Baiting Deer

[Pat Rockets]

Travel to  feeder then eat feed

Travel to plot, dig, then eat plot..am i missing something or does it equal out?

Bucks starve themselves durring rut(horny bastards) if theres an early snowfall...they start the winter in trouble...

[erussell]

Travel to  feeder then eat feed

Travel to plot, dig, then eat plot..am i missing something or does it equal out?

Bucks starve themselves durring rut(horny bastards) if theres an early snowfall...they start the winter in trouble...

I can't speak for everyones plots but the deer stop visiting mine once the snow gets to deep. If they are easy to get to they seem to still visit. But after december I see very little usage till spring.

[cwhite]

Travel to  feeder then eat feed

Travel to plot, dig, then eat plot..am i missing something or does it equal out?

Bucks starve themselves durring rut(horny bastards) if theres an early snowfall...they start the winter in trouble...

We're fortunate to have a yard close to where we put our winter plots.  We actually designed them that way.  There is no digging to eat.  Costs us about $350 to put in a 2.5 acre soy/corn field that yields more than 10 tons of feed.  Corn runs more than $200/ton right now.  We've had a tough winter this year but the deer in our yards are fat, dumb and happy.       

[Pat Rockets]

That cant possibly be right..fat ? Eruss just spent 4 days on a post typing how the deer dont eat in winter..

[DTG3k]

  We've had a tough winter this year but the deer in our yards are fat, dumb and happy.     

Your forgot DELICIOUS 

[G-Man]

The thing is deer will bed near to food if the cover/habitat allows. resulting in less movement. Most feeders are put up where it is east to see deer. Although i can see some people wanting to bait during season, supplemental feeding is a bad thing. And just about everything can be considered bait if it is consumed by the prey species. A big difference is timed feeders only dispence at a given time where a food plot is open round the clock in an area of high pressure a food plot will only be visited at night. Pt i guess you are the voice trying to leagalize baiting in nys during the season. And i do believe there is a lot of baiting going on wether legal or not....

[Pat Rockets]

I could care less if it were legal..i just like the difference in views on bait..

[erussell]

That cant possibly be right..fat ? Eruss just spent 4 days on a post typing how the deer dont eat in winter..

Eat less in winter, not stop

[Pat Rockets]

Right..eat less..and get fat..makes sense if you dont think about it

[erussell]

Right..eat less..and get fat..makes sense if you dont think about it

some people you just can't reach  :  Good night.

[cwhite]

Right..eat less..and get fat..makes sense if you dont think about it

Never heard the saying fat, dumb, and happy before have you.  It wasn't meant to be literal.  But they aren't wasting away like some of the yards in northern NY.  At times, the deer will actually bed in the corn.  When they aren't their, they are in their cedar and hemlock swamp which only 50 yards away.

[Pat Rockets]

Ive had the pleasure of growing up and living on a 300 acre "postage stamp". Its 170 acres of tillable land, and 130 acres of hardwoods..creating a food plot would be senseless ..normally the whole 170 is full of corn..this past yrr  was peas till mid summer then oats. The oats were cut and bailed 2 weeks before the opener of bow.

The fields have been empty all winter. Theres nothing to even dig for..once the snow melted deer came from outta nowhere and yarded up on the tops of the hills.

I guess my question id ask there eruss is...if a deer had the ability to eat more durring the winter with less work to get the food...or walk a quarter mile to dig in an open field for a few hrs only to walk away with a few morsels..which would the deer choose?

If you put a feederin the woods between water and a bedding area..you might not see a deer all winter..for some thats a bad thing..

[nyantler]

Deer have been solving the problem of winter food by themselves for ages... much longer than we have been brainstorming how to save them from what they have been surviving through all these years... especially in the north country...

[SplitG2]

Pat, sorry but I don't comprehend your posts?  U want feeders used during hunting season or year round?  If year round who maintains the feeders?  Some people don't live near their hunting camp.

[nyantler]

If we're going to use feeders to kill deer, all we'll have to do is eliminate the word "sportsman" from our vocabulary.

[SplitG2]

If we're going to use feeders to kill deer, all we'll have to do is eliminate the word "sportsman" from our vocabulary.

