baiting ethics
 

Ive been lurking around this site now off and on for almost 3 years. Nice to see some of you keyboard warriors still think that your better than everybody else because of how long you've been a member here, All that shows me is that you spend more time online than you do in the woods Mr Big Bad Hunter...

Anyhow my topic of discussion to day is on Ethics. Every week or so I see people post about baiting, of course this then sparks debate from those who "stalk there prey" Lick the dirt to see if a buck has peed on it this week, those who spend thousands of hours each year hunting there prey. "Hunting over bait isn't fair" they say, "its unethical"

Ok, If I hunt solely for the meat to put in my freezer how is that unethical when all you do is hunt for sport and for the rack? Call it what you want... Its allot more ethical to take game for food, and Im sorry, if me using corn offends you, I work 2 jobs and go back to school as a full time student to put food on my table I do not have the time money or resources to go to some big outfitter or WMA and hunt the way Mr Internet Troll says I should. So go ahead hop up on a stump and tell me how wrong I am for baiting.

I have no problem with it as long as it does not go against the local hunting regulations defined by the DNR or local Fish and Wildlife Agency. The hunting purists will disagree, but to each their own.
Some of those same people that disagree with the use of corn may be the same ones using mineral blocks, deer cocaine, or planting food plots and hunting over them. This really starts splitting hairs at that point.
I bait on occasion. It is legal in my state. My time in the field is often limited and I want the best experience I can have with the time I am allotted.
I don't have a problem with it.

Fire away!

My hunting ethics is different than yours and many others. We all make choices, and its up to you to make them choices.

I respect the deer I harvest. I however find it hard to respect a lot of hunters.

Again my choice..

You truely don't want to know what rattles around in my head like Pac-Man gobbling up pellets. :s4: chomp chomp chomp

I think it's all a matter of what you want to do... I definitely hunt over bait and also stalk my prey here in North Carolina. The way I look at it is if it's a legal thing to do then it really isn't anyone else's business of how I go about my hunt. It always seems to go back down to the old saying "Treat others as you wish to be treated", it more people followed this incredibly simple statement we would surely have a lot less conflict in this world.

I would say hunt and enjoy the sport however you choose and dont worry about others but it doesnt sound like you enjoy our sport at all. (which is fine)
But there is alot of things you can do that are more time and $$ efficiant ways to put put food on the table than hunting. Pike

Baiting, except for turkeys, is legal in OK. i supplement the deers natural food which encourages them to hang around our properties. Deer are not shot anywhere near our feeders or in our game plots.

If baiting is legal in your state then shoot them under your feeders or near your bait piles if thats your thing.

I don't hunt over bait, but it's legal to hunt deer over bait here in MD, so it doesn't matter to me if someone does. I have found that piles of corn that are hunted a lot are usually avoided during legal hunting hours and I have set up on trails barely 50 yards away from the trail leading to the bait pile. The deer avoided the bait, but I took several that came my way.

well, ya I agree I could go to Waly-mart or Micky D's, if I want fatty greasy meat, I shoot deer because I like the leanness, its alot healthier and taste better...And who are you to say I dont enjoy the sport? Id love nothing more than spending weeks in big woods....but my family and real life come first....

As for sport Its not about how big of a rack I got, its about the meat in the freezer....its nice "hunting" from my back yard with a feeder in it...however yes it would be great to actually hit the big woods camp, hunt fish etc....

100% agree with the statements above, if its legal and you think its ethical then do it... However, if your just gunna come on here to start an arguement that i myself and im sure many other people on here are tired of seeing then keep your opinion about the "trolls" to yourself. Im also a full time college student and when im not in class Im on the baseball field so i feel ya on the no time situation, but i use this site to learn new tactics and get advice, not come here and start arguements.
To each his own and happy hunting!

If it's legal, have at it. I'm fine with all legal methods. I don't bait because it would be ineffective where I hunt. I do keep corn out in the yard tho and see a lot of deer come to it, just so I have something to watch at the house. Nice first paragraph tho, lol. If you're gonna flame all the members at least learn how to spell "their" first ;)
-Jake

Doesn't bother me at all if you bait and it's legal where you live. I also appreciate when hunters in my area bait, because I know where the mature bucks won't be. ;) Baiting is a great way to get meat, but if you're after a trophy, not so much in most places (in my experience anyway). It usually places to much human pressure on a stand and forces the big guys to go nocturnal and/or avoid that spot. Habitual baiters make good deer bumpers in my experience (picture little bubbles in the woods that the bigger bucks maneuver around during daylight).

I am from Tx where it is legal to bait. It is a very effective way of shooting does for the freezer. And in my experience bucks that many people would consider a trophy do come to the feeders. If a feeder is there all year round they become accustomed to its presence and therefore are not deer "bumpers". But on the other hand if you want the biggest and the baddest you do have to get out and foot hunt. We use feeders to cull out does and to fill the freezer every year but when it comes down to hunting for the big one a tromping thru the bushes we will go. Also very effective on hogs as a side note.

