dakota, a debate is going on about baiting, it's currently legal on private land and prohibited on state and federal managed land.

LOL @ dick's ham and cheese.

My first bow kill came in while I was sitting in tall grass in a tree row eating some lunch meat, drinking a coke and smoking a menthol cigarette. The first doe busted me while I was eating and i figured I was done with the way she was snorting her warning. I finished the lunch meat and lit up and another doe came up through the tree row. My cig quickly went into my coke can (half finished

) and she came into my kill zone.

 

[NFrameFred]

One of those "gray" areas depending on how it's done the way I see it. Tossing out apples near obvious deer trails is "baiting" but setting your tree stand on a trail leading to an apple orchard is not. Tossing out a handful of corn next to a deer trail is "baiting" but setting up in a stand of oaks dropping acorns like crazy is not. What makes one "right" and "ethical" and not the other ?

The biggest problem I have is seeing the internal divisions among people who should support each other rather than the purists having a holier-than-thou attitude, much like the over-under shotgunners who only "kill" clay pigeons looking down at those who shoot evil black rifles or hunt with handguns. Many times "ethical" is in the eye of the beholder and depends on what part of the country he's standing in. Hunting with dogs. Hunting with open sights verses optics. Hunting with a recurve/longbow - a compound - a crossbow. Hunting in an area where the game population is nurtured and managed and induced to stay for the purpose of "harvesting" by paying clients verses taking your life in your hands hunting in a small public area with little game and an orange vest behind every other tree. Hunting with a flintlock - a cap lock - with a modern inline . . . foolish disputations and divisions.

The people who think it's ALL unethical and would ban hunting, gun ownership, and shooting altogether just love these kinds of "ethical" arguments among their foes. Less work for them to do . . . .

 

[walnutred]

No body seems to care about baiting fish, whats the difference?

 

[Leonard]

The truth is there is no difference as long as it is legal and you enjoy it. I do both extremes my favorite hunting is dangerous game on foot and getting up close but I also hunt deer from stands in South Carolina, and love shooting prairie dogs.

As was pointed out by another poster we are our own worst enemies we should defend each other and stand as a united front against the anti gun and anti hunting types.

Len

 

[Senior Citizen]

I don't bait them. I feed them year 'round. I plant clover, rye, oats, corn, peanuts, watermelons, peas and other things for them to feed on. I put out shelled corn year round in over 20 spots. In a single year I will pour out over 6 tons of shelled corn and spend over $1000 on seed and fertilizer.

Last year I shot one time and killed the 9 point I showed here. But on several occasions, I was looking at as many as 17 deer in one rye field. All the does had twins and all were as fat as parlor hogs.

SC

The debate is the definiton of bait or feed.

 

[Leonard]

Good point a lot of the so called baiting help grow the game population by giving them good nutrients and quality feed.

Our hunt club in South Carolina has feeders in non shooting areas and drops corn not only in shooting lanes but on the road not in sight of a stand. While not part of the plan the hogs benefit as well.

 

[Forester]

In NH it is illegal to bait deer during the season. It is legal (but strongly discouraged)to feed deer during the rest of the season. It is legal to bait bear with written landowner permission but it is not widely accepted. Not being a hunter, I really have little hands on experience with baiting but am inclined to think that our current state system is a pretty decent balance.

 

[gregintenn]

I mainly hunt deer, and I don't bait them. I don't have a problem with others doing it, it just isn't my thing. However, If I ever got the opportunity to hunt bear, leopards, etc., I would probably use bait.

 

[Andy Griffith]

I have faux-baited our hated resident geese before- during season of course.

Styrofoam packing peanuts makes great imitation bread, while I kill these hated things and then get them ready for the oven. A short 20ga double wrapped in leather for camouflage makes quick work of the noisy creatures- aim for the head, otherwise the meat is ruined at less than 20 yards. I'm not taking them for sport, but for meat and perhaps just a tad of retaliation.

Did I mention I hate geese?!?!
If I could ever find the gentleman that had the bright idea of "introducing" them to the area...he'd get a piece of my mind!

The only place fit for a goose is the oven, period.

 

[WHO CARES]

Most baiting is not allowed here in minnesota but if you go into the big sports marts in the fall you can buy some imitaion corn on the cob and then throw these around your duck blind in an attempt to attract the corn loving waterfowl.
Since it is not food it is not baiting....I guess! What won't they try next?

 

[VonFatman]

No baiting in Missouri either. I only use bait/corn off-season to draw in the bucks to take their picture.

The use of mineral/salt blocks is approved.

Bob