fastetti, i like the points that you bring up. For me, personally, i believe each hunter has to draw the line in their own mind of what is ethical to them.

For me, i draw the line at using scents and calls.

I know that deer are geared towards sex during the rutting months, BUT, it is not required to live. Deer HAVE to eat food, without exception. Yes, sometimes bucks will go days chasing does and not eating, but thats not normality. I have been a big fan of rattling and using scents/calls the last 3 years and have only had 2 bucks respond out of the 40 or sothat i have seen in that time span. One i killed, the other i couldnt get a shot off at. Once again, its just the individual line that i have drawn in my mind about what i will, and will not do.

I wasn't gonna touch this one cuz its been discssed millions of times and all it does it cause arguments. In the dead of winter I feed my deer corn, especially during ice and snowstorms. Butwhen huntingseasoncomes,the fun to me isrelying on all year long scoutingand using the knowledge you've gained from the previous years to better understand your deer movments and patterns at different times of the year.

But Caleb, that is exactly how I feel. I want to become a hunter who is proud of the work he put in. I would rather set up on fresh sign or in natural funnels and pinchpoints. To the people who bait, that is fine, and I am not saying that is not hunting. It is hunting... It is just not my kind of hunting. Half the fun and excitement in whitetail hunting takes place in the winter, spring and summer.

That is the honest truth. I have been having a blast with shed hunting and i love checking my deer camera in the summer for those velvet bucks.

I put so much effort into deer hunting year round that i just dont feel like it would be fair to myself to plop out 100 lbs of corn and shoot a booner on opening day. Which does happen in my part of Ohio ALOT

In our state, baiting is illegal. I had nothing to do with the law but If I break it, I expect to pay the price.

Would any of the anti baiters....???

hunt deer over a small water hole in a drought year...
hunt bear over a barrel of bait....
hunt deer around a single apple tree you planted5 years ago...
hunt African game at a waterhole....

Looks like I am a little late to the show but I think that there are some very good arguments for both sides. I also think that the answer of whether or not to bait is circumstantial.

I used to be avidly opposed to baiting deer when I lived in an area in which I had the family farm to hunt many acres with oak trees and full flowing streams. I loved patterning, tracking, and what many refer to as legitimately "hunting" deer. I would have never thought of baiting under any circumstances.

Now I live in an area where I have thousands of acres of CRP land to hunt and the deer are very seldom seen during daylight. What trees we have are cottonwood trees, not much mast produced from that. No trees to put stands in, mostly stalk hunting which is more difficult than calling in with a call or sitting in a stand by a well used trail waiting for a deer to walk by. No way would I belittle people who don't stalk hunt it is just a matter of what the area provides opportunity for.

Back to the baiting issue. I set up several feeders on the land I have permission to hunt. I check the feeders regularly and put cameras out so that I know deer are in the area. My rule of thumb is that I won't hunt within 250 yards of my feeders unless I stalk a deer into that area. In other words I don't set up a blind a hundred yards from the bait and wit and wait at dusk and dawn to see if they come in. Fact of the matter is, in my area bait doesn't increase the chances of seeing a deer during daylight hours very much. 95% of my trail cam pics are taken outside of shooting light. If you do happen to see one during the day it is usually half mile away or more. You can see forever on the golden plains and so can the deer.

I guess what I am saying is sometimes we have to adapt our methods to the circumstances we are given. Don't criticize too soon until you have hunted someplace like Western Kansas or Eastern Colorado where the land is flat and treeless and when getting permission to hunt along the rivers that occaisionally have water in them is very rare and very expensive.

I totally agree with the fact that baiting changes the deers' patterns. I believe it also congregates does which in turn diminishes buck movement during the rut. It tends to make the deer more nocturnal as well. If your goal is to take a trophy buck I believe your chances are better if you don't bait. Some of the frustration conerning this topic arises from the fact that when you choose to bait you effect every other hunter in your area. I have talked to many people who felt like they have to bait to compete with their neighbors who started to bait. I also believe that if it's legal in your area it's your choice.

magicman, you have hunted northern wisconsin, right. I was wondering if you baited. Where we hunt there is no food source, no fields. There is tons and tons of woods and deer dont just stay on one trail. you may hunt weeks to even see a deer without bait.

Agreed. You dont need bait to kill a deer.

no we dont bait all year, it is illegal. Everything is there food source, they dont move from area to area forone specific food. There arethousands and thousands of acres of pure woods, absolutely no acorns or fields.Siman/OH do you have fields or acorns to hunt by.