As for myself, hunting isnt 100% about shooting a deer, but it sure is nice to at least see something, and baiting helps. Not everybody has access to giant tracts of farmland or natural persimmon or oak trees that keep the deer patterned goin from their beds to the trees every day and pretty much nowhere else. I hunt woods of maple and swamps of cedar, and the property is 2 hrs away, not in my backyard or in my neighbor's farmyard, so i cant spend 20 hours a week scouting and finding sign that im sure is there because ive seen it hardcore paths to my stands. We hunt permanent stands and go to deer camp for the comradery, id honestly say if for some reason none of the guys who come to our deer camp were able to hunt, we would still go up early the day before season starts, and stay til thanksgiving just to shoot the breeze and talk smart and play cards. But the fact is we get up early and hit the stands in hopes of just seeing something. Our buck pots (biggest and first) went unclaimed last year because nobody even saw a buck. think of that, 9 guys hunting 7 out of 9 days of the season over about 400 acres, and not a single guy even saw a buck, thats with baiting. so those of you who say its like shooting fish in a barrel, i hope u mean shooting w/ a pellet gun into a barrel the size of an olympic swimming pool at minnow sized fish, cuz it is by no means an easy task. and i probably shouldnt bring this up, but i will, cuz everybody else got to speak their minds. what do all you hardcore anti-baitersthink about baiting bears? you've got to be entirely against that if you're going to bash fellow HUNTERS about baiting deer. i hate to fan this flame but its sad that i feel like i have to defend my way of hunting.