Baiting
 

What do you guys use for baiting? I bought a salt and mineral block, but that is all that i have so far. I have heard of block topper/and stump topper or whatever. Is it worth it? Also along the lines of corn, where do you purchase your corn, and how much? Do you spread it out on the ground or keep it piled up?

Any advice would be appreciated, Thanks!!!
Greenhead.

RE: Baiting
 

well...your post could open up a can of worms...we all have our opinions on baiting...i am against it...why do you need to use bait? baiting and hunting are two distinct things IMO.

slayer

RE: Baiting
 

Skill , luck , and a buttload of patience ... ;)

RE: Baiting
 

My own blood, sweat, and tears.

slayer

RE: Baiting
 

Personally, I'm against the use of bait for deer, but there are a few in my area who do it. Mainly they use hay. They'll bring in 5 or 6 bails of it and hunt over it. They tried corn once, but being as the deer's teeth weren't used to it, they soon gave up and headed back to their normal feeding areas. They'll sometimes spring for a 25lb. bag of Buck Grub and have gotten mixed results with it. Salt blocks and mineral blocks are put out in front of their trail cams and they seem to get decent results from those too.

We call people around here who bait "Masterbaiters." :D

RE: Baiting
 

I don't bait but I hunt over a feild corner where the farmer dumps the odd shaped or broken pumpkins. The deer love them ,I have watched 6 deer kicking open pumpkins they usely only eat the pulp.

RE: Baiting
 

In the past I've used baiting. I would use corn to fatten them up before the slaughter just like they do the steer before they kill them. Steer graze on grass up until the last three months. The corn will sweeten the meat. I didn't buy a big feeder I just dumped the bag on the ground. One time I was up to 2-3 a week.

I no longer bother because I don't hunt my property anymore. I don't have the time and don't care for eating deer anymore. I let who ever wants to hunt it kill what ever they want. I have been noticing some big tracks, maybe I need to scout here and see if it's worth my while.

Don't sweat the nay sayers. Baiting is very ethical. You can only shoot a few deer but you help a whole bunch.

RE: Baiting
 

Not sure where you're hunting but if you are anywhere where there is a food source then you already have bait and if you have deer, then you obviously have a food source and therefore you are in luck and already have enough bait needed to hunt deer. Throwing down a pile of corn usually only attracts does, fawns, and really young and dumb bucks. Most action is nocturnal at a bait site and as far as corn goes, it is a fact that too much corn can be harmful, if not fatal, for deer. The corn is very acidic and too much corn can kill necessary bacteria within the digestive system of a deer which results in a fouled up digestive system which results in severe bloating, lethargy, and perhaps death. So if you're looking for any easy way to get a deer within 20 yards, bait is not the answer. Focus on food, bedding, and transitions between the two for stand locations...good luck.

RE: Baiting
 

Jus thought of somethimg is even legal in your state ?

RE: Baiting
 

Like wolfen said, you will only find does and immature animals at bait sites during daylight hours, and that is usually right at dark.

RE: Baiting
 

If you are hunting over any food source, you are hunting over "bait" (either natural or deliberately put there by man) Many huge bucks have been killed over "bait". To "bait" something in, is simply to lure them in with something (food, calls, lure, ect.)."Baiting" is just as ethical as any other legal hunting means. And, if done right, just as hard as not "baiting". You still have to scout and do everything you do without "bait". Almost all of us hunters do without realizing it or calling it "baiting".IMO.;)

RE: Baiting
 

I couldn't really argue about the deer size but I wouldn't be feeding corn unless I was going after the meat. The whole point is to fatten them up and sweeten the meat. I havn't seen huge in this area so I wouldn't be trophy hunting in my back yard. I do have a spot in town for that.

As far as deer gorging themselves, I haven't seen it. I've watched deer come in eat for a little bit and move on. I would have thought they would eat there fill and lay down and eat again. The ones I've popped weren't full of corn but had a good variety in their gut. The meat was very sweet though. The corn did it's trick.

RE: Baiting
 

I bait and I had a 130 class 8 pt at my bait pile on opening day last year. I didn't get a shot at him but he was a dandy;)

I hunt an area close to my house that's only a couple of acres. The deer don't normally use it and I don't have the option of moving to where the deer are so I bait to bring them to me. I do the majority of my hunting the "traiditional" way but I do bait some also and trust me it's not exactly leading lambs to the slaughter. When they come in they normally stage down wind and don't come in until after dark and they are extremely nervous. I don't kill very many this way for those reasons. But it beats not hunting and it beats setting on my stand and not seeing a deer.

