I've hunted with and without bait. My experiences are similar to some of the other posters here. I see a lot more deer with bait, but usually see few if any large bucks. Conversely, I've also hunted near others that bait, but without baiting myself. I've observed large bucks specifically avoiding the other hunter and bait pile; they just waited in the thick stuff presumably to intercept does as they came and went to the bait. Think about it: a mature buck won't live long enough to become a large buck if he routinely visits a bait pile. Common sense. Sure, occasionally one might slip and make a mistake, but overall they're conditioned to avoid bait piles during day time. They've busted hunters over bait often enough when they were younger that they're onto the game.

Therefore, I've come to the conclusion that baiting works...if you want to shoot young deer. I have no qualms about others using it if that's their style. I also think that contrary to what some adamant anti-baiters think, baiting is not cheating (for the reasons stated above). The Eberharts even wrote about this in one of their books. Their solution was to treat other hunters' bait piles as natural food sources, and to simply locate a stand a few hundred yards down the trail from the bait...and intercept the large buck that is waiting on the does to visit the bait.