Corn

[jpn]

I know some of you probably live where it is illegal to bait for deer. But here in NC it is very legal. I use mostly food plots now on the farm, but however i do mix corn with my supplimental feed in the the feed troughs. Just thought i might get a discussion on how yall feel about baiting, feeding, and food plots.The troughs we use are mostly in non huntable areas during the off season to ensure the deer have enough to keep healthy.

[baitshop 2]

this is a very good i will be waiting to see all these answers
i feed corn all year also threw time feeders and during hunting season we cant use it here in ga and ala . i think that it is very good for the deer and all the other animals in the wood food plot and supplymental feeding is a key part to the overall helth of all . because the amount of woods is rapidly decreasing with houseing and develoment that it helps off set the diffrence i also put out salt and minerals on my property..we maily bow hunt also ..if we were able to hunt over feed i think this would give the better shot placement now on the other had with guns thats not as much needed but i follow the rules no feeder hunting during hunting season. and we still get deer so i gess its ok that way to:smile2::roll_eyes::tounge_out::smile2::big_smil e:

[catfishrus]

i use mostly corn at my place although last year after season i took the chainsaw to a thicket that was loosing the undergrowth due to block sunlight. i laid the big sweet gums on the ground and left the tops laying there for the honey suckle viens to grow on. i know the corn will bring the deer in from all around though. the last week of season last year i watch 10-12 does ever evening. i should of thinned them out but heck i got ot feeling sorry for them i guess and was just amazed to watch them and see who was boss of the herd....lol. now bucks on the other hand only showed up for about a 10 day period and then nothing for horns. less than half the bucks went to the corn too. to be honest i was amazed to see the bucks because i hadnt seen any of them all year. same thing this year but we saw 10-12 differnet bucks last year in those 10 days. alot of 1 1/2 year bucks and we let them walk after video taping the ones we could. let some walk that wasnt suppose to either...:smile2:

now in sask. canada they bait with oats alot. start a bait pile with a couple bails of alfafa sp? and the pour the oats around the bails. peas work good too up there. those deer sound like they eating marbels in that cold air from 50 yards away....lol.

[jpn]

somebody told me one time that they used alfalfa cubes. I tried it and it molded. The deer never even touched it so i quit with just the loss of one bag. But the new stuff hank parker sells works pretty well. :smile2:

[catfishrus]

somebody told me one time that they used alfalfa cubes. I tried it and it molded. The deer never even touched it so i quit with just the loss of one bag. But the new stuff hank parker sells works pretty well. :smile2:

i think it has alot to do with what the deer in a given area are use to. like i said in canada they will pull up and dump a 55 gallon barrel of oats and when the weather gets bad those deer will clean that up in one night. i also tried the cubes here and no good results but you go out west and the deer love it in the fields. i was told the alfalfa had a sweet smell to it and that draws the deer to the bait piles when starting one up but i do know for a fact they eat mostly the oats. of coarse everything feeds off that pile from magpies to coyotes, deer ,moose and elk is some places. hey try that stuff cmj puts out. just crawl up in his stand and see if you like in a couple hours....lol.

[Scott Daw]

I dont look down on baiting. I think it has its place. Here in PA, until recently, only unethical hunters & poachers baited since it was illegal. Recently, in PA, The game commission legalized baiting on private land in our special regulation areas only. This was started since the special reg area's are too dangerous to use rifles & the deer population is too high. Years of special reg hunting & extended seasons didnt do anything to lower the deer population in suburbia, so now they're allowing baiting to aid hunters on private land.

[jpn]

this is a very good i will be waiting to see all these answers
hoped to have a little better response to this. Just keep checking back, maybe it'll pick up a bit.

[Cathooker]

Baiting....Ted Nugent put it very simply on a tv show recently.....
All hunters use bait....a food plot is bait, corn is bait, deer lures are bait.

I have a hunting lease in KY and it is legal to use corn, etc as bait. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. Here in my state of Ga. it is illeagl to hunt over bait but you can grow food plots and hunt over them. It is perfectly legal to grow a field of corn, then knock it down for the deer and hunt over it but it is NOT legal to pour out a bag of corn on the ground and hunt over it. I do not see the difference. I see nothing wrong with baiting but I will abide by the rules of each area.

