Hunting over corn?
 

Ok lets all get on this band wagon.Would you if it was legal in your area hunt over a feeder or bait?Whats the difference if you draw them in with deer-pee,calls or bait.Are you not trying to draw them in using one of there sences.In our state u must be at least 300yds and out of sight of any bait.I personally would not hunt deer or bear over bait.I guess I feel like its shooting fish in a barrel.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

I tried hunting over corn piles back in 1995. Deer did come in to eat, but the problem was that it was mostly the smaller bucks and does with fawns that came in during legal hours. One problem with it was that the deer seemed to be more alert, and also if they would stay and eat for any lenght of time, it was hard to not get spotted. Heck, most of us have to move after awhile, so any movement had a chance of being spotted.

Beyond that, I was always indifferent to the whole issue of baiting. I stopped using it because I did not find it to be particularly effective. So for me, it did not work out to be like " shooting fish in a barrell" . Then again, I was trying to be selective and hunt nicer bucks. If one wasn' t as selective, then maybe it would increase their chances of success.

Scent is much less...I guess I would say...certain?...in its results. Deer will come to food, but scent is more hit or miss. I' ve had deer come flying into doe in estrus scent in the rut, and then at other times during the rut walk by and ignore it. So I' m not sure you can really equate the two.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

I wouldn' t hunt over bait. Baiting trains the deer to come to a specific spot several times a day. Its illegal here in MN. As to scent, calls and pee.....those all may be effective at " certain times of the season" but to a much lesser degree than a bait pile.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

Feeders are allowed in Arkansas, but I don' t use them. The wierd thing about it is that some of the newest deer calls out is the sound of a feeder going off.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

Find a isolated corn field and you have your bait pile.:D

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

i hunt just off a corn field on a main trail ,and believe me it not a sure thing ,last year i didn' t even see one damn deer ! and that was after trying different times of day and even different locations! but it' s not hunting over bait , i think bait is something thats not normally there , that once it' s put in place and the deer find it,it draws them to it maybe due to curiosity? i don' t know maybe it' s the fact that it' s something different to eat. i know when i put corn out in my yard i see more deer than normal, but i don' t hunt in my yard. but hunting over a corn field is not a sure thing.;)

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

This is a topic that i' ve seen many times and the debate goes on and on. I think it' s a matter of personal preference. I think anything that a person can do to up their odds and help them fill their tags as long as it' s legal then i have no problem with it at all. I have several stands i bait and several that i don' t. I see no difference in hunting over bait and/or scents. I also see no difference in hunting a cut corn field compared to hunting over a corn pile, it' s still bait same as a bean field or an acorn ridge no matter if you put it there or not. Sometimes i hunt over the bait and sometimes i hunt trails leading to the bait just depends on if i' m meat hunting or hunting a nice buck. Like already stated a mature buck usually won' t come to a bait pile but you can catch him on a trail leading up to it especially if he' s following does. Like i said if it' s legal where you hunt then it' s up to you whether you choose to bait or not. This is just my personal opinion but as for me i bait and will continue to do so. God Bless!

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

I don' t see any problems with hunting over bait. It is an effective hunting strategy. What if you are trying to take a child hunting for the first time? You want him/her to see as many deer as possible. Baiting would certainly help that. Since they are no different than using scents or calls, than we should be able to use them anytime, year round. They only problem I have against them is that they are disease spreaders. But, since no disease has been found in my area and baiting is legal, I will be putting corn and apples out this season.
Mike,-

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

Isn' t bait piles beleived to be a sorce of spreading CWD?

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RE: Hunting over corn?
 

Define baiting....I have always considered hunting over, under, around or near a feeder/ pile of corn as hunting deer coming to feed. I feed deer all year and include in this menu corn, protein pellets, molasses, alfalfa, carrots etc. To me the term baiting has come from those hunters that don' t feed deer. We hunters that feed deer know the difference between baiting an animal and feeding an animal. All we have to do is check our thin wallets.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

You could argue that we hunt over bait everytime we hunt near a white oak that is dropping, or crabapples, or persimmons, or smilac, or crop fields, etc. But we had to go find these hot spots, hunt them, hope we are not detected.

The difference is in baiting, we are trying to create a predictable pattern that eliminates the guessing game of finding the hot spots. This in my view is where hunting becomes ' shooting' and is not hunting at all! If deer are in your area and you are a hunter, you don' t need bait to help you out.

