Food plots vs ethics
01-08-2012, 06:29 AM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Maine
Posts: 328
Food plots vs ethics
This thread is not met to start a debate. I am having a hard time with wanting to plant a food plot in Maine where there are no deer and on the flip side i also am fighting with myself thinking that it is legalized baiting. Can someone help me steer the right way?
Thanks
Thanks
01-08-2012, 08:56 AM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: central and east texas
Posts: 4,894
obviously a bad idea for you if yer asking here. everyone has an opinion, yers is the only one that counts. i usually find where it is illegal to bait, the guys are against it...where its legal, the guys are for it (unless they grew up in a illegal baiting setting)...so to each his own. there isnt anything wrong with either way.
01-08-2012, 09:13 AM
#6
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Southeast
Posts: 162
A food plot is only baiting if you hunt over it. That is the only way ethics even plays a part. If you do not hunt over the plot, it is supplemental feeding, nothing more.
Furthermore, I see nothing unethical about hunting deer that are attracted to your property due to a food plot so long as they are not shot in direct conjunction with the plot. That is no different than finding and hunting a white oak flat. Moreover, if it is legal and you wish to shoot them in the food plot, I have no problem with that, Ethics is completely personal.
Now comes the innuerable questions of how big must a food plot be ad nauseum. It does not matter what the size of the plot is so long as it is not hunted. On one piece of property I managed, we had several food plots over 40 acres. Put a hunter in a tree with a bow and show me the baiting aspect of that.
I have deer that come into my yard feed almost daily. I do not shoot them in my yard. However, across the road on a wooded ridge from which they come, I have three stree stands. I hunt them regularly and kill several deer from them. Not a thing to even consider regarding ethics.
Ethics is personal. You make the decision and it is noone else's business. Just go do what you feel is right.
Furthermore, I see nothing unethical about hunting deer that are attracted to your property due to a food plot so long as they are not shot in direct conjunction with the plot. That is no different than finding and hunting a white oak flat. Moreover, if it is legal and you wish to shoot them in the food plot, I have no problem with that, Ethics is completely personal.
Now comes the innuerable questions of how big must a food plot be ad nauseum. It does not matter what the size of the plot is so long as it is not hunted. On one piece of property I managed, we had several food plots over 40 acres. Put a hunter in a tree with a bow and show me the baiting aspect of that.
I have deer that come into my yard feed almost daily. I do not shoot them in my yard. However, across the road on a wooded ridge from which they come, I have three stree stands. I hunt them regularly and kill several deer from them. Not a thing to even consider regarding ethics.
Ethics is personal. You make the decision and it is noone else's business. Just go do what you feel is right.
01-08-2012, 11:08 AM
#7
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 970
There is a big difference in having food plots, and bait stands. Bait stands are where you are dropping a certain type, or mixes, of food that you bring in.
If you want to have a feed plot, go for it. There is a lot more effort involved in planting food plants for deer than there are in making bait piles. I will give the people who take the time to have the feed plots the right to hunt over them.
If you want to hunt over hundreds of pounds of corn/apples/pumpkins that you cart in, do not believe you are hunting. I have no respect for people who can only hunt over piles of bait food.
The only thing I have ever baited, and don't care if people do this, is small game. It was a good way for me to begin to learn to deal with the excitement of the adrenalin rush in a safer manner. I was shooting squirrels off of a corn pile. I got to experience part of the hunt, and I was able to keep the number of squirrels down preventing them from causing damage.
That, and I got to learn how to eat what I killed. Gutting squirrels is a thankless task compared to deer. Way more effort than I would have imagined. I still brought several of them in as a 12 year old.
If you want to have a feed plot, go for it. There is a lot more effort involved in planting food plants for deer than there are in making bait piles. I will give the people who take the time to have the feed plots the right to hunt over them.
If you want to hunt over hundreds of pounds of corn/apples/pumpkins that you cart in, do not believe you are hunting. I have no respect for people who can only hunt over piles of bait food.
The only thing I have ever baited, and don't care if people do this, is small game. It was a good way for me to begin to learn to deal with the excitement of the adrenalin rush in a safer manner. I was shooting squirrels off of a corn pile. I got to experience part of the hunt, and I was able to keep the number of squirrels down preventing them from causing damage.
