Baiting?
08-23-2011, 06:35 PM
#31
Spike
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 31
One thing I like to do when baiting was legal in Michigan was too collect acorns from the trees in the neighborhood and wait until well after the acorns had dropped and most had been eaten by the animals. Then I'd take a them and throw them out when deer were still craving them but there weren't too many around. All deer in my area love acorns so if you get them coming to a spot where they are still available, they will be back as long as you keep putting out acorns. Sure it takes a few hours to pick up a couple 5 gallon buckets but its worth it in the end.
Sugar beets are also very popular where I hunt in Michigan when they did have baiting as well as corn. Deer sure to love the sugar beets too and pretty cheap as well.
Sugar beets are also very popular where I hunt in Michigan when they did have baiting as well as corn. Deer sure to love the sugar beets too and pretty cheap as well.
08-25-2011, 08:24 AM
#32
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 320
something maybe, i put 2 of every apple i could find out..i crushed one of each...7 deer came by...all of them sniffed, or looked at it..none ate a bite of them..i think if you were hunting in an apple orchid, it might work though, or where there might be one around the area even.
those apple basically decomposed where i put them at, nothing ate them, except my buddy we call the pig, he ate the warshington one.
those apple basically decomposed where i put them at, nothing ate them, except my buddy we call the pig, he ate the warshington one.
FWIW re: baiting, I think it's a very effective tactic for taking a doe or immature buck. I'm firmly convinced, based on both personal experience and expert advice, that it does nothing to directly improve your chances of taking a mature buck. As most have noted here, mature bucks are smart enough to avoid feeders and bait piles during daylight (the ones dumb enough to feed on them during daylight are shot before they can make it to mature status). Common sense.
You can, however, catch them while they wait in cover intercepting does that come and go to a bait pile or feeder. As someone noted above, place your stand 200 yards from the feeder near a trail leading to it, and you may see the bucks waiting there that the guy sitting on the bait will never see. It's worked for me.
I love seeing a huge pile of bait on public land, as I know exactly where the other hunters will be...and where the big bucks will likely not be. From there, it's a matter of finding where the bucks hole up until dark. So another way to look at it is baiting may well be effective on mature bucks, but you have to change your tactics a bit. You don't want to sit watching the bait pile, but rather watch where the bucks are waiting on the does that go to the bait pile.
Last edited by UPHunter08; 08-25-2011 at 08:26 AM.
08-25-2011, 09:09 AM
#33
Spike
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Menlo, Ga.
Posts: 97
In north Georgia its legal to supplemental feed year round but you cant hunt within 200yds. or within sight. same with mineral sites.
South Georgia passed a law this year allowing hunters to hunt directly over bait sights.
I personly dont like sitting watching a feeder all day, after season starts most mature animals just wont come in during legal shooting hrs. "However" hunting the down wind trail leading to the bait site has been productive speacily late afternoon as most mature deer will stage just short of feeders and wait for the cover of darkness to enter bait sight.
Lots of young deer are shot over feeders every year with the hunter never knowing there was a "bigger deer" standing in the shadows waiting. That only makes them more feeder shy...some wont come to feeders no matter what..too dangerous. There are some states I'm sure this does'nt apply to (Texas being one). My experiance is with southern deer and their habitate, thick cover and lots of natural browse so a pile of corn is just not worth risking their hide over. It certainly depends on what animals youre targeting, if youre meat hunting...feeders will fit the bill..if you're hunting mature bucks...forget it, their too smart..happens every blue moon & on T.V.
I run a gravity feeder year round but its inside a 25 acre sanctuary & only go there 3 times a year to fill. I personly would rather supply them a place to feed, bed, water, safety, and hunt trails down wind leading into these areas...they will filter thru and you stand a lot better chance not getting busted. Any stand site youre hunting and fill youre walking on egg shells (spooking deer) odds are your hunting to close...back off and hunt from as far as possible & always DOWN WIND!
So I'm not opposed to hunting over bait, just saying theres better tactics regarding that bait site than staring at a pile of corn all day.
South Georgia passed a law this year allowing hunters to hunt directly over bait sights.
I personly dont like sitting watching a feeder all day, after season starts most mature animals just wont come in during legal shooting hrs. "However" hunting the down wind trail leading to the bait site has been productive speacily late afternoon as most mature deer will stage just short of feeders and wait for the cover of darkness to enter bait sight.
Lots of young deer are shot over feeders every year with the hunter never knowing there was a "bigger deer" standing in the shadows waiting. That only makes them more feeder shy...some wont come to feeders no matter what..too dangerous. There are some states I'm sure this does'nt apply to (Texas being one). My experiance is with southern deer and their habitate, thick cover and lots of natural browse so a pile of corn is just not worth risking their hide over. It certainly depends on what animals youre targeting, if youre meat hunting...feeders will fit the bill..if you're hunting mature bucks...forget it, their too smart..happens every blue moon & on T.V.
I run a gravity feeder year round but its inside a 25 acre sanctuary & only go there 3 times a year to fill. I personly would rather supply them a place to feed, bed, water, safety, and hunt trails down wind leading into these areas...they will filter thru and you stand a lot better chance not getting busted. Any stand site youre hunting and fill youre walking on egg shells (spooking deer) odds are your hunting to close...back off and hunt from as far as possible & always DOWN WIND!
So I'm not opposed to hunting over bait, just saying theres better tactics regarding that bait site than staring at a pile of corn all day.
