Isatarak, you made a great point here and I will stem off of it a little.

So we (hunters) use; compound bows, releases, scent eliminators, carbon clothing, sights, rangefinders, binoculars, top of the line camo, etc. to be better or to have a better oppurtunity to harvest an animal. Baiting is just another way for us (hunters) to get within shooting distance of a whitetail. It is just another method that can better our odds.

What if there were some states that allowed compounds and some states thatallowed onlytrad equipment; no sights, no stabilizer, no release,stick and stringonly. Would we be having a debate over how the people using a compoundare cheating and the ones using the trad eqipment are the only "real" hunters???? Probably so. But......we don't have that problem, so we just let it be.

My point is, most of us try to get an oppurtunity at a deer the best way we can. Just because you hunt over bait does not mean that they are a tame animal. They are still the same animal, they still have all the same senses as the deer that aren't baited. It is just an extra advantage, just like all the advances in equipment and clothing offer.

I do hunt over bait some, but I hunt funnels, draws, fields, and soft mast the majority of the time. I have a better chance of shooting a monster on a travel area than I do over bait. So, to me, baiting is really not that big of an advantage if you are wanting to take a large buck. But.....if I took a 170" over a corn pile or 170" in a travel corridor I would be just as happy with one as I would be with the other.I put my time and scouting in and believe I work hard for whatever animal I take, regardless of the method.