[south_va_fisherman]

Its illegal in Va. Food plots are ok, but you cant just throw 50 pounds of cracked corn out and wait for em. I look down on the matter. It takes the chase and sport out of the hunt..if you could call it that. no offense.

[Ace]

From most states where it is illegal to hunt over bait a lot of people from these states look down on people where it is legal we should not knock other for their hunting ethics here in NC where I live it is legal to bait deer but I don't hunt here but I hunt in Chester SC where it is illegal to bait but it is legal to plant food plots. The land I hunt it is so thick with pine trees and briers and over grown brush it is all most impossible to see a deer unless you hunt on one of the old logging roads where we plant our food plots.In the lower part of SC where my son hunts it is legal to bait it also legal to run deer with dogs because of the swamp land. Rattle Snakes Cottonmouth Copperheads and Alligators it almost impossible to hunt with out bait or dogs.

[mcclinj]

In Pennsylvania all bait must be removed 30 days prior to the start of the season.

-John

[baitchunker]

i do believe in the ethical supplemental feeding of a deer herd. i also think dog hunting deer is a dieing art. ppl who havent tried it tend to knock it hard, but it is more about the dogs than the deer. i dont hunt over bait, never have. but i do feed the deer all year long. corn is great but it lacks some of the nutritional value of other foods. i like to keep it diverse, field peas-food plots-corn-apples-sweet potatoes-all kinds of stuff.

i do think the biggest way to improve your deer pop. and health is to maintain your land and manage your harvest. there is nothing that draws deer better than well taken care of woods. also i am not fond of motorized traffic. walking 1/8 to 1 1/2 miles to your stand can be a real pain, but the number of deer that become comfortable on your property will increase.

j.d.

[kkyyoottee]

I dont think baiting really gives that big of advantage why because deer arent stupid and they usually hit these areas at night under safety. Here in Iowa no baiting is allowed but go figure they allow food plots whats the difference? But I know plenty of farmers who have feed bunks out where they feed their "cattle" wink wink and get away with it !!! I like going one on one with the game Im chasing. My daughter when she took up bow hunting kinda set me to thinking with the remark "I want to deer hunt with a bow anyone can pull a trigger at a deer 100 yards away!!! How many can get within 15 yards and make a successful harvest?" Kinda makes you think dont it?:sad2:

[David Knotts]

Just cause you put out some corn, does'nt mean that your gonna shoot a deer, or even see a deer. NOw if you sit under an oak tree that's droppin acorns, your huntin over bait. Bait is bait. So is huntin over a food plot, somebody had to plant it. It did'nt grow there by it self.

[Mark J]

We have row crop on the farm. It makes no sense to take corn and dump it in the woods.
When you feed them in the bedroom they dont have to go to the kitchen.
Deer are nocturnal animals. If you take the travel time to and from a stable food source out of the equation you are limiting your deer sightings.

We get our best oppertunities to take deer when they are enroute to or from a food source such as a corn or bean field. The trails are easy to spot and I prefer to set up on trail junctions. I never hunt rub and scrape lines.

I wouldnt put a feeder in the woods either. You have to go into the woods to keep it filled.
I live by stay out of the woods.
The mature deer just aren't going to put up with high traffic in their sanctuary. They'll move out.
The only time I would venture into the woods is if I was enroute to a lock on and then I take my time.

My lock ons always stay in the woods. I never take them out.

[derbycitycatman]

I think the main difference between "baiting" and food plots is the concentration of the feed. An oak tree doesnt drop all its nuts in one pile and a field of clover is a whole field. With a food plot or natural food the deer have more room to feed instead of being on top of each other. Someone dumping a bag or truckload usually does just dump it in one huge pile. IMHO, most baiting is illegal because of the risk of disease being spread not hunting ethics. Many people believe that is how CWD got so bad in some states.

[fishnfwl]

CWD is the main reason here in Il. That comes from DNR, Altho CWD has and will be around for a long time, I think it is part of nature that has been "hyped" in the media past few years, just my $0.01 worth.

