Hunting over a gut pile

[damore81]

Is hunting predators over a gut pile from your deer kill a form of baiting? Therefore is it or is it not legal?

[tughillhunter]

Last i knew it was legal. people up here do it all the time.

[meatmuzzy]

That is perfectly legal for coyotes, foxes, and crows but NOT ok for bears. You cant hunt over bait for bears in NY.

[BucktheBuck30-06]

It's really not baiting for all you know someone else dropped the deers guts right there and you have never seen them.Im no expert but id say its perfectly legal.Baiting would be like sticking your garbage can out there after thanksgiving dinner ....Now Thats Some Bait,,,

[damore81]

It's really not baiting for all you know someone else dropped the deers guts right there and you have never seen them.Im no expert but id say its perfectly legal.Baiting would be like sticking your garbage can out there after thanksgiving dinner ....Now Thats Some Bait,,,

For this instance I am referring to hunting over a gut pile from your own deer kill. Now I understand you can hunt fox and coyote over it but you cant obviously prevent a bear from coming in and feeding over it. I would assume that you would just not be able to kill that bear.

[Doc]

For this instance I am referring to hunting over a gut pile from your own deer kill. Now I understand you can hunt fox and coyote over it but you cant obviously prevent a bear from coming in and feeding over it. I would assume that you would just not be able to kill that bear.

It sounds like you probably have it right. You can hunt other predators over any form of bait. You can even watch bears come in and eat from it as long as you don't pull the trigger. That would be my assumption (which by the way means absolutely nothing legally).

On the other hand, if you were to maintain a gargage pile in the woods for baiting predators, I wonder where the shear volume begins to convert it from predator bait to feeding bears (which is also illegal).

In the case of your example, a gut pile is almost kind of a naturally occurring situation. It's almost like hunting one of the few bearing oaks that is in a parcel of woods. So, your question is a good one and maybe you should address that with your regional DEC headquarters.

[damore81]

It sounds like you probably have it right. You can hunt other predators over any form of bait. You can even watch bears come in and eat from it as long as you don't pull the trigger. That would be my assumption (which by the way means absolutely nothing legally).

On the other hand, if you were to maintain a gargage pile in the woods for baiting predators, I wonder where the shear volume begins to convert it from predator bait to feeding bears (which is also illegal).

In the case of your example, a gut pile is almost kind of a naturally occurring situation. It's almost like hunting one of the few bearing oaks that is in a parcel of woods. So, your question is a good one and maybe you should address that with your regional DEC headquarters.

I agree and I think it might need some clarification from DEC because there is nothing that I can find in writing that elaborates on this.

[Doc]

Unfortunately, a lot of laws are written in quite vague terms so that you really need the interpretation of a judge to sort them out. A lot of law is defined by precedents of other cases where the legal wording was insufficient. What a lot of this stuff boils down to is the personality of an individual ECO on any particular day. Has it been a long time since he wrote up any violations? Has he been having a bad day? Is he really confused by the wording and details himself? That's why I always recommend that anyone soliciting answers from the DEC, do so via e-mail where at least you have some kind of document that shows that your actions were backed up by DEC opinion. It may not be a legal document, but at least it shows an intent on your part to abide by the law. That should carry some weight in a court case.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I agree, shoot an email to DEC and get a reply and print it up. The laws are pretty fuzzy with this issue. I started looking at what they say for the other thread we had going about this very thing a while ago, and I couldnt figure it out for sure. Heck, the DEC can ticket you for letting bears feed from your bird feeders if they decide to. If it was me, I would hunt iver the bait for coyotes, etc, but just wouldnt shoot a bear that came to it.

[BUCKrub91]

as far as I know it is legal so make sure you feild dress your deer in strategic places

[Paulie]

Whose to say it was your gut pile and you new it was there? I mean come on.....someone really needs a stick up there ass to get you on that.

[covert]

Heck, the DEC can ticket you for letting bears feed from your bird feeders if they decide to.

Yeah I don't want any tickets for that, that's why I always shoot the bears that are eating my birdseed! That way I can't get a ticket for letting them eat it.

Whose to say it was your gut pile and you new it was there? I mean come on.....someone really needs a stick up there ass to get you on that.

Unfortunately the DEC isn't going to have to prove you were hunting over bait, you are going to have to prove you weren't.

Edited October 24, 2011 by covert

[WNYBuckHunter]

Yeah I don't want any tickets for that, that's why I always shoot the bears that are eating my birdseed! That way I can't get a ticket for letting them eat it.

There ya go! Problem solved!