I could list the pros and cons of baiting until my finger bleed from typing. The bottom line, baiting is a tool that can be either effective or ineffective. It is a tactic that is certainly situational-a person must weigh the benefits and detriments. It is nothing more than a “choice of method” to be drawn from a hunter’s “bag of tricks” when required (not unlike motorized duck decoys, electronic game calls, and artificial sex lures, hunting over a food plot, et al). Its employment is either “illegal” or “optional” across the United States-the reasons for such, either way, is anyone’s guess. In perspective, baiting in no way ever guarantees success. On the other hand, "time"does! Could you imagine the things you could kill if you had “all the time in the World”? As individuals, shouldn’t we dwell on acquiring more time for ourselves and spend less energy worrying about the way others hunt?
In experiments as in life, the holier-than-thou effect diminishes quickly when people have actually had the experience they are judging. I encourage people to get out more! I say, see the world…try something new! Do not be afraid to take YOUR game into another arena. If you are going to rank yourself and compete, as so many of you seem to do, then where’s the comparison when you’ve never played outside your home court/in every court? It’s a lame comparison at best!
Walk a few miles in another hunter’s shoes (or at least alongside him). Open your eyes and your mind. Until you are in the exact same situation you cannot possibly assess whether the other hunter made a good or bad judgment. In truth (if you accept the truth), you will never stand in his place. You will never know what his state of mind or affairs are. Nor do any two people have the same challenges. Accept this and you won’t be fretted by ethical questions relating to anyone but yourself.
In my worldly experiences, I have found those people who walk around in a pair of moral platform shoes have a tougher time standing when they fall…and they do fall.