[catfishrus]

i always find it worked better to spread the corn out myself. you put it in a big pile and they will fight over it and keep the others run out. if you get some rain before they find it....well it will mildew if piled up and then you can forget it. always worked better to spread it out for me. i even take my foot and spread the smaller piles out after slinging it out of the bag. i like to setup on a trail leading to the bait also for bigger bucks. they know better than to come into a bait pile in daylight hours. one of my best bucks i have taken was with this method. i saw him a hour before i got the shot. he just stood around in a thicket watching some does in the corn that i never knew was there until i shot. i seen them run off. i was setup a 150 yards off the bait on a good trail. even in canada those big bucks wont let them hot does come to the bait pile. too much competion running around for that to happen.:wink: im with yal on the cwd though. its the number one way its carried out from one deer to another through a food source. with alot of deer coming to one area to feed it could be bad esp. in areas where the deer really herd up in the late winter.

[neal]

We use to take a large can of sweet corn,and punch small holes in it,then put it in the river or lake where we intended to catfish about a week later. We'd go back in a week or so,and catch catfish where we had put the can of sweet corn! An old friend showed me this baiting method,I guess it's been 12 year ago now.:0a18:

[xringer3]

There's alot of misconception about so called "baiting". For one, corn is not as nutritionally complete as some people will think it is, at least not for the deer and thier requirements. The one thing about pouring corn out for the deer, is if they aren't going through that area, then they won't find it. You have to put it on a trail were the deer are traveling. If they're traveling, then that means they are feeding on what is already there to begin with. All putting feed out does is to pick the spot for them to stop and give you a humane shot.

I've put corn out quite a bit, mostly just to help suppliment thier forage on years were it is quite slim. I've even poured it out in piles, and watched them rod as the acorns and other forage started fallling. No matter what we put out there, deer still have thier favorite "natural" forage that they will go to if given the choice.

There's nothing unethical about feeding the wildlife. If you happen to shoot a deer over a feeder, then chances are you could have shot them if the feeder wasn't there. About the only exception would be food plots. After they've been there awhile, then the deer tend to rely on them and you can time when they're going to be there.

[jpn]

the misconseption is that corn has nutritional value, is true. The corn is put out for stopping purposes only. The corn is like giving candy to them. They do get energy from it so i guess its not a bad thing. They debate goes on even further. I really appreciate all the responses keep em coming. I just checked my bow stands today and the deer are killing the feed. We needed some water here for about 6 mo. I hope someone out there is getting the proper amount of rain. Keep praying for rain.:big_smile::big_smile::big_smile:

[xringer3]

If we keep getting the rain we've been getting, I'll have to get the deer out with my boat, and not with the 4 wheeler!

[jpn]

yeh we've been prayin for yall to. I know its hard to live or like us farm and get a perfect season. Sometimes we get lucky and get a good year. Last few years we have been blessed with enough but this year cows are dying and wells are a drying hope it rains here some. I'll mail you a lasso and a check for fuel and ya can bring us some.

[xringer3]

I'm sure it'll head back your way eventually. I'm not really complaining, it was the first rain we've seen in two years! We either get drought, or flood, nothing in between. We'll just play ping pong with it, how's that?

[JTR]

If you have to hunt over a pile of corn, your not much of a hunter. but then again some people like "uncle ted" don't have the guts to do it the real way. Same is true for those black bears, some freak making a video of himself/herself shooting a bear with its head in a trash can. what a joke. But if it makes you feel good then rock on!!!!!!!!!!!!

[xringer3]

Guess you weren't listening. Like I said, if the deer aren't going there to begin with, then the corn won't help bring them in. You have to put the corn out were the deer travel to begin with, and when the acorns start falling, then they will usually leave the corn alone. I only put corn out when there's no other forage for them, which means usually after the season, or during the summer of a dry season (not when you'll be hunting anyway).

Just because someone doesn't hunt the way you do, or hunt different than the way you like to hunt, doesn't make him less of a hunter than you. In fact, being that critical of someone doing something legal probably makes that person less of a hunter! Don't forget, the deer are way overpopulated in alot of areas, I know they are here. I don't see that bears are a population problem that the deer are. If you wan't to hunt bears, then go ahead, if it makes you feel good. I for one am not going to shoot anything me or my family won't eat!

