I personally will not do this practice and hope they make the entire state of Wisconsin illegal.
I get people say well you hunt by corn fields and soy bean fields. The fields are everywhere down here so it
makes no difference. Now take that pile of corn up north where I gun hunt and there is no fields for miles and put it out and it sounds what I imagine a war would sound like. Then you have the 2 gallon law and can still hunt through the woods and see piles instead of the 2 gallon rule. If its legal to each his own but not for me.
Now for pics with the arrow sticking in this not my cup of tea but to each his own. I would personally never post it but if you choose to at least let us know in the thread title so I dont have to see it. I respect these animals to much and I am not saying you dont but I just dont care to see it like that especially under a feeder.
Anti's get a hold of it and it just fuels the fire.
BigJ I commend you on starting this so thank you and this is where I will leave it and move on.

I personally don't hunt over a feeder (it's not legal anyhow where I hunt) but again, I agree with Scott and Greg. If it's legal, I couldn't care less...hunt the way you want to. I'm not going to say anything about it............

The first three deer I shot with a bow were shot under the only producing apple tree for probably a square mile. The tree was literally huge and was located in the middle of the big woods in central Vermont where there was no agriculture to feed the deer. I really don't see the difference between these deer I shot as a kid and a deer shot by someone over a corn pile, only difference is god put the tree there and a person put the corn there. I wouldn't trade the memories of sitting downwind of that tree for anything, and I may have never ended up hooked on hunting if it weren't for the encounters produced by that tree. Just some food for thought..........

So I guess to some guys, for any of us out west that choose to sit at a water hole to shoot an antelope don't get your respect either! What's the dang difference? What about a guy that puts a stand over a elk wallow?
I'm sure if ya came out west you'd only choose to spot and stalk antelope with a bow, right? After all, there aren't any trees, so you couldn't sit in a stand over a trail coming to and from feed all day or at a funnel, like ya do for whitetail.
We're human, the smartest living creature on earth. Why not use the best, most effective method to better our odds at success. If one chooses to use a scoped rifle to do so, so be it. If one chooses a bow and to spot and stalk, so be it. If one choosesa bow over a feeder, so be it. It's a choose we all make. Why does ones method, that's different than yours, seem wrong in your mind? We're all looking for the same end result, some choose to make it a little harder than others. Get over it![:@]

Howl you just opened my eyes to something:
I use game cams would this be considered a scounting tool? Would I be just the same has the hunter who uses a feeder for hunting as I am using a cam for scouting/hunting? Oh man I think I am being a hypocrite here.
Thanks for eye opener pal.

First ya'll do understand that we will never get any agreement on this...right? Also as hunters the best thing that we can do is hunt whatever way we like as long as it is legal AND support the next guys right to do the same thing...right again?

Do on with the show. If you have never hunted my situation, then you are a fool to pass judgment on it. Just like I would be a fool to pass judgment on the way you do thing is I have never been there with you. Having a feeder out is not really any different then any of the following....putting out doe urine, blowing a grunt call, rattling, hunting any type of agricultural field, during harvest leaving a strip or 2 of standing corn, deer drives (the whole purpose of the drive is to bring deer to you), and I am sure that I could list some more if I took the time.

If you want to stretch this argument the problem many have with baiting is that it stacks the odds in the hunter favor right? Well then how about your cover scents, scentlok, climbing deer stands, better scopes, better ammo, better guns. All of these are engineered to give the hunter an advantage. So unless you are jumping out of trees and killing them with a stick you are at least to some degree doing the same thing that someone that baits is doing. You are trying to stack the odds in your favor.

Also you really need to understand that hunting in different parts of the country can be very, very different. In Texas deer can bed anywhere, can eat anywhere. You do not get all of the nice funnel areas, the bedding areas, the staging areas. Over 90% of the place that I hunt is so thick that you cannot see more then 30 yards in any direction. Now I could ease though the brush and kill a deer, BUT it is hard to manage a herd that way. I need to see the animal, age and evaluate that animal, and then decide if I want to take that animal. In most of the whitetails range the problem is to many animals, so over harvest is not the problem. If it were then you would see many of the things that hunters do to stack the odds in our favor fall out of favor.

I am just saying that being a little less judgmental would probably serve all of us well. If you want to hunt in a pink tutu while wearing a green wig well......as long as it is legal then I will support your right to do it.

-john

John:

Here’s “my” take on baiting…..

One thing I’ve found to be true in states that allow the practice………they have a healthy population of deer. I know in my state (NC)….it’s been legal to bait deer for as long as I’ve known about deer hunting. Is it “right” for every state? Not at all. NC’s going to do anything they can to try and keep the gen. whitetail population down. If baiting aids them in this management practice…..then they’re “for” it.

Do I think a lot of deer are taken over bait in my state? Yes. Do I think there are those who think it’s “mandatory” to take deer in my state? Yes. Do I think there are areas that it almost IS “mandatory” to take deer over bait? Yes. Are there people out there who wouldn’t hunt ……if they couldn’t “bait”? Yes, again.

You know me as a person who studies the herd I’m hunting pretty well. When I first began deer hunting……I baited a field I hunt pretty hard. I wanted to see deer…..and I thought it was “the way” to achieve my goal. I hunted a good portion of the ’05 season over a field I baited on a fairly regular basis. I killed zero deer in 2005.

The times I didn’t hunt the baited field…..I began to detect a pattern in the deer’s behavior. The “pattern” was…..the deer….left in their “natural” state…..were more at ease. I learned by observing…..that they were oblivious to minor disturbances (dogs barking; cars in the distance; a leaf blower; mower; etc…) when they were in their natural feeding areas and funnels. Introduce “bait” to the situation, though…..and they were on high alert.

I chose to (for several reasons) maintain my regimen of “supplemental feeding”. I changed the term……to match the method. I feed the herd I hunt about 100#’s a week……ONLY because of the size parcels I hunt….and to aid in keeping a reason for the herd to frequent my parcels. I’ve learned to hunt away from the “bait”. In my opinion…..it’s easier to hunt them in this manner. Would many say I’m still “baiting”? Sure. I know better. I also don’t hunt anywhere near my food plot. Not the reason I planted it. I have honestly never patterned even a doe group that I thought was frequenting my feeder OR food plot in a manner that I would consider “regular”. So….I don’t hunt them that way. I know their natural funnels now…..and that’s where I hunt them (which is hundreds of yards away from the feeder.

If I thought I had a chance at a big buck that was going into my feeder……honestly….I’d probably set up on him. I just don’t think my feeding has enough pull to make them come in to it on a regular basis.

If it’s legal where you hunt…..and you choose to employ the practice…..I have no issues with it. It’s legal for a reason. Hunt legal….and I’ll congratulate you on your kill. It’s just not for me…..for reasons I’ve previously described.

Good luck to all this season.

I second your opinion Hog!

There are too many "elitists" in this world...

If the point is just to kill them why not just poison them? No cover scents no grunt calls,don't even need a new Bowtech ,just some corn and Glycol a cold six pack and everyones happy.[:'(]

I agree with the Big on this one.