RE: Baiting
 

I was speaking in generalizations Silent, from my past baiting experiences.

RE: Baiting
 

I try to stay away from baiting. I think it takes some of the fun or skill away and it alerts the deer to your prescense somewhat. I didn't use any last year but If i'm having trouble locating deer late in the season after the snow falls then I might use a little. (Like a handful) What I did try last year with a lot of success was deer crack. Its a little different than deer cocaine but it worked really well. Most of you probably consider this bating but I think it didn't alarm the deer as much as a big pile of carrots.

RE: Baiting
 

Corn corn and corn ! You can buy it at feed stores,co-op's etc. !!
I have had the best luck with cob corn versus shell corn !! But either work!

Most of the rest has been covered above !! I am assuming it's legal to bait in your state ??!!

RE: Baiting
 

My thought exactly.

Why is it not hunting when someone employs the use of bait but it is hunting sitting on a farmers field(planted not natural in the least) or over food plant. What is this misconception with it is for lazy hunter's and require less effort, skill or as someone put "Blood, sweat and tears" Nothing could be further from the truth!! It is complete BS that baits will only bring in does and dumb or small bucks, if done properly and this is where all the work, scouting, effort, skill (B,S &T) comes into the equation, it can be used to harvest mature bucks as well. The only question that needs to be asked is it Legal and why are you wanting to bait? If the answer is yes and the hunter is willing to go through all the efforts required to employ baits successfully than I don't see a problem in the the least.

FYI, it is legal here in Saskatchewan. I do not hunt over bait, as it doesn't fit into my hunting style. I know full well what is involved in baiting and what it can produce and in no way is it a lazy technique if your main goal is mature deer!

Hey you can have your own opinion that is not my point but I disagree with painting one with the unethical or lazy brush b/c they can and choose to employ baits.

To the original poster, I would try and find a bait substance that may match the area(ie; if corn is nowhere to be found don't use it - hay is always a constant for deer but it rarely will hold them on your bait IME). Here deer baits consist of a hay bed(Bails broken up and scattered) and then cereal crop(barley is most popular & cleaned oats would be #2) is layed ontop of the hay bed

RE: Baiting
 

lol, this is a fun post to read. Idaho it is illegal. I think you can bait before the season, but all of the bait has to be removed by the start??? i am not sure, don't really care.

RE: Baiting
 

LOL

no i don't intend to hunt over it, i don't care when the deer visit it. I wanted to set up a camera and just see what type of animals are in the area. I don't care if my pictures are all taken at night. I don't care how big the animals racks are, it would be cool to see a big one though.

lol, i didn't intend for such a huge reaction. For those who were helpfull... thank you.

Greenhead

RE: Baiting
 

Idaho hunter. Thats weird here in Michigan we can't bait before season but once it starts we can.

RE: Baiting
 

Here in the great state of Texas, I don't know of anybody that doesn't feed corn to the deer out of feeders. It gives them required energy through the winter months. (yeah I know it doesn't snow in the Hill Country) But to say it doesn't bring out mature deer is a fallacy. It sure does. One of the main purposes of using corn is to establish a feeding station for does. During the rut when the big boys are seeking out the hot does they may come to where you are feeding giving you a chance at a good buck. I have been feeding 750 lbs of protein a month since March to the deer on my land and will stop at the end of August. This promotes antler growth and also helps does that are lactating. Would ya'all call this baiting by supplying nurishment to your herd?

RE: Baiting
 

i use a natural bait............APPLE TREES!!! AND PERSIMON TREES.!!
ACORN TREES, RED AND WHITE!!;)

RE: Baiting
 

up in lake city we have self made gravity feeders a rectangular box with a notch in the bottom. when the deer eat whats on the ground more falls out until there is enough to hold it in. we have deer pellets and corn mixed together the deer love it.

RE: Baiting
 

If it is legal in your state I have nothing gainst it! I would use corn from a feeder for deer.

RE: Baiting
 

While this may be true, you have to take into account that one is natural and one isn't. One changes a deer's natural pattern and one doesn't. Deer go to their usual feeding areas because it's their natural pattern. They feed in farmer's fields because that's what they've always done. You spend countless hours scouting a certain buck who comes out every night right before dark only to find that someone has put out a pile of corn somewhere back in the woods which he decides to go to before he heads to the corn field like he usually does. I have no problem with osmeone who hunts a NATURAL food source, but when someone disrupts the pre-established patterns of the deer, that's when I have a problem.

