trac209, baiting may be illegal period in your province but here in Saskatchewan it is the opposite...baiting is legal! Just an FYI

Now to the post, I have baited in the past (don' t now for various reason that I care not to get into) and it was never a gravy train or as easy as some would like you to think. First of all the effort that goes into to baiting deer is as high and in some case higher than that of regular hunting styles. You still need to do your homework: scout, transition routes, feeding grounds, bedding areas, water sources, wind direction, etc as with other forms of hunting. However you must also keep baiting, watch the entrance times/direction, cover your tracks, ask permission and the list goes on. While some may find success in harvest A " deer" over a pile throw in the genral travel route of game, harvesting THE " deer" takes the same diligent efforts with baiting vs. non baiting techniques. I never found it dramatically increased my odds on mature bucks, deer sights went up not mature buck sightings! I actually found I spent more time preparing for my hunting timing when baiting and less time actually hunting...ok I am going into reasons why I don' t anymore, I will stop there!

My take on it is: if legal it is just another technique that a hunter can CHOOSE to employ if desired to harvest game by, it is just that a choice. I don' t really see it much different than hunting a food source, food plot or even the use of scents/calls. If the playing field is level (meaning we all can do the same if we desire), than I really see no problem with the baiting practice, nor do I see it as wrong or a threat to my hunting areas. The only way I would if it was proven it impacted the health of the deer and thats it.

While we have seen a rise in deer population and disease in my area, their is no proof that baiting is the cause. In fact in most areas dealing with CWD, etc it is the fault of management of the herd and urbanization. We always blame nature for impacting our way of living, but never think of how we have impacted theirs!!!! To think CWD is directly the cause of hunters baiting is crazy. When the deer or game are above the land mass carrying capacity, baiting may not help in disease spread any but the underlying fact is we/DNR/Government are partly to blame for allowing the herd to get that point in the first place.

I guess I look at both sides of the fence, I choose now to just hunt hard and use my knowledge base to try to get a mature buck. However this is in noway reflects or suggests my buddies who employ baits, are lesser or lazy hunters. I can make this choice and know that baiting doesn' t require any less work, knowledge or experience than my way. As such no skin off my rear when one of baiting pals shows up in my driveway with a trophy animal, as far as i am concerned he worked & earned that deer.