Arthur P, you stole my line. I was gonna say I stand about 20 yds down wind.

out of about 15-16 hunters in our lease, I' m the only one that don' t bait deer. I personally feel like baitin is not givin the deer a fair chance. instead of just walkin to a stand and sittin over a pile of corn(because you know deer will show up) I like to scout for natural food sources, trails, rub and scrape lines, and figure out where to place my stand in relation to these.
that being said, I don' t hold it against a hunter that has only 20-30 acres to hunt on, for baitin. he has to have some way to hold the deer in there. but as long as a hunter has a lot of land that has plenty of food sources available, I don' t see the need to bait.

Its illegal here so obviously I don' t do it. I also feel there are plenty of deer around my areas that if you needed to bait in order to shoot one, you aren' t a very good hunter.
BUT, for those areas with much lower deer densities and a way of hunting that' s built upon it, I' m not going to tell those people they are wrong or bad.
Just call me a fence sitter

If I grew up in an area where baiting was how everyone hunted, I probably wouldn' t know any different. But since I didn' t...I have a different opinion about it. I personally would quit hunting before I' d sit over a pile of bait. I don' t really consider it hunting, more like shooting. Training deer to come to a specific spot, at specific times doesn' t seem to require much skill. Folks kill deer all the time over bait, but I' d bet the # of mature bucks that visit bait piles during daylight is very slim.

That being said, if it' s legal where you hunt, and you want to do it....go for it. I won' t put you down for it, we all need to stick together as hunters...we got enough going against us as it is.

up here everyone hunts over bait usually apples but they only go out the last half of the afternoon. for the last two years I have tired to get away for it due to lack of productivey, but I hunt over food plots which I consider baiting

I will hunt over corn piles until disease becomes a problem. My time in the field is limited and I prefer venison to beef. I hunt to get outside and fill the freezer not necessarily to take a trophy. If I were into trophy hunting I would change tactics to at least make me feel better about the way I harvested the trophy.

Baiting is also good when you carry kids hunting. If they see game they are more likely to stay interested in the sport.

Besides, around here the big boys dont come to the bait.....but the tasty slick heads sure do!

I disagree....

what about

4. Let the small ones go, shoot plenty of doe.

Amen Rob, great point! That' s me, and I know alot of other hunters that are in #4 as well.

Count me in as a number 4!
As far as baiting goes, a corn pile, clover plot, bean field are all the same. It doesn' t require any more skill to sit over a corn field than it does a corn pile.If it' s legal in your area then go for it! The biggest problem with hunters is the mindset that if you don' t do it my way, then your not doing it right. It' s just more fuel for the Antis....

>>>---DAVIDP---SILERCITY,NC--->

It isn' t legal here in VA. So I don' t do it. Would I? hmm I don' t think I would want the WMA' s filled with piles of corn just cause it would make it even harder to hunt that area. private land. Hell It' s your land do what you want. The CWD issue is another story. I don' t know if anyone really knows that it spreads that way, but if that is where the research is pointing then they should stop the baiting and feeding altogether.
But let me toss a few other things out.
What' s the difference between hunting over bait and using scents?
does the doe urine spread CWD??
What about salt licks and mineral licks? I' ve created a mineral lick mostly to bring the deer in for pictures. Is that baiting?? According to the VA laws it ceases to be paiting 30 days after the salt has disolved. but where does the salt go? Lots of questions. some of the answers are kind of grey.

David