A question for baiters.....
 

As all questions come about from reading other posts, this one popped into my head.

I am not intended for this post to start bashing on the ethics.

When bait is put out do you put it in one pile or do you spread it around an area?

Baiting is not legal in MN but I do put a corn/soybean/acorn mix out from Jan to Mid March on a three day basis. Instead of piling it I spread it out in a large area making the deer search for their food like they would for acorns.

You can bash or commend on what I do during the winter months if you would like.

RE: A question for baiters.....
 

I don' t bait either, although it is a legal practice here. However I know a number of outfitters and guys who do they keep the bait pile to a defined area. The last thing they want is deer mingling around looking for the food,want to try and get the does patterned to one spot with the blind situated in the best place to avoid interaction or detection when the bucks follow in the does. They spread alfa hay over a given area and then put grain on top of it, not piled up persay but rather spread over the area evenly(which averages about 10-12 feet).

RE: A question for baiters.....
 

I know guys who do it both ways for hunting and feeding.I have always used one pile when i' ve used bait.I always have yearlings and 1and a half year old bucks come to it but rarley older bucks.I took two 3 and a half year old bucks over bait.I no longer use bait i prefer to pattern the dominant bucks but have not got the shot i want yet[:@]Maybe this year will be the year![8D]

RE: A question for baiters.....
 

Better yet why does one use bait?????

RE: A question for baiters.....
 

Ok, but for once lets just look at what Mr. Webster has to say about bait.

Bait: to put food on a hook or trap as a lure for game 2 anything used as a lure

Now with this we include corn, game food, food plots, crops, ponds ect.... So if hunting near a feeder is baiting so is hunting over one of the others.

I had to get this out of my system. Now I will try and explain why I use feeders and food plots if possible.

It is the first of May and since last Nov. we have had maybe 1 inch of rain. The temps have been high enough during the winter to pull moisture out and since around March we have had temps in the high 70' s and 80s with a few 90' s thrown in.
Whats this got to do with feeding and food plots. Everything! No water no food. We have 7 water tanks that are bone dry 1 is left and it is about 80% down. The owner runs about 100 head of cattle but is already selling becouse of no feed coming up. What cattle he keeps will need water and food. I planted a food plot last year and it was still in fair condition but guess what? Removed fince to allow cattle in to eat and was gone in about a month. Can I do anything about it? no[:@]
So here we are with little water and no food. Ground too dry to plant, Rain? who knows.
People say " There are alot of deer this year becouse I see them on the road all the time" WRONG! They are on the side of the road eating the grass and weeds that the cattle cant get to. This is why you see them out there.
I use feeders and Food plots when I can. You have good rain and growing conditions, Forest and fields that have good grazing consider your self lucky. I will trade places with you any day! One condition, You dont get your place back.
Here we have Brown winters, springs, summers and falls. What do I mean? Sand storms, Brown outs and I dont mean smog. Gets into everything. Yes we do have rain, Usually 5 to 12 inches or more and usually all at once. Washes crops out. Last about 3 weeks before the 100+ temps dry it out. There are farmers and ranchers around that have shallow water to irrigate with but most of it around here is deep and cost $$$ to pull up. So thats out.
Starting to see things a little different?
I use feeders as a tool. To add some food to poor conditions in my area. I do not hunt over them! I do not hunt over my food plot! I do scout and find beding areas and the trails they use and hunt these areas.
Not all areas are like the above but most around here are. Water in small towns is being rationed, fines for watering grass, fines for smoking outside or outside fires. Extreamly high fire conditions. Lakes so low that towns are looking to ship water in.
I am not going to talk about the use of feeders vs CWD except to say that it may play such a small part in the spread of the desease that it was very foolish to spend so much money over it to get it stoped in places.
Feeding vs baiting, tool vs lazy hunters!

Back to your question, My feeder pen is 12 X 18 feet My feeder is in the middle and will throw corn past side to side and almost end to end. I use a med. setting not to put out too much corn. My feeder holds 6, 50lb sacks of corn and deer feed total this will last about 3/4' s of the season so you can see that I am not putting out hardly enough to make a difference. I may bump it up alittle depending on what the conditions are and what the deer look like. This spread gives every one a chance to eat some corn where a big pile will be a fight over and will sour easy. In addition I use this pen to pland a food plot in addition to the 3 larger fields If it rains and the farmer dont place cows on them. He does not bother my feeder pens.Sorry I almost forgot. I have 4 feeders on 700 acres. Some I use more deer feed than corn.