+1

[erussell]

Interesting article on baiting from Petersons Bowhunting. Pretty much agree's with my own observations about hunting over bait in LA. 1. Deer will not move during the day to bait but will gladly move in at night and clean you out unless you are hunting tame deer on a texas ranch. 2. Big bucks will more than likely not visit your setup during the daytime either but like all things in the hunting world sometimes a blind squirrel will find a nut. This doesn't mean it works.

http://www.bowhuntingmag.com/tactics/PB_Baiting_1008/index.html

[Doc]

Interesting article on baiting from Petersons Bowhunting. Pretty much agree's with my own observations about hunting over bait in LA. 1. Deer will not move during the day to bait but will gladly move in at night and clean you out unless you are hunting tame deer on a texas ranch. 2. Big bucks will more than likely not visit your setup during the daytime either but like all things in the hunting world sometimes a blind squirrel will find a nut. This doesn't mean it works.

http://www.bowhuntingmag.com/tactics/PB_Baiting_1008/index.html

I have heard this myth before and yet I have (and I'm sure everyone else has too) seen countless pictures in magazines, and footage on TV hunting programs that clearly show huge bucks taking advantage of bait in broad daylight that has been placed for exactly the purpose of drawing them in for easy shots. Actually, it stands to reason doesn't it? These guys don't buy expensive automatic feeders and keep them filled simply because they like the exercise and the drain on their wallets. We have a whole industry built on production of some rather exotic feeders, and the sale of bait products. Feeders/baiting works ..... that's been well demonstrated in a very public way that we all have seen.

As a matter of fact, I read an article where the author was bragging about the fact that the sound of the feeder was actually an audible signal to the deer that not only brought the deer to a specific, exact, spot but also at a specific and exact time. The deer were actually conditioned to respond to the sound of the timed feeder going off like Pavlov's dogs. Are we really wanting to be in the business of treating the wild deer that we are hunting like some sort of training and conditioning activity to enhance our hunting opportunities? The question is, "is this really hunting"? I don't consider it any part of what hunting is to me. But I suppose we all have to decide that for ourselves.

[Pat Rockets]

Like i said before..if your worried about the fair chase aspect..dont sit on the bait..im more interested in the nutrition aspect as well as $ for the state..a no kill radius could help with the ethics of "bait"..which as far as im concerned.. but not against..food plotting is..however some landowners dont have the tools or the habitat to support a plot..a feeder can be placed anywhere..

Nutrition for:

Antler growth early in a deers life

Prevention of winterkill

Larger deer..buck and doe alike..

Its my belief the sound of a feeder would get deer to move..however they are most likely fenced..

Eruss..im right there with ya

[the blur]

why not just bait with a salt block?

(illegal as well)

[Dave]

Like i said before..if your worried about the fair chase aspect..dont sit on the bait..im more interested in the nutrition aspect as well as $ for the state..a no kill radius could help with the ethics of "bait"..which as far as im concerned.. but not against..food plotting is..however some landowners dont have the tools or the habitat to support a plot..a feeder can be placed anywhere..

Nutrition for:

Antler growth early in a deers life

Prevention of winterkill

Larger deer..buck and doe alike..

Its my belief the sound of a feeder would get deer to move..however they are most likely fenced..

Eruss..im right there with ya

Guys I hear your arguments for pro and con to the bating issue. But there is another issue feeding not bating. Upstate the month of April and the end of March the deer have been stressed the most from lack of food. And the growth of any vegetation is still not there for them to eat yet. So whats wrong with putting out some food for this time period only, till shoots start to grow and no supplemental food would be necessary. This would be for feeding only and not for hunting because the season will not start till October and the supplemental feeding would end the beginning of May. So feeding from end of March till end of April will help the deer to survive and be healthier for the rest of the season. What are your thoughts?

Dave

[the blur]

Deer (and most wildlife) have been living without food supplements for 10 zillion years; and they will continue to live for another 10 zillion years without free handouts.

[Dave]

Deer (and most wildlife) have been living without food supplements for 10 zillion years; and they will continue to live for another 10 zillion years without free handouts.

What about the winter kill? In some areas the deer are on the decline and a bad winter kill could be devestating. Would you feed a starving person if he had no food?

Dave

[the blur]

You can't play G-D with wild life.  If it's cold and raining, do you give them shelter too ?

It's not a farm animal.

[Dave]

You can't play G-D with wild life.  If it's cold and raining, do you give them shelter too ?

It's not a farm animal.

Blur, everyone had an opinion, and ours differ, no problem.

Dave