RE: baiting
I want a free bag of corn too. That's been costing me $8 for a 50# bag
As previously stated, baiting doesn't actually increase hunter success; I haven't killed anything this year and only had a spike step into range.
There is a lot of places for deer to enter the corn field I'm hunting around from the nearby thickets, the grocery store mentioned before.
I don't feel slobish when I'm packing that 50# bag nearly every weekend from April - Jan. Loading up the mower and maintaining a path around that field. Dragging a rag soaked with deer urine behind me when I walk to my blind. Not to mention keeping my clothes in a bag, taking a scent free shower, and wearing a carbon suit.
The area I hunt simply doesn't have the numbers of deer that other places have. Adding to my sheer frustration is the farmer turning cattle loose on my hunting spot, I can't do anything about it except find a new place. I'm attempting to get the deer to visit a small area that's inaccessible to cattle.
I do not see any difference in me putting corn there versus if an apple tree, acorn laden oak, or small "food plot"happened to be there.