[JTR]

Xringer, I'm just trying to stir the pot. And for what its worth I served the bear during our family reunion thanksgiving dinner and everyone thought it was the sweetest meat on the table!!!! How bout dem apples!!!!!!!!!!:smile2:

[catfishrus]

jtr maybe you have a better population of wildlife then some others do. where i grew up we didnt have no deer. i have hunted over bait plenty of times. i still rather not hunt over it for a big buck. maybe you should try your skills in canada/maine where the deer populations is less than 2-3 per sq. mile. to go along with the -40 degree temps they have and snow to over the boot. to be honest, some of the biggest bucks know to have been killed was just luck not a great white hunter. most of them folks get caught in a pen at some time in their career. anything thats food for wildlife and man made is bait in my book. i do agree on the bear hunting thing with the cans all. i see where you are coming from but in those remote parts of the country guiding is a way of life. lots of money travels into them back country areas to guides. now without bait who would be willing to spent the money these folks need to live on. so baits not a bad thing in alot of ways. now if you saw a nice deer standing in a pile of grain,oats or even corn i believe you would still shoot.:wink:

[xringer3]

Stiring the pot is one thing, detrading people because it's not the same tactics as you is entirely something different. I was just taking the same approach as you were to see how you'd like the apples! LOL

[JTR]

catfishrus, I hunted everyday after school and on the weekends for four years befor I even saw an antlered deer. The deer were thin in my neck of the woods or I was a wannabe deer hunter. I will say during those years I would sit in a cedar ground blind and have doe family after doe family feed within feet of me and never know I was there. I think all of the hunt clubs around me shot most of the bucks and the ones that made it were very smart and sly. And if I saw a huge buck standing in a pile of corn, you can bet the farm I'd be scrambling for a gun. :0a1:

[justwannano]

It sure isn't a fair representation of hunters.
Out here in Iowa you may only have permission to hunt on one guys property and it may not be the best. How do you get the deer to come to you? You use bait. Otherwise you are just wasting your time.
If you are gonna downgrade hunters do it to the ones that pay to hunt.Or better yet the ones that buy or rent property to hunt.They are ruining it for us all.

[fishnfwl]

:crazy: justwannano, Could you please explain to me just how it is that I (by being a property owner for hunting) can possibly be "ruining it for you" I have thought on your post and for the life of me can not figure out how I (as a hunting property owner) can possibly be ruining it for you. Please explain this to me, I would like to understand this point of view.
Also the term "I" is just a statement speaking for all that own or rent property for the purpose of hunting, it is not being used as a personal mark.

Thanks Randy



It sure isn't a fair representation of hunters.
Out here in Iowa you may only have permission to hunt on one guys property and it may not be the best. How do you get the deer to come to you? You use bait. Otherwise you are just wasting your time.
If you are gonna downgrade hunters do it to the ones that pay to hunt.Or better yet the ones that buy or rent property to hunt.They are ruining it for us all.

[JTR]

Bob, where I hunt the pasture is always greener on the other side of the fence. Some of us don't feel like we are wasting our time if we are not sitting on top of a pile of corn. For me(now that I'm a little older) I enjoy the chipmonk feeding before dark or listening to the blue jays fuss about a coon or fox tipping through the woods. and if a deer comes by great, if not its just a time to thank the lord for such a wonderful place to be. In my previous post i was not trying do degrade anybody I just don't feel its hunting when sitting over a pile of bait. It's more like killing.

[David Knotts]

I just love how people say, unless you hunt just like me, then your not a hunter.

And yes bait is bait, natural, or man made. Food plot, oak flat, or a corn pile. Now if you want to be a real hunter, take off your camo, get you a blow gun, and walk through the woods. And if you see a deer feedin on what ever, don't shoot it, slip up on one that's just walkin around. That's true FAIR CHASE.

[catfishrus]

:crazy: justwannano, Could you please explain to me just how it is that I (by being a property owner for hunting) can possibly be "ruining it for you" I have thought on your post and for the life of me can not figure out how I (as a hunting property owner) can possibly be ruining it for you. Please explain this to me, I would like to understand this point of view.
Also the term "I" is just a statement speaking for all that own or rent property for the purpose of hunting, it is not being used as a personal mark.