RE: Baiting
 

There are lots of tjings you can use for bait. Most people use corn, you can even buy it at Wal-mart durring hunting season. Some people use sweet potateos .carrots, cabbage, peanut butter, raw peanuts, ect. ect. ect. I personally have had the most sucsess with apples. I get them from the produce stand beside the road for $5.00 a bushel. I think he buys them by the truck load and picks through them to get the bad ones out. then he sells the bad ones for deer apples. I usualy scatter the apples around.I quarter 4 or five apples to start with to get the smell in the air and put the rest out whole. The quarters always get gone first. I also put corn out with the apples but they don,t eat the corn until the apples are gone.

RE: Baiting
 

It isn't natural if someone planted it there. Putting a food source anywhere (even "natural"), will change a deers natural pattern(disrupting the pre-established patterns of deer). So if someone planted a foodplot back in the woods which altered the deers behavior, that would be o.k.? Is there really a difference here(other than time and money)? Or am I missing something.

RE: Baiting
 

If its legal in your state fine, its not here in Minnesota. I don't agree when people state that hunting a corn field, oak tree with acorns, bean field ......... is the same as baiting. Its not the same. When you bait you have a specific spot to hunt. The deer must come to that specific spot. Corn fields are huge, small ones are hundreds of acres, the deer can go to any one of a zillion places. Same in my woods, 160 acres of oaks, the acorns are everywhere. Plus deer can browse on leaves and grasses wherever they roam. On a bait pile its a spot. I don't have a problem with baiting, I just don't think its the same.

Good Luck to all!

RE: Baiting
 

No, to me it's not ok, which is another reason I don't do it. I've thought about it, but I consider it baiting and I decided not to do it. I'm not going to get into the same argument I always do. If you want to bait, go ahead, I'm not going to stop you. I'm not going to continue to argue about it either. This will be my last post in this thread.

RE: Baiting
 

Well said Washington hunter....I agree.....I'm not going to hunt over bait but if its legal in ones state..you gotta let them.

Have a great season!

RE: Baiting
 

in the original question salt licks were talked about as a possibility for bait. licks will act as an attractant but in my state of new jersey around september it doesnt draw deer much like the spring and summer so i wouldnt spend my money on them unless you really want to . if your lucky enough to have good food plots like on private land or able to hunt farmers propery you might not need bait as you can set up a strategy to catch the deer coming and going. i use corn from time to time on public land but it is no sure thing. they will feed more likely at night after a while in my hunting spots. i use the bait to attract them to a general area then i figure out things from there.

RE: Baiting
 

baiting is just one of those thing thats always debated anyway i do it some places but in missouri its not legal

RE: Baiting
 

Not going to debate the bait issue, but this is a rather interesting story.
In PA we cannot bait, everything has to be removed from the area 30 days before season. BUT in suburban areas that doesn't mean people have to stop feeding deer in thier yard. So every night that I hunted behind the house I got to watch all the deer go to my neighbors yard for feed, rather than under my tree for the crappy acorns that fell. Along comes summer and he's ranting up a storm, spending money on deer repellent, cause the deer are eating his garden......what else can be said about the moron. The saddest thing is that he himself hunts. He is SO old school though, wants to shoot the 1st crappy buck by him, and considers it a sin to shoot a doe.

RE: Baiting
 

Question for the pro-baiters:

If baiting isn't a sure thing and produces no better results than fair chase why bother to put out bait piles ? From the way I've heard it described(illegal as Hell here) a fella goes through an awful lot of time and expense for such little gain . One guy I know spends a couple of thousand dollars each year tending his food plots(not illegal here) , he's an admitted trophy hunter .

Ok , so why do it if the result is no different than tagging a deer in the wild ?

RE: Baiting
 

Baiting in my state is legal and I do it occasionally. I use corn or apples. I never just dump them in a pile though, I usually spread it out over a 20 or 30 yd area, it seams like it will last a little longer that way.

For all of those who do not bait or find it unethical, I respect you opinion, but I dont recal Greenhead Man asking for your opinion. His original post didnt ask for a lecture or a disortation on the ethics of baiting, he asked for tips on how or what to bait. If you dont bait, dont reply, to a guy asking for help with something that is legal and a common practice. Save your opinions for the "baiting whats your opinion?" threads.