That, and I got to learn how to eat what I killed. Gutting squirrels is a thankless task compared to deer. Way more effort than I would have imagined. I still brought several of them in as a 12 year old.
01-08-2012, 12:02 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Southeast Missouri
Posts: 2,178
I can assure You that planting a Food Plot is NOT going to guarantee You shoot a Deer,it will help draw Deer and Wildlife in to Your area/Farm but they can come and go when ever they want and at any time of the day or night unlike they are limited to showing up to be able to eat corn before the other Wildlife get to it first like Squirrels,Chipmonks etc...when using a Automatic Feeder and the timer kicks on and the spinner throws out "Bait"/Corn.
Food Plots can be planted to also help Turkeys,Quail and other Animals on Your Property,it gives You a great feeling of accomplishment to help the Animals/Wildlife in Your area make it thru the tough times in late Winter and early Spring.We usually plant Wheat and Foraging Oats in the Spring time and in the late Fall we plant Foraging Rape,Brassicas,Turnips,Raddishes,Sugar Beets and Winter Wheat.
Summer time is best for Soybeans and Corn if You have the equipment and money,Sunflowers help most all Birds especially Doves,we even plant Clover which last for several years and it is easy to simply frost-seed it in late Jan,Feb or early March along the field edges,logging roads and other pathways.Another thing to plant to help the Wildlife is Fruit and Nut Tree's also.....get Your mind out of the idea that it isn't right to plant Food Plots,especially if You want to improve Your Property and help the Wildlife where You live.There's a lot more satisfaction to planting food plots than most realize...and its a great feeling to see some thing grow and have the Turkeys,Quails and other Birds use it also.
Food Plots can be planted to also help Turkeys,Quail and other Animals on Your Property,it gives You a great feeling of accomplishment to help the Animals/Wildlife in Your area make it thru the tough times in late Winter and early Spring.We usually plant Wheat and Foraging Oats in the Spring time and in the late Fall we plant Foraging Rape,Brassicas,Turnips,Raddishes,Sugar Beets and Winter Wheat.
Summer time is best for Soybeans and Corn if You have the equipment and money,Sunflowers help most all Birds especially Doves,we even plant Clover which last for several years and it is easy to simply frost-seed it in late Jan,Feb or early March along the field edges,logging roads and other pathways.Another thing to plant to help the Wildlife is Fruit and Nut Tree's also.....get Your mind out of the idea that it isn't right to plant Food Plots,especially if You want to improve Your Property and help the Wildlife where You live.There's a lot more satisfaction to planting food plots than most realize...and its a great feeling to see some thing grow and have the Turkeys,Quails and other Birds use it also.
Last edited by GTOHunter; 01-08-2012 at 12:11 PM.
07-24-2012, 04:01 PM
#9
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Western, NY
Posts: 144
I can assure You that planting a Food Plot is NOT going to guarantee You shoot a Deer,it will help draw Deer and Wildlife in to Your area/Farm but they can come and go when ever they want and at any time of the day or night unlike they are limited to showing up to be able to eat corn before the other Wildlife get to it first like Squirrels,Chipmonks etc...when using a Automatic Feeder and the timer kicks on and the spinner throws out "Bait"/Corn.
Food Plots can be planted to also help Turkeys,Quail and other Animals on Your Property,it gives You a great feeling of accomplishment to help the Animals/Wildlife in Your area make it thru the tough times in late Winter and early Spring.We usually plant Wheat and Foraging Oats in the Spring time and in the late Fall we plant Foraging Rape,Brassicas,Turnips,Raddishes,Sugar Beets and Winter Wheat.
Summer time is best for Soybeans and Corn if You have the equipment and money,Sunflowers help most all Birds especially Doves,we even plant Clover which last for several years and it is easy to simply frost-seed it in late Jan,Feb or early March along the field edges,logging roads and other pathways.Another thing to plant to help the Wildlife is Fruit and Nut Tree's also.....get Your mind out of the idea that it isn't right to plant Food Plots,especially if You want to improve Your Property and help the Wildlife where You live.There's a lot more satisfaction to planting food plots than most realize...and its a great feeling to see some thing grow and have the Turkeys,Quails and other Birds use it also.
Food Plots can be planted to also help Turkeys,Quail and other Animals on Your Property,it gives You a great feeling of accomplishment to help the Animals/Wildlife in Your area make it thru the tough times in late Winter and early Spring.We usually plant Wheat and Foraging Oats in the Spring time and in the late Fall we plant Foraging Rape,Brassicas,Turnips,Raddishes,Sugar Beets and Winter Wheat.
