ORIGINAL: Remnard

When planting a food plot, you are increasing the yield of quality food sources for deer. This will affect them year round basically. The bucks will grow better racks, the does will provide better milk. When you are sitting over a pile of corn, you are not doing the herd any good, just using it to entice them in for a shot. a 20 acre cornfield is a lot haredr to hunt over than a pile of corn from a sack. If you are not picking all the corn up when you are done hunting you will quickly find they are coming in at night to eat it.

Secondly, baiting spreads disease, quickly, which is why it is also frowned upon. Deer feeding nose to nose is a bad mix when you have a cwd issue.

I think baiting has its place, but I would only like to see it where you are dealing with large herds in urban areas that make it difficult to harvest animals safely. I am sure deer shot over bait are not recognized by any of the record keeping organizations, not that it will affect many of us.

Michigan or not, deer have to eat, be it acorns or woody browse at this time of year. If you want to become a better hunter, become a better woods man and study what the deer eat in your area. Ask people that harvested deer in the area what they found in their stomachs. Observe the deer when they are feeding and watch what they eat. Call your local game biologists and ask them what the deer in your area eat.