ORIGINAL: Hoyt_Viper
I found alot of this interesting, especially the transmitting of disease. I am planting food plots for the first time this year on a piece of land that I lease. My plots are less than 1/2 acre and hold clover, turnips, and corn. Less than 1/2 mile are farms with soybeen, corn, alfalfa, etc. that cover hundreds of acres.The persimmon trees in my yard attract more deer than throwing corn,should I cut them down?Hunting with baitis illegal in VA where I hunt within a certain distance from bait. I will not be setting up stands on the plots themselves but ambushing corridors where the deer travel.
Is my 1/2 acre plots contributing to the spread when Im that close to agriculture? I never thought it would, but I guess having a pile of corn in a feeder where many eat from would. I have never hunted managed property before, until this year. I cant stand to watch a TV show where they are picking these deer off while feeding. I would rather stop one in its track with a grunt, but thats just MHO.
Interesting debate!
Hoyt...We have 3 farms, 850 acres and it's not unusual to see 50 deer feeding on soybeans, wheat, peanuts or corn, all in the same field and often several in the area the size of a living room...Plant your food plots and don't worry about it...It's amazing the "experts" that sound off on hear and don't even realize that you just can't sit in one state looking at your conditions and make a blanket statement for every hunter in the US...
The deer were here before we got here and will be here when we are gone...
For the record....If you do want to "bait", don't pile it up, use a seeder....
It takes them a little longer to brouse through the area that way...
I'll give you guys a good reason for baiting...Since I farm, I can kill deer any time I have a crop in the field that is being damaged, I can even use a light if I so choose...
So, here comes hunting season and I'm getting the crops out of the field....I've got hunters coming in, wanting to see deer....Isn't it better to "seed" a little corn back into that cut corn field and harvest and use the resource we have (that have been getting nice and fat off MY crop all summer), then to go out there in the middle of August and kill them and leave them laying to rot....
We have so many deer in NC that this year we had an unlimited doe season, all season long, tags were free...