Scents, well, I don' t use them other than an occasional natural cover scent (like a cut pine limb) or a scent gland taken from a rutting buck.

Calls, I do use sometimes, but their effectiveness is usually limited

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

I do like a couple of the others and hunt over corn sometimes on private land. It doesn' t guarantee success, that is for sure. You may see more deer, but they know that corn is not natural and are usually on high alert. It makes it much more difficult to get the draw on them. I' ve had nice bucks and older does hang up fifty or sixty yards out and won' t come in until after dark.

I also hunt public woods and baiting is not allowed at all there. Most years my success rate is about equal in either setting so I wouldn' t say a bait pile increases your odds of success a great deal with a bow. Now a rifle is an entirely different story.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

I have no problem with people hunting over bait. You certainlly will see more deer. IF you are into seeing lots of deer and maybe getting a shot at a nice buck then, if it' s not against any rules, go ahead and do it. In WI it is now outlawed and the deer kill was down last year. It is still up in the air as to wether CWD is linked to baiting and feeding. (I think it is but JMO) It is FACT that CWD is linked to high fence game farms and domestically raised elk and deer. There is no way that CWD traveld from CO to WI without someone transporting in a live animal to a game farm or meat/antler farm.

On Bear though good F' n luck shooting one of them with a bow without baiting! In WI if you are out picking berries in july you will probably never see a single bear. but if you put a tree stand and a pile of bait out you would prabably see 10 - 15 per night. They are thick yet soooooo elusive!

Personally I don' t bait because I can' t. I would probably do some baiting with minerals and salt if I could.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

Personally, I wouldn' t hunt over a pile of bait if you paid me. That' s just me. I' m not against it...(we need to support all forms of legal hunting, there' s enough against us already)...I just don' t care for it. If it' s legal and you want to do it...go for it.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

i think if you live in an area with alot of standing corn or left over picked corn,
like I do, it would not be very effective, but have at it, I support anyone' s method
except poaching[:o]:D

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

Just for the record and since I did not make this clear in my original post, I don' t care if it' s legal or not. Perhaps it should be legal and if you want to shoot deer that way, that' s fine by me. I would not do it, because it would diminish my skills as a hunter.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

Baiting and deer hunting over bait is legal here in florida. I do throw out about a ton of corn each year to keep the deer frequenting the property. The surrounding landowners bait year round so its hard to keep the deer around without it. The bait keeps the does around which in turn draws the bucks during the rut. I have yet to see a buck feeding on the corn during daylight hours. Our hunting has gone downhill every year since baiting was legalized a few years ago. The first year it was legalized we didnt throw any out and hardly saw a deer all season. The next year we scattered corn in the food plots and had much better luck. If someone wants to pour out some corn and hunt over it, thats their right. Its just not the way I prefer to hunt.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

No I wouldn' t.

bait does not IMO really increase your odds for mature bucks.

Just not my thing

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

In my experience .......corn is good for a doe hunter. Big bucks don' t go down that easily .

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

yea but the big bucks will be where the girls go.find the does and the bucks will show sooner or later.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

USE CORN UP AND UNTIL 10 DAYS BEFORE THE SEASON OPENSTHEN TAKE IT OUT.BUT YOU NEED A SALT LICK. THE DEER WILL PATTERN THEMSELVES TO KEEP COMING BACK. USE BUCKGRUB.THAT WORKS GREAT.YOU WILL SEE RESULTS AT YOUR SALT LICK IN 10 DAYS .I LIVE IN TENNESSEE WE CAN USE CORN UP TILL 10 DAYS BEFORE SEASON THEN WE CANNOT USE IT NO MORE.SALT WE CAN HUNT OVER IT ALL SEASON. I HAVE SHOT DEER IN MY SALT LICK BEFORE.IT WORKS.

RE: Hunting over corn?
 

I dont know why but at this time of the year all these questions get raised whether it is baiting or the xbow debate.

Some of you guys should realise that the antis read these forums and seeing heated debats they turn them around into their favour to ban hunting altogether.

I have said this a hundred times who cares what the next guy does as long as it is legal.

We should ban together as hunters and support each other instead of helping the anti' s drive a wedge between us.

I hope that in future when these types of threads start that the Mods block them.

I will say it again WHO CARES AS LONG AS IT IS LEGAL