Sorry for the long post. It just gets me somtimes when some people say they wont hunt a feeder but plant food plots to hunt over or water.
Guys and Ladies, all hunting areas are not created equal. If you are blessed with great areas to hunt, count your blessings. Some of your friends dont have this. Have a problem choosing which buck you want to shoot becouse there are so many, forgive me but get a life. I saw 4 last year and only 2 were old enough for me to consider shooting. Getting too much rain and snow. Lord Please send us what you dont want and a little more. Your favorite color is Brown, Come on down and role in it becouse we have a lot of it and if you dont wash it off it will make you a great tan. You dont have to pay a dime to hunt! The AVERAGE lease around here is $1,000 to 1,800/gun for a season. Depending on the county the number of bucks you can take is 1 to 3 and maby 2 or more does. I can take 1 whitetail (have not seen one) and 1 muledeer. No DOES. I pay $750/year to hunt. We have 4 hunters paying the same on the lease. Im sorry to say I dont have much [:' (]for those of you that can get 4 or more deer, elk, bear, moose, and what ever else. Must be real bad to have so many options.
Take care and Again I will trade you places in a heart beat!
Rick

RE: A question for baiters.....
 

Well, I think Who gave a pretty good explanation why he does. But I still feel the need to get my .02 in on this one, again.

First off, I don' t hunt over bait, never have. But when we as hunters start to point fingers at each other it really pisses me off. No matter who you are, someone is going to say the way you hunt is for pussies. Just because you hunt one way, doesn' t mean another way is " bad" . Just about everyone uses different tactics to hunt deer, but we are all sportsman, and we should support each other.

Where baiting is legal, I have no problem with it what so ever.

RE: A question for baiters.....
 

Hey Who
What is a feeder pen? You said " My feeder pen is 12 X 18" ???? I don' t under stand what this is.

RE: A question for baiters.....
 

bowhuntingfool a feeder pen keeps the cattle and hogs out of your corn feeder area.
i didnt know this until i had some texas hunters in my club. i had to explain to them that our deer won' t touch corn if the acorns are heavy. and the hogs are needed to clean up corn and keep it from rotting.
i had one that insisted and got mad when i tore his panels down. he understands now , i' ll leave it at that on that one. :D

Now they call it " baiting" hummm maybe in some places but not where i hunt. i watched turkeys and crows eat my corn this year. the turkeys are fine but crows??
they just come a running at the dinner bell here! i still feed corn but i feed more in the off season. i use a auto feeder that slings it. and deer do eat it during the summer.

you know it is kind of hard to get a hook in corn![&:]:D

RE: A question for baiters.....
 

bhf,
As soarkrebel said its for keeping cattle out. I have not seen cattle eating corn but they do like to rub on the legs of the feeders and knock them over. As for keeping the hogs out, thats another story. LOL I dont know if thats possible. A friend of mine used cattle panels for a pen and the crazy things dug under this and knocked over the feeder.
It is to Try and keep unwanted animals out. I also plant wheat or somthing in mine as a small food plot. Oh and that was feet not inches.
My main food plot was one acre and I had planted it in strips of wheat, blackeye peas, hay grazer, sunflowers, and one other thing but I cant think of what it was right off hand. Don' t matter now its gone.[:@]
I did ask the farmer about why he removed the fence and he said it was his land and he needed the area to graze his cattle. It was after the season was over and that was that.
Im not telling you that using a feeder is the way to do things. I am telling you that there are reasons to use them. With natural food being eaten by cattle the deer will naturaly move to areas that have food, water, cover ect.... I hope that by using these I can keep them around the lease and by using a high quality of deer feed I hope to help keep them, in some small way, a little healthier.
I will be talking with the farmer about replanting my food plot. I dont know what he will say about it. I think the least he can do is to let me use his tractor to plow and plant.
Most of the farmers " Dry Land" farm. They depend on rain to water the fields. This works some times but here its not very dependable. Use of irrigation wells is expencive. I planted and the rain came at the right time last year. He did not.
I understand why some of you do not want to hunt Baited areas. I could place a stand near the food plot or feeder and shoot deer, I choose not to do so. What gets me is people who say this is bad and will hunt a " planted" field or water hole and clam its not a baited area.
Well I was hopeing that some one would take me up on changing hunting areas. lol
Take care,
Rick

RE: A question for baiters.....
 

I wouldn' t consider this baiting since you do not hunt over the food. There is a difference between feeding and baiting and I think that you would fall into the feeding side. Many states that do not allow baiting will allow the supplemental feeding of wildlife so long as you are hunting a certain distance away from the feed.