I went hunting Sat. on a friend of mines property that I've helped him past few months do some work on. I took my tractor and bobcat and leveled, cleared, and planted food plots. He has 500 acres of beautiful property.
Anyways, I hunted it for only the 2nd time yesterday morning. he had told me to not shoot anything but mature bucks, thats fine with me- the place is eat up with buck sign. All I saw was a little 4 pt, which hung around my stand for about 15 mins. which, I'll be honest, I wanted to shoot because I haven't killed a deer yet this year. I didn't shoot it. I let it walk away.
So my buddy calls me on the phone to come help him find a deer he shot- a nice 8 pt. last weekend he got a nice 9 pt. So I get down from the stand walk up the ridge and my buddy meets me up there and shows me where he shot the deer at and there is probably about 100 pounds of corn on the ground!! He's been baiting! I was like, "Dude- no wonder you're killin the crap outta deer!" I was very shocked- but- not my land- it's his- I'm hunting over a food plot, he's hunting over corn- he says what's the difference.
What do you guys think?
yes it is illegal to bait here

That is a tough dilemea you have, i dont know if i would turn him in or try to stear him in the direction of not baiting.

That's a tough one, are you close to this friend. The thing is, the friends that I hunt with, I would know that they were baiting. If I was in your shoes, I would tell the friend that I disapprove and that he has seen the last of my equiptment and my help. This may have more of an affect on him. Some will say that you need to turn him in, but that is hard to do with a friend.

If it is a close friend, I would have a talk with him and explain the rules to him. And like has been said, take your equipment and say, thanks but I no longer care to hunt with you on this property.[:'(]

Besides if you are hunting there, even tho you are not hunting over the bait, you still could be breaking the law and get a ticket. Someone else might have seen the bait pile and have turned him in.

I would stay away from that situation!!!

I agree that is pretty tough. Some people in their quest for big deer will do anything. Some of it is to be able to say I shot more or bigger deer than you.Do what I did. Buy your own ground and just hunt there. If you were to kill a big one on his property how many other people know he is baiting and are gonna say..... Yep it's huge but THEY bait em.

I was in a local hunting store looknig at pictures of deer taken last year and I came across a photo of a guy in the bed of his truck holding up a huge buck. Also in the bed of his truck was tons of empty corn sacks and spilled corn everywhere. Not being 100% sure he baited but in the grand scheme of things if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck... its a duck. Can't bait in Indiana either so its kind of annoying that some people choose not to follow state law.

This sport can bring out the best andworst in people, I'm sure a lot of us have seen both sides of that coin.

it is illegal to bait in pa as well, i dont know where you are or your laws on baiting but here the law is NO BAITING and if the area has been baited it must be cleared off for 30 days before you can hunt it again! also you must be at least 500 yards from the baited site. if you are within the 500 yards you will get nailed. a guy i know baited his private land and got cought, he lost his hunting right for 5 years and they took his bow and also gave him some major fines. i would stay clear away from that area. there are many other places with deer to hunt. i eould explain the law to him and if he did nothing to correct himself i would turn him in. i wouldnt want to be friends with a cheat, and someone who disrespects the laws anyways! IN MY OPPINION good luck

Tough call, But if your good buddies with him, let him be. Truth be known, very few truely mature bucks are killed over corn. They got big and smart by visiting that corn at about 0130-ish. Sure, he'll kill more deer, but hunt smarter and you'll get Big Louie!!

If it was my friend I couldn't see turning him in either. You may also want to make sure its legal to hunt food plots here I'm pretty sure it isn't legal. Fines are getting really high priced anymore even for small mistakes I can't imagine what the fine would be for baiting.