Originally Posted by VTBoneCollector (Post 4044103)

I use to bait when it was legal in our state but the state outlawed it a few years ago. I can honestly say that it didn't help me shoot anymore bucks but does could be shot at will. I didn't mind when they made it illegal because I've felt for a long time that I stood a better chance at some bone when it was natural. As far as bait piles spreading diseases, I would say there is a chance but I also feel that if you limited the amount of bait that was legal to put out, that would help. I would rather just hunt travel corridors than hunt bait but if it's legal in your state, no problem here.

Originally Posted by deernutz (Post 4044310)

Psylocide can't even congratulate someone who shot a deer over bait. So would you congratulate someone who puts out mineral sites or a hunter who plants a field in clover, corn, beans with the intended purpose to hunt over it. Just curious?

Originally Posted by deernutz (Post 4044382)

While we all have our right to have ones opinion. Your feeding the deer either way to get them into range to kill. What about the hunter who works long hrs and hunts public big timber whitetails and is lucky to get opening weekend off every year. Also he doesn't have the time to scout nor the land to plant these food plots. It would be wrong to just throw that pile of feed out? What I'm getting at Psylocide is not everyone fits a certain criteria when it comes to hunting. We all live in different parts of the US, work different jobs, lucky enough to own property, hunt different types of deer. We as hunters if we wanna keep this great family heritage going. We as hunters have to be a little more open minded to how we each choose to hunt. A big buck will always be a big buck no matter what techique we choose to legally harvast the deer. Thats just my two sense.

Originally Posted by Psylocide (Post 4044316)

Of course! Food plots are amazing for all sorts of wildlife, create the habitat and they will come... how could I ever condemn that activity?

Throwing a big ol' bag of corn on the ground just isn't quite the same.

Originally Posted by Murdy (Post 4044583)

It's true food plots have collateral benefits for other wildlife, and it's also true that baiting can have collateral detriments--like disease transmission. But it seems to me from a hunting perspective, they both serve the same function, to lure an animal in for a shot. If it's not impressive to shoot a deer lured in by bait, I can't see how it's impressive to shoot one lured in by a plot, regardless of any benefits to other wildlife.
(I have no ethical problem with baiting, grew up where it was legal, and have done so. I now live in an area where CWD is present and believe it should be illegal here to reduce the spread of that disease.)

Originally Posted by Charlie P (Post 4044617)

Start a thread about hunting over bait behind a high fence using a crossbow and a guide that's a gay atheist and approves of abortion then step back and see what happens.:)

Originally Posted by Charlie P (Post 4044617)

Start a thread about hunting over bait behind a high fence wearing scent lok using a crossbow shooting rages and a guide that's a gay atheist and approves of abortion then step back and see what happens.:)

Originally Posted by Todd1700 (Post 4046841)

And I fail to see how a food plot is more beneficial than a feeder. The only animals I know of that eat grass in a food plot in my area are rabbits and deer. On the other hand animals that eat corn at a feeder? Deer, rabbits, every type of small bird, raccoons, squirrels, hogs, turkeys, etc. So explain to me again how a green patch is more beneficial than a feeder?



So I take that to mean you would not congratulate someone who shot a deer in a green patch either. Because that's nothing more than bait just a like a corn feeder. In both instances it's an artificial food source placed in a specific location by humans in order to lure game animals in for a shot. Any attempt to spin it or sugar coat it so that it seems different than shooting a deer at a feeder is just a mass of self delusion.



Do you think fishing should be illegal? Do you refuse to congratulate people who catch big fish with bait?



I often hear this and I'm not saying that deer can't catch diseases at a feeder. But here are my problems with this notion as a reason to keep baiting illegal. If the risk of disease transmission is the reason for keeping baiting illegal then why isn't it illegal to feed deer period? Because you can feed deer 80 metric tons of corn a year on your land. You just can't hunt them over it. So is it the presence of a hunter sitting over a corn feeder that causes the deer to catch a disease? Obviously not right? Also if legalized baiting were the certain disease spreading doom that some would have you believe then there wouldn't be a deer left alive in the whole state of Texas. Or at the very least they should be having 10 times the disease problems that non-baiting states are having. I have seen no evidence that is the case however. Deer might catch a disease at a feeder but they might also catch one eating under the same white oak tree or off the same patch of honeysuckle vines or licking each others butts for that matter.

I am just constantly amazed at the opinions on baiting. People that think anyone that wants to hunt over a feeder are pond scum will turn around and go sit in a shooting house over a small green patch without giving a second thought to how identical those two activities are. Or perhaps these same people will fly up to Canada and shoot a bear over a bait barrel. Or maybe fly out to Wyoming and sit over the only water hole for 30 miles waiting to shoot an antelope whose thirst has finally overwhelmed his fear of the Double Bull blind next to the waters edge. What is the moral, ethical or sporting challenge difference in any of those things compared to hunting near a corn feeder? What greater hunting skill is being displayed or brought into use in those situations? Climb a ladder stand near a feeder and you are an unethical slob that cheats to kill an animal. But sit in a shooting house over a green patch in Alabama; a blind next to a water hole in Wyoming or a tree stand over a bait barrel in Canada and you are Daniel Boone? And a much more ethical person to boot? LOL! Ridiculous BS.

The truth is that most people that are opposed to baiting oppose it simply because it's probably always been illegal where they live and so they were raised to view it as wrong. And like most unquestioning sheep in this country they never pause to ask themselves, "hey wait a minute, why is this illegal when food plots are not".

To me hunting over a food plot being legal while feeders are illegal is like saying it's OK to night hunt with brand A spotlight but totally illegal if you use brand B spotlight. Makes no sense.