ok, my turn. first let's get this straight:whether you hunt over a food plot that sweated your tail off, or a pile of food, it's all still baiting, in my opinion. i have done both, and consider it no different. second, i can tell you from personal experience, over many years of being able to legally bait here in Vermont, just because there is food out, doesn't mean you will get to place your tag on a deer. in some areas, like mine where there is a much lower deer population than say, pa, this may bethe only way you get to see a deer, and then it may not be the right sex. the woods are too big, thick, and hold lower deer populations than other areas. we have baited for perhaps 15 years, and in that time have only harvested four bucks, and a few doe. if this is such a gimme way to hunt, shouldn't those numbers be much higher? deer are nocturnal animals, and as such, for us anyway, most of the time they didn't come in until after dark. you still have to be at the right place at the right time. and we would put out literally tons of food for them to eat: four p-ups of pumpkins, at least that many of apple pumice, plus we had barrels of apples filled from the truckloads that we got from the local orchards. those were put out from october through april, and letsnot forget the grain that was put out also during that time period. now, as for food plots being beneficial year round, at least up hear our deer travel to yarding areas, sometimes as far as five miles. what good is that plot doing for those deer? food plots in the north(and to most of us, PA is in the SOUTH!) should be considered an equal to baiting because it too is seasonal. they don't grow year round, the intended animals may not even be in the area to take advantage of it. so what's the difference? and also this, having hunted bear over baits, i can say the same thing : it ain't a gimme! one guy that i hunted with this year sat for four nights in a row on a hot stand, never saw a thing.