Thanks Randy

randy i cannot answer your question but heres how i read his post and i have seen it. i call it greed myself to have control over land by leasing it up for ones own personal use. i have seen state wildlife lands be leased out from under the state by hunting clubs to gain all hunting rights for ones self. now that greed continues for years because of the shortage of hunting land in a given area or state with the price of the land lease continuing to go up. south carolina is a great example. if you look back in the 80s at game land maps there was tons of hunting land available to the public but the leasing of land has put a stop to public hunting lands. some will argue its time to pay to play. well i call it greed myself because they could of hunted for a lot less had they not wanted it all for themselves. they went from paying a small game land use permit to paying 15-20 bucks a acre in a matter of 5 years. the out of state hunters caused alot of this for the sc folks and the state raised the non resident hunting license from 97.50 to around 300.00 because of it. they had to compete with the hunt clubs to keep public lands. i could see where this could be a problem in some ares with folks buying up land to hunt. its the way of the future because a lease in most cases is short lived now days with the demand for hunting lands.so in my case i went from paying 97.50 to 231.00 at ethe time and lost the game lands that i was hunting and had to pay 5-6 hundred bucks to hunt the same place the next year. what really made things bad was i hardly never seen anyone in the woulds in sc when i hunted there. we would put up tree stands several weeks before season and leave them all year and i never had one stolen. so in my book greed took over a great thing. now greed is fighting greed with the cost of leases so some folks are just buying up land to have control. i have even wondered how long it will take fishing clubs to lease up the fishing rights on certain areas of a lake. maybe we wont see it but our grandkids might.

[justwannano]

:crazy: justwannano, Could you please explain to me just how it is that I (by being a property owner for hunting) can possibly be "ruining it for you" I have thought on your post and for the life of me can not figure out how I (as a hunting property owner) can possibly be ruining it for you. Please explain this to me, I would like to understand this point of view.
Also the term "I" is just a statement speaking for all that own or rent property for the purpose of hunting, it is not being used as a personal mark.

Thanks Randy

Ok Randy here you go.

Permit me to guess as to the first thing you did after you bought this property.
You went down to the local hardware store and bought "NO TRESPASSING" signs.Next were NO HUNTING signs.You were gonna protect your investment.Am I right?

Lots of the land around here is being bought up by city folks for hunting and the first thing they do is make sure nobody is allowed on their land. Where once we just had to ask the farmer for permission now we are met by signs forbiding everything.
Once a neighbor knew he was welcome to take the kids pheasant or squirrel hunting because it was "the neighbors place." Once a kid was able to learn hunting skills by hunting with his buddies nearly anywhere around here.
In this county alone there are now 3 fenced off hunting preserves. Just this one county.
I just today noticed a ad in one of the shopper papers where a guy is offering 45 "hunting properties" for sale. He is pictured beside a big buck deer.
Thats 45 more places that the common man cannot hunt

This is becoming a rant and I hate guys that do that.
Basicly I think anyone who buys land just so he can hunt is ruining it for the guys that can no longer hunt on that land. Don't forget future generations can't hunt it either.

[Katmandeux]

How would you feel if you came home from work, and there was a group of total strangers lounging around in your backyard, drinkin' beer and cookin' steaks on your grill? Same deal.

Just sayin'...

[postbeetle]

I live in Iowa. I own ground bought and paid for. I pay an increasing amount of taxes every year which I have no choice but to pay. These increased taxes I pay when I look at the tax man's sheet are more and more for a useless school system or social welfare or a hospital system I wouldn't go to if I had a hangnail. I am blessed with an abundance of game of all kinds, partly because I spend the money to help them. I get the typical hotshot drive-in hunter who asks to hunt. I politely tell him no and go about my business. "Well they are not your game or wildlife" he says. And I politely agree with him and tell him to shoot everything he can. He is just not going to do it on my place. The wildlife are not mine, but until it changes, just like my house, the property is an extension of my home as Katmandeaux says. I guarantee if you bought huntable ground you would be looking at who is crossing your fence line (or climbing in your window.)

