I beleive that hunting over a bait pile and hunting a grain field are definately different in many ways. First, a bait pile can be taken deep into the woods to a place where the deer feel comfortable and secure, hunting a grain field the deer are more open to predators and therefor more careful about where and when and how they get to where they' re going. A bait pile is a lot of food in one place, right by your stand. With a grain field the deer can come from many places out of range, never giving you the opportunity for a shot. With food plots it takes a lot of time and effort, not to mention a " Green-Thumb" to produce the feed, any moron can go out and put 300 lbs of corn in a pile under a stand in the back-woods. Just my two-cents. [:-]