Summer time is best for Soybeans and Corn if You have the equipment and money,Sunflowers help most all Birds especially Doves,we even plant Clover which last for several years and it is easy to simply frost-seed it in late Jan,Feb or early March along the field edges,logging roads and other pathways.Another thing to plant to help the Wildlife is Fruit and Nut Tree's also.....get Your mind out of the idea that it isn't right to plant Food Plots,especially if You want to improve Your Property and help the Wildlife where You live.There's a lot more satisfaction to planting food plots than most realize...and its a great feeling to see some thing grow and have the Turkeys,Quails and other Birds use it also.
07-25-2012, 04:48 PM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location:
Posts: 2,186
Don't read any more into this other than this being my personal experience associated with "loose bait" and "food plots".
I have hunted deer since 1962. Limited to across the SE USA and parts of Texas. I have hunted over harvested and un-harvested corn and soy beans. I have hunted with a "spin feeder" in sight, timed to go off at "prime movement time" - early a.m. and late p.m. I have hunted over green fields (i.e. fall/winter food plots). I have planted oak trees, crab apple trees, and persimmon trees with the intent of creating a place where deer will feed. I have personally created mineral lick areas for the deer to use. And I have hunted areas where none of these were even close by.
Deer will come to food ... any food. The kickers of course is when will they show up and are you going to there at the time.
The timed feeders were in Texas. Legal, and frankly not my cup of tea. I sat at the edge of one very long draw covered with misquite and watched deer pile up waiting for the feeder to go off .... then rush to the feeder at the first sound of spinning, fighting one another for the few cups of corn dispensed. That is just too "canned" for me.
As far as ag fields? Very mixed expereince. One 80 acres of soybeans I hunted for a few years, there was seldom a time that I did not see dozens of deer feeding around the edges. About any time of day. And I have hunted over ag fields in areas that looked great, but there were seldom any deer cruising them in daylight.
Food plots ? Some of the 35 or so plots on the place I hunt are traditionally visited by deer regularly. About every other season someone will kill a nice buck off a food plot. Usually early in the season or when the does are in estrus, and being chased. Practically every deer killed off these plots has been after 3:30 p.m. Most of those very late in the day. And there are other food plots on that same land that for some reason are very lightly used. Why ? I have no clue.
My conclusion .... food plots help feed game. They will indeed attract deer to the area and can offer a relatively easy method to bring a deer into shooting range during legal shooting hours. They are not, however, sure fire.
I have hunted deer since 1962. Limited to across the SE USA and parts of Texas. I have hunted over harvested and un-harvested corn and soy beans. I have hunted with a "spin feeder" in sight, timed to go off at "prime movement time" - early a.m. and late p.m. I have hunted over green fields (i.e. fall/winter food plots). I have planted oak trees, crab apple trees, and persimmon trees with the intent of creating a place where deer will feed. I have personally created mineral lick areas for the deer to use. And I have hunted areas where none of these were even close by.
Deer will come to food ... any food. The kickers of course is when will they show up and are you going to there at the time.
The timed feeders were in Texas. Legal, and frankly not my cup of tea. I sat at the edge of one very long draw covered with misquite and watched deer pile up waiting for the feeder to go off .... then rush to the feeder at the first sound of spinning, fighting one another for the few cups of corn dispensed. That is just too "canned" for me.
As far as ag fields? Very mixed expereince. One 80 acres of soybeans I hunted for a few years, there was seldom a time that I did not see dozens of deer feeding around the edges. About any time of day. And I have hunted over ag fields in areas that looked great, but there were seldom any deer cruising them in daylight.
Food plots ? Some of the 35 or so plots on the place I hunt are traditionally visited by deer regularly. About every other season someone will kill a nice buck off a food plot. Usually early in the season or when the does are in estrus, and being chased. Practically every deer killed off these plots has been after 3:30 p.m. Most of those very late in the day. And there are other food plots on that same land that for some reason are very lightly used. Why ? I have no clue.
My conclusion .... food plots help feed game. They will indeed attract deer to the area and can offer a relatively easy method to bring a deer into shooting range during legal shooting hours. They are not, however, sure fire.