I have never hunted over bait because it is not legal in Va., but I will give you a personal observation, the bigger the buck the earlier he goes to bed and the later he leaves his bed, from what I have heard and read the same holds true for bait piles, the big ones if they eat from it do so long before or after legal shooting hours. Once the rut is on food is a low priority to all bucks, they have only one thing on their minds and it darn sure isn' t eating![]