Baiting has to be one of the strangest topics in all the hunting world. Here in Alabama it is illegal to hunt over loose corn yet perfectly legal to hunt over a corn field or green patch. What's the difference? All of those things are bait placed in a specific location to attract game animals.

You have guys here that think anyone that would hunt deer over a corn feeder is a lowlife about two clicks above a child molester. Then that same guy will board a plane; fly to Canada; and shoot a bear over a bait barrel. Or fly out west and hunt antelope by sitting over the only water hole for 20 square miles. What the hell is the moral difference?

Game biologists here tow the party line and spew baseless propaganda about the potential health dangers of feeding wild game corn. But there are a couple of problems with their argument. One, it is not illegal to feed animals corn. It's only illegal to hunt over it. If the reason for it being illegal lies in the realm of wildlife health issues like disease transmission then shouldn't it be illegal to just feed wild animals corn period?
And two, there are states that have allowed baiting with things like corn for a long time and they have no more health issues with their game animals than any other state.

Really...can we all stop beating this issue to death. You're ASKING for a negative response from people with comments like you've made. With all of the negative issues and difficult times that we as hunters face, can we simply be happy that people get the chance to hunt and introduce young people to the sport at all? If it's legal, then who cares how they hunt or why they do it...just hunt!

hahaha! I got you guys all stirred up!!!!!!!yep i was trollin!!!!

:busted::busted::busted::busted::busted::busted::b usted::busted::busted::busted::busted::busted::bus ted::busted::busted::busted::busted::busted::buste d::busted::busted::busted::busted::busted::busted: :violin::violin::violin::violin::violin::violin::w ave::wave::wave::wave::wave:

If it is legal in your state to hunt over it the have at it and happy harvesting.

As to whether it is ethical or not, it is a by choice issue, if it is legal to do so.

As to those opposed to any baiting for any type of game. When was the last time you went fishing and caught something by not baiting your hook? And is it fair to the fish if you use artificial bait? At least with live bait, the fish gets a last supper. :P

I dont care what another hunter does as long as it is legal. If you want to hunt for meat then do so if you want to hunt for a trophy then so be it. In NJ where i hunt baiting is legal and i will put down apples and corn regularly. As far as the meat is concerned i could care less about it. Dont get me wrong it never goes to waste i have plenty of family and friends who love it but not me. I hunt for a nice rack and trophy. There is no one who needs to hunt for food anymore but if you are a meat hunter and enjoy eating venison i dont have a problem with that to each his own. There are many different reasons people hunt and different ways of hunting. No one should judge anyone because they disagree. Just my 2 cents

So this thread is titled "Baiting Ethics" then I'm assuming that you are not asking if it's ethical to bait but how to bait ethically. If that's the question then I'd say use something more nutritional than corn. After all, you're asking the deer to give it's life for food so corn just isn't good enough nor is a $10 mineral block or a bag of salt. I think you should buy the best deer food on the market if you want to bait ethically and put it in a place where there's plenty of water and bedding to make the deer as comfortable as possible before you put it to rest in your freezer....;)

lol WV, I saw a video on youtube not long ago where a guy was pouring corn and carrots out talking about how it was all about the presentation...next scene he is setting out china and candles lol....

Hope all you guys have a great season no matter how or where you hunt.

Im not!! Your the one that posted that the only reason you hunt is to put food on the table. Also quit fibbing to yourself, you can buy healthy food and it still would be more time & $$ efficient than hunting to put food on the table. Pike

See your the one that said that the only reason you hunt is to put food on the table. I just said that there isnt anything wrong with that!!
Seems to me that the only reason that you started this thread was to pick fights. Pike

I think Mr. Oaktree needs to go back to lurking instead of posting.

This is why hunters like us will someday lose the battle against anti hunters. It will probably not be in any of our lifetimes but for those whose lives that it would occur during I feel sorry for. Why is it that everyone has to beat this dead horse over and over again? For some crazy reason people have this great urge to somehow feel that in some part of their life that they are better or more ethical about something than someone else. All these commercials on tv about stand united with your hunting brothers and sisters and yet people are more worried about tearing the person next to them down for enjoying the same sport they do. I wonder if people who play other sports do this kind of crap and thats exactly what it is. Can you imagine an NFL lineman saying to another, you know I dont really like the way you got to the quarterback in that game. I found it unethical and quite offensive if I must say so. Come on people what the hell is wrong with you? Do you think the person who taught you how to hunt would want you bashing another hunter just for the way they decide to get a deer and if they would well then they had no business what so ever teaching someone to hunt because they sure as hell dont have a clue what its about. It always makes me laugh at a commercial such as Micheal Wadell saying welcome to the brotherhood. The brotherhood of what is my question because you can goto a local gun raffle of hunters and the room is as divided as a meeting of congress or something. All I am saying is that no way that this great sport of ours will last forever with such opionated and judgemental people tearing down its own. Go ahead and laugh if you think I'm crazy for believing that it will one day fail and believe me one day it will be gone. The only thing that will be left is a generation blaming the one before itself for why this great sport is gone. Sound familiar people about alot of other things through out history. It will not be hard for outsiders to tear down a tradition that is already being torn down inside of itself. So why doesnt everyone just worry more about topics that help us all instead of starting posts like this one.

seriously, I dont see where getting these guys fired up a bit is anything but positive, DNR is going to do what it wants....In Georgia for example its legal to hunt over bait for the first time this year, (why because of over population... YES this issue is like beating a dead horse, THEY WILL NEVER TAKE AWAY HUNTING, if anything from what Ive seen they are actually loosening the regulations in many states. If they took it away it would create massive overpopulation...Not even Al Gore :poke:could bring himself to do that...

