Baiting Deer – Good, Bad or Ugly?
I was reading a post by Arthur over at SimplyOutdoors.Net the other night. He had an excellent post on baiting deer. After reading his post, I found that we have some of the same opinions about baiting Deer.
I've never given much thought to baiting Deer until recently. When I moved to Texas 8 years ago, I was amazed at how many people here used corn feeders. If you didn't know any better, you'd think that a Deer couldn't be killed in Texas unless you had a corn feeder!
What's even more bizarre is that a lot of Texas hunters do not consider sitting over a corn feeder as baiting!
In the area where we hunt in Oklahoma, more and more hunters are using corn feeders. I personally do not see the attraction. I've tried it and I believe it's a bunch of Deer pellets. Sure, I saw Deer, quite a few Deer to be exact. But it just wasn't for me.
However, I'll be the first to put a lot of work in and grow a food plot. I'll take a good food plot over any type of feeder any day.
I never stopped to think about it, but I guess you can consider food plots as baiting also. If that's so, so be it. Unfortunately, where we hunt in Oklahoma, many of the landowners raise Cattle to supplement their income. If a good food plot will attract Deer, it'll attract Cattle a helluva lot faster, especially in Winter! Needless to say, we don't plant many food plots!
I believe baiting Deer is a personal decision. Each Hunter has to decide whether or not they feel okay hunting over bait. It doesn't matter if that bait is a truckload of Sugar Beets, a corn feeder or a food plot.
Baiting Deer - The Good
I believe the can be positive aspects of baiting Deer. For one thing, if you practice harvesting Does, it can help you remove Does that are straining herds in over populated areas.
Also, if you're putting out a lot of bait, it may help Deer put on a little more fat before Winter arrives. This may help many of them make it through Winter and to Spring greenup.
Baiting deer can also be a good thing for new hunters. How many of you could remain rock still when you first started Deer hunting? New hunters want to see Deer! Even if they don't get the opportunity to take one. It's better to see Deer, even over a bait pile, than to spend the whole day shivering and moving around because you're bored, wishing you were back home playing video games.
Baiting Deer - The Bad
In some areas, a Deer herd can become dependent on bait. This isn't good if you stop putting it out after Deer season.
Over the last few years, I've also read stories of Hunters sitting over bait piles after hours or after the season has closed and poaching deer.
Probably the worse thing about baiting is that it can spread disease's among the Deer herd. If you live in an area that has cases of Chronic Wasting Disease, you really need to take a long hard look at baiting.
Deer are browsers. They don't feed at trough's like Cows. Think more in terms of Goats. They take a nip here and a bite there. When Deer feed at bait piles, pieces of food get mouthed and left behind. Other deer can pick these pieces of food up and eat them. If the first Deer was diseased, the disease is passed on. By concentrating Deer in one area with bait, diseases's can spread through the herd quickly, having a devastating and long lasting effect on local Deer herds.
Baiting Deer - The Ugly
If there is one thing that turns me off about baiting, it's that most Hunters stop doing it as soon as Deer season is over.
Why is that a problem?
Because Deer season ends just as Winter is ramping up. If Deer are used to supplementing their browse habits by stopping by a bait pile or corn feeder, then all of a sudden it's gone, it can have devastating effects on the herd during the Winter. Especially the further North you are.
That's why I prefer food plots. They're there for many months. Some are there year round. They feed Deer through the Winter and into the most nutritional challenging time of year, just before Spring green up.
Hey Hunters, if you're going to bait, at least keep the bait out until Spring greenup arrives!
Better yet, plant food plots. It's less likely to pass disease and the Deer will get long lasting benefits from it. And you won't have to think about putting out more feed on Sunday afternoon, you can stay in and watch football!
As a final note, in some States, baiting and feeding wild Deer is against the law. So make sure you read all the regulations before putting out that pile of corn!
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Hey….thanks for the link and great post. You took it in a different direction than I thought of. Loved the pro/con views. Great idea!
I live in the great state of Tennessee which does not allow baiting. I spent 5 years in the Northwoods of Wisconsin were baiting is the norm and is legal.