[Cathooker]

The landowners that buy property or lease property to hunt on for their own personal use is not a problem with me.....the big money folks that buy up thousands of acres just to start a commercial hunting operation for profit are the ones that disturb me.
I own land......I do not allow anyone to hunt my land except very close trusted friends and close family....is it that I am greedy and hoarding the deer???......NO. It is because of unscroupulus azzes that shoot anything that moves, tear down my fences, litter my property, shoot my neighbords cows or horses, and want to file a million dollar law suit when they stub their big toe. All of this has happened to either me and / or my land owner neighbors. I work very hard for what I own and I am not goin to let someone that has not invested one drop of sweat into it come on here at his leisure. If that is being greedy then I guess I am greedy. Two years ago I worked hard all summer planting a really nice food plot. I built a very nice tower box blind near this food plot. I was talking with a man that was looking for a place to carry his 15 year old son on a deer hunt. His son had never killed a deer. I volunteered to let him and his son hunt the box blind / food plot that I had never hunted. I stayed away from the area until the either sex days came in. On opening morning of the either sex hunt I carried them to the blind. One hour after daybreak the young man harvested his first doe.....we were all very proud. A week later I was in my box blind......looked to my left and there was a man urinating right in the edge of my food plot.....he did not have permission to hunt there and he ran when I confronted him. Not all people will be stupid but enough of them are for me to post my land.

[JTR]

If the deer could talk I wonder what they would say about all this intrusion?

[David Knotts]

This is my thinkin on leased land, I would rather pay 500-600 bucks a year to have a place to hunt, where I can take my family, and not have to worry about some idiot that's been out drinkin all night, come right up to one of us. The lease that I am on, I know where everybody is, and the rules of the lease say nobody within 500 yards of each other, now you can't be sure of that on public land. So it's either pay for a lease, or quit huntin, and I aint quitin.

[catfishrus]

guys im not saying all land owners are greedy at all. im talking about state game lands being leased out from under the state. like i said i never ran into anyone in the woods myself on the game lands but someone decided to lease it all up. there was one club at that time that had over 50,000 acres leased up. now you say you rather hunt with someone you knew, well there is no way you going to know all the folks on a club of this size and yes some do drink. i also dout if everyone was spaced out properly. i understand the land owners compliant with folks trespassing on there land but i also see the next generation will not have a place to hunt. its getting worse and worse. i cannot blame the landowners for this because its the lawyers that can make a mountain out of a mole hill. where i grew up at it was rare to see a deer track as a kid for me. i could hunt anywhere i wanted for small game or big game if i was lucky enough to see it. no body cared! now things have changed the country is not country anymore and the land is all posted up and believe it or not some of the ones that have theirs posted is the worse ones to cross the line sometimes...lol. i have seen that. ive had folks that didnt even own land try to run me off before also because they didnt want the poor little deer shot. i have to say im very disappointed in the thoughts of future generation getting a chance to hunt like i did. they say the numbers are going down in the next generation of hunters and i can see why....no place to hunt. its makes playstations and in house this more attractive to them and we wonder why the world is getting so bad. heck you ride through a neighborhood now days and see no trespassing signs in people yards that are no more than a 1/2 acres.....lol. crazy to me. wonder how long it will take to see this kind of thing in a grave yard. dont step on my plott....:smile2: didnt mean to rile you land owners up.....i understand. heres my final thought on this. i can go a lot better hunt by hiring a guide for the same amount i can spent to lease a track of land or get on a club,buy a four wheeler, plant a food plot, post my land and spent countless hours working on it compare to my working time on a job plus all the little added things like gas and such but then its a can hunt to some. i call it a smart move without much worry and a vacation.:wink:

[dust777man]

Baiting....Ted Nugent put it very simply on a tv show recently.....
All hunters use bait....a food plot is bait, corn is bait, deer lures are bait.

I have a hunting lease in KY and it is legal to use corn, etc as bait. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. Here in my state of Ga. it is illeagl to hunt over bait but you can grow food plots and hunt over them. It is perfectly legal to grow a field of corn, then knock it down for the deer and hunt over it but it is NOT legal to pour out a bag of corn on the ground and hunt over it. I do not see the difference. I see nothing wrong with baiting but I will abide by the rules of each area.


Cathooker, I couldn't agree more. Doesn't make sense. It's the same way here in upstate SC.

[randallewis]

I hear you ACE. I hunt in the thick stuff also. There is probably a corn pile on every 40 ac. in north La. If you don't hunt over bait you want see many deer. Corn is awfully expensive this year. Thats why I enyoy hunting w/ dogs.