:hit::hit::hit:

I fully understand why you hunt over bait right now. You need the meat and you don't have the time. And as mentioned, baiting helps keep harvest numbers where they need to be. But at some point, perhaps in retirement, you might have the time/money and not need more than 1 deer, at most for your freezer. And then you may do much or all of your hunting without bait.

With respect to hunting only for antlers, every state and province I know of requires that you not waste the meat. So by law, trophy hunters must either use the meat themselves or donate it. Only poachers shoot deer and cut off heads for mounts leaving the rest to rot, and I doubt there are any folks like that on this forum.

baiting in alabama is illegal but everybody is doing it, so we run hounds (which is legal) and its like setting the woods on fire, every deer in the country gets run out of its bed:barmy:


BTW j/k, i like to still hunt along trails leading to and from bedding/feeding areas with a bow in hand:s4:, but i'm not about to interfere with anyones method of legal hunting...when someone elses rights are stripped yours are next:s4:

I just got a pick of my buddy shooting a nice buck off his bait pile. I told him he over did the corn but he said, "You can never have enough of that corn stuff".

Hilarious, DN
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I grew up in northern Wisconsin, where baiting was legal, and I did it. I now live in Illinois, where it's illegal, so I don't. I don't really see baiting as much of an ethical issue. Harvesting meat in an efficient manner is fine, so long as you use the meat. I honestly don't get the relationship between fair chase and ethics. Either its ok to kill an animal or its not--the how isn't that significant, so long as you are attempting to do it in as clean a manner as possible. Are farmers doing something wrong if they don't give a steer 3 steps before they try to kill it?

Where in WI you grow up?

If it's legal, decide for yourself. I have no problem with it. I stand hunt. I still hunt. I have done drives. I have taken deer by setting up where the deer are likely to run from folks running dogs. I have used sexual attractants. I have grunted deer in and used calls to try to trick a Doe into thinking her lost fawn is me.
My objective is to harvest an animal. Could I buy the meat cheaper? probably. But I want to harvest the animal myself.

Here, baiting is illegal. Thus, like deerjacking, it is not only unethical but illlegal. I know that many states and provinces allow artificial baiting. Funny how by crossing a border, it is now legal and ethical!
As I mentioned on another thread, I have been in the situation of needing to put meat on our table, and ( not proud of it) shot my deer over artifical bait- within legal season, times, limits, etc., but still illegal jsut the same. For a long time now not needing to rely on the meat, I prefer still hunting or stands in areas I have scouted for sign and natural feed crops. I also have (and do every chance I can get) spring hunt bear in Canada over baits. I love it, its exciting and relaxing. You usuallly are able to see multiple animals of an animal not consistently found by other means. But when you decide to shoot, it is no challenge. Known distances, comfortable rests, bang. Ethically of course it is no different than bait shooting deer. It can not be denied (and the origiinator of this thread admits) that bait hunting is efficient...but not skilfull.

Yeah, whatever. I picked up a lot of fresh road kills for the meat and never used bait. Now that is really cost effective!

good one oaktree30, you layed out the bait and look how many showed up...LOL your freezer is full by now..

Baiting is not legal in Il. But I got to tell ya, when bow season is coming to a close and you haven't had 1 dang shot at a deer( any deer) , it sure would be nice to try. Got a drawer full of unfilled archery tags mostly from my early days of hunting.

Am I the only one that can see the diference between leagal and ethical? I do what I do and judge no one based on what they do as long is it is put to good use. Do I hunt over bait? In lower MI yep, do I kill deer? Yep. Do I up north? Yep. Do I kill deer? Yes sir! To question someones ability because they hunt over bait is crazy. You have no idea what conditions they are hunting under.

Hey Ryan
 

When was the last time you hunted over bait in Michigan?

I know WNYhunter...It was gettin to quite, had to get the boys riled up about something...notice I even came back and admitted I was just messin around....and they still flock to the "bait" just like a herd of deer!....Look how many jumped up on the log and preach just like I said they would....lol

We feed (bait) year round, due to the fact that we want to keep deer on our property. We have a lot of poachers in our part of the woods, so we need to go above and beyond to keep them here. Let us keep in mind that deer are smart, and baiting does not assure that you will harvest a deer. Deer do not go up to corn and say "oh look corn, I guess i will be casual about this meal and not care if anyone is trying to kill me" no they are just as cautious as they would be in a natural field of food. and on that note wouldnt planting a field be bating; since it did not exist before you planted it? just throwing that out there.