ORIGINAL: vabyrd
ORIGINAL: borealboy
So I guess spot lighting should be o.k. too? Whynot just cage them up? Hell, put them on a farm and herd them like cattle, sell them at the grocery store. Let Wal-Mart cut them up for you too. Maybe it could be like the lobster tank, just pick out the one you want, they wrap it up for you and for an additional $29.99, they will mount the antlers for you. If you suck so bad at deer hunting that you have to use bait, find something else to do or go hunt black angus. My guess isyou might get close enough with their headin abucket.
OK I get it now. Ban a pile of corn and hunt deer the "old fashion way" from a 20 ft treestand with an odor absorbing suit, carbon arrows and a 300fps compound bow that can hammer nails at 30 yds. Any of us who think we have the market cornered on ethics is deluding ourselves. In most states now, herds of deer descend on biologic food plots like cattle. We set up on a well worn travel route and wait. Sure it is tough to trick a record book buck but the rest of the herd doesn't really stand a chance. As a bowhunter, I think that shooting these deer with a rifle is a joke. A guy with a homemade longbow who stalks his quarry from the ground probably thinks my treestand setup is unethical. Who is right? The answer is, nobody. Bait is just one of a long list of artificial tools we use today to harvest venison, no better and no worse than any of the high-tech gadgets marketed to give us an advantage.
And like a lot of bowhunters, you think that you deserve some trophy because you use a bow. BFD. I shoot a recurve, BFD. Ethics are not the issue, its biology and fair chase.
I made this post on another thread about baiting andIstill think it makes many of the points I'm trying to get across.
First let me say I live in Mo where baiting is illegal. That said if it were legal I would do it. I have discussed this on several other forums and have enjoyed all the input both pro and con. IMO using bait is no different than hunting over a 1 or 2 acre food plot. Before everyone starts telling me how wrong I am hear me out. I am not against food plots, I just feel hunting over any food source is baiting. I know many will disagree. They will say all the effort to prepare the land,fertilize,sow the seed,etc. and the fact that it will remain after the season means it's not bait. I must disagree. I don't think the amount of labor it takes to provide the food source should decide if it's bait or not. The same could be said about leaving an area of a corn field unharvested. Whether you pour it out of a bag or let it fall from the stalk it's still corn on the ground. Many will want to point out how hunting an 80 acre field of standing crop is not baiting since you can't control where the deer enter and leave. This is true but I'll bet you'll improve your odds by scouting which "highways" the deer are using and having a stand there. In my experiance most food plots are 1 acre or less. While they do grow out of the earth, the plants are not normally "native" and are chosen not just to benefit the deer but to attract them.
What about disease you may say. Won't baiting increase the concentration of deer into a small area thus increasing nose to nose contact perhaps increasing the transmission of disease. If that's the case why is it legal to feed deer the rest of the year? Do deer only contract disease during deer season? Of course not. Deer congregate naturally and use many communal sites(browse,mineral licks,water,etc.) and disease is transmitted in no greater numbers.
Yeah, well baiting "steals" away deer from other areas, depriving other hunters of an opportunity to take a deer. Really....don't we all try to draw deer in. We use scents and lures, food plots, man made licks, calls. All are used to drag deer in range. Many against baiting will also tell you bait is not a guarantee(when not tellingyou it makes hunting to easy) you will draw in a "trophy buck" and may turn the deer in the area into nocturnal feeders. Well I realize a large segment of today'shunters consider hunting a "sport" and use some scoring system to rate thier deer. I am not one of those. I am willing to take does,buttons,toe heads, what have you. If you wish to put limits on which deer you will take more power to you. I'm after meat.
IMO many of those opposed to baiting hate the idea that some practice they use is in fact baiting. They will tell you it's not ethical. I would relate a question I heard on another forum. A fellow owns two farms. On one farm he has a small apple orchard where deer eat apples that have fallen form the trees. If he sets up a stand and hunts over these apples he's fine. If however he gathers up those same apples and takes them to his other farm and puts them under another tree he's suddenly unethical. They're the same apples! Where's the difference?
As far as putting those "trophy bucks" into a different list. Boone & Crockett would consider a deer taken in a state where baiting is legal to have been taken within the rules of fair chase.
It is not my intention to pi$$ anyone off or to judge what practices they use. I am only hoping to show that if it's legal it's just another option that can be used to hunt.
I do have one question I have been unable to get an answer to on the other forums. I use a product called "Buck Snort". It's a non-nutritional gel that smells just like a food source(apples,sweet corn,acorns,etc.). My question to those who oppose baiting is it ok to use an attractant that smells like food but isn't and why. Thanks for any input
I would also like to add, that even thought I can't bait in MO, I'm pretty sure that if someone takes a bag of corn,bucket of apples,etc. and places it out to hunt over the deer aren't going to come running in an hour or two. If someone is baiting they have to continuely replenish it. There are other threads right now by people who want to know how much corn a deer will eat. So the idea that baiting is the "lazy" way to hunt is IMO wrong.
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