The hunting of deer is regulated. Those in charge issue hunters a certain number of permits so as to ensure the safety of the deer population. Baiting and shooting deer is illegal (I’m pretty sure.) Why? If a person is entiled to lawfully kill, say, 3 deer per hunting season, why is the manner in which they are killed a factor? I’ve asked several hunters this and none have given a good answer.
Probably because they issue the permits assuming that a certain percentage of hunters won’t catch their limit that season. Baiting will increase that percentage and kill more deer than desired.
“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.
There’s probably more specific information at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife website. http://hunting.fws.gov/
This is their “Hunting” page, not the Home Page. There are links where you can look up the specific state.
You can also put “Hunting Regulations” into a search engine, and you get a state-by-state listing.
I’m not a hunter, but AFAIK, you are allowed to feed deer during the winter near your home, and then shoot them the following autumn. Deer are territorial, so they hang around