Now there is a huge advantage to hunting over corn or other bait. If a deer is in the area they may approach your feed in the daylight area. However, you will have to be on top of your game still. If you stink, no deer. If you are noisy in your stand or blink, no deer. If you set yourself up in an area that deer can easily pick you out of the normal environment, no deer. Sure the deer will still eat your corn or whatever, but they will do so after dark.
Having experienced both sides I personally would prefer baiting… Our ancestors used the method to hunt and I don’t feel that it is cheating. We were designed to be thinkers not chasers like wolves. We can’t smell them, we are too clumsy to sneak up on them regularly. we need another method… Ambush?
Just my opinions.
This is my first time to your site. It is really well done. This is an interesting and well thought out article. I, like you, had not given it much thought as I live in PA where you can’t bait. But lately as I watched hunting shows where they hunt over a feed plot, I started to wonder how close it was to baiting. Thans for taking the time to break down the issue in a fair and balanced way. Nice article.
Hey guys and gals the norm in british Columbia is fair chase,where you really feel like you have really out smarted those big bucks on their own turf,I have snuck up on big bucks when they were not in the rut and shot them in thier beds,now that pops the buttons off the shirt,the habit to get into is a few step and watch for five minutes lots of times it takes an hour to go 100 yards,But it always pays off in the end,Well good luck to all and safe hunting
Gary,
I like the stalking style. I feel the need to point out that not all areas allow this hunting. I know in North Carolina, there are some counties that require hunters to be elevated at least eight feet when hunting. This is due to housing density and hopefully the bullets will hit the ground before any houses if being shot from an elevated position. I know that it is not wise to shoot towards houses, but bullets travel miles and some of the houses are not even known to the hunters. Baiting helps the hunters in this area pull deer to them.
thanks this helps me think about baiting in a whole new perception. in my opinion over in jersey where im from, we have corn feeders all over the farm. even then it aint easy picking… those deer aren’t stupid,after the past 5 years i’ve hunted it i believe they all picked up on our tricks. really i believe that its a great technique for youth hunters and slimming out your deer population but everyone has the right to their own opinions. i say let each hunter hunt the way he wants. thanks again.
Dave
I believe during the season if the wildlife serial killers can bait deer then we the non-killers should be able to feed them carrots, apples and corn. Why not? The reason why the DNR do not want us the non-killers to feed them is because we will keep them on our side but now I am telling my people if they have deer to feed them during the murder season yummy stuff like apples with peanut butter, corn, leave salt licks, carrots etc till spring. Besides the hunters always complain of starving deer am I right? We love our deer and we want to save them from sadist wildlife serial killers who wants to kill them for “sports” and trophy.
I am against hunting let alone baiting. What kind of “sport” is it when you get deer to eat a pile of junk food (corn) and then shoot it while it’s eating? That is so stupid.
Pennsylvania Does not allow baiting, “EXCEPT” in five counties. You can go on the Pennsylvania Game Commissions site where they will teach you the proper way to bait deer. Hunting off a corn field or planting a food plot is baiting. No ifs ands or buts. The large land owers do it all the time because they have the money and the machinery to do so. The small land owner and hunters who travel far to get to huge state owned land usually get terrorized, finded and the deer confiscated if they put out an ear of corn. Fair?????
ILLEGALLY FEEDING WILDLIFE : YES ! “BUT” GOD ALSO GAVE ME ANOTHER COMMANDMENT.. FEED AND TAKE CARE OF MY FLOCK AS WELL AS WILD LIFE THAT CANT SHARE CLOTHING AS WE DO…I ALSO TAKE VIDEO’S , AS WELL AS DIGITAL PICTUES ACROSS THE U.S. & CANADA . I’AM A HUNTER AND SPORTSMEN AS WELL WITH FAMILY GOAL’S “A WILD LIFE PHOTOGRAPHER ” 26,000 PLUS PHOTO’S … SO FAR..MAYBE MORE.. I’AM REGULATED BY ADVERTIZEMENT, GOVERMENT PROJECTS, RETIREMENT, OUTDOOR CHANNEL , CABELA’S , SPORTSMANS GUIDE , AND OF COURSE ” THE DEPT. OF CONSERVATION ” .. MY PURPOSE IS VERY IMPORTANT ! THAT MY GRAND CHILDREN IF SO CRIPPLED OR A BED RIDDEN PATIENT IN A HOME FOR THE ELDERLY, AS WELL AS SO MANY OTHER UNFORTUNATE INDIVIDUAL’S .NEW YORK ESPECIALLY ,HAS TO WAKE UP , AND SMELL THE ROSES , RATHER THAN BREAKING OUR BACKS WITH NEW POLITICAL NONSENSE IN SOME CASES.. WE NEED OUR FREEDOM TO EXPAND OUR IDEA’S AS WELL !! AMEN..
As a youth, I am not on a lease that I payed for. I hunt in Texas, and so I hunt over bait. It is way too dangerous for me to go walking around on 500 acres with other hunters, plus, it spoils their hunting. As a youth, I will respect them now, but when I go off on my own, even currently, since Im the only guy that turkey hunts, I will not use a feeder. I call in my turkeys. I jump my rabbits, etc. But as for deer hunting, I have to be respectful to other hunters, so I will keep using bait. If someone doesn’t like it, they shouldn’t do it.
well i have been hunting my whole life. i live in oklahoma where baiting is legal. i have grown up baiting deer and havent had any problems yet. we see the same deer year after year. disease??? i guess it could happen but it hasnt to us yet!! everyone has different beliefs in life weather it may be religious, family, political, or even as simple as hunting. its ok to think its not right but dont try to push it over on the people who like to do it. hunting is a way of life, live it how you want!!!!
Baiting,why not? I live in PA where baiting of any kind is prohibited (for whatever reason I don’t know) Our game commission has turned our rifle Buck season into deer season (either sex) for 2 weeks. it’s the hunter’s fault here because the commission didn’t make them pull the trigger but they gave them permission which has all but wiped out the heard in northern flourishing counties. I have hunted over bait in Kansas. Everyone does there, they kill quality bucks, which leaves the younger bucks to mature. I’ve hunted Missouri and Iowa with the same results. These states allow baiting and their wildlife management program is far better than these morons here in Pennsylvania
Baiting is a hotter topic than I ever expected. Both sides have valid points. In Tennessee the bait must be removed a week or so before the season opens but food plots can remain. With that in mind I’d rather hunt a food source than simply bait with broadcast corn.
** To Gary ** I would love to hunt open expanses in a safari spot and stalk manner however the hardwoods of the South are just to noisy to move through. I’ve watched deer bound past my stand for no apparent reason only to have other hunters walk down the trail moments later never realizing they had been noticed and spooked deer. Then there are the briars and tangles of vines which make it almost impossible to get into many bedding areas near the stands of shorter pines. Hopefully my day to spot and stalk will come…
Back to bait ~ If it’s legal then great do it!!
Baiting in special regulations areas of PA is a must. The deer herd is so large and areas to hunt are small, 2-5 acre on average, patched between homes and parks. It’s the only effective why to lure them out of someones back yard. I’ve seen herds bedding down in a patch of woods no larger than a football field. I’ve hunted the woods up north for years and don’t like the idea of baiting in these areas. I have come to the conclusion that I’m doing my township a service by thinning out the herds, less ticks, expensive shrubs not a meal and maybe I’ve saved a life or two from the envitiable car accident. Plus I hunt for food, I can take two deer a day if I had too, each one only costing $6. I butcher them myself.
This instance I think Baiting is a must….
I’m trying to hunt over bait to bring deer onto our property. But this site has me thinking. The argument about disease is silly and I am not going to address that here other than to suggest some further reading about the spreading of disease among deer herds from objective sources. Truthfully, it’s rare. I think, as one person posted, “it’s up to the individual,” and I wish our government would see it this way. But after reading this post I believe that food plots will help me achieve my long term goals more so than baiting. Food plots and baiting are the same thing, but it now seems to me that food plots are better in the long run. For those who don’t hunt and wanted to add their two-cents, here’s my two cents: get over yourself and accept that regulated hunting has established higher deer populations than we’ve had in this country for more than over 150 years. Grow up!’
Hunting over bait is NOT allowed in Missouri; if you hunted here and think otherwise, please let me give you the number of the local game warden.
I’m glad that it isn’t allowed here — it isn’t hunting. Call it what you want, but it’s little different than shooting cattle in a feed lot (yes I spent some years in Texas — didn’t bother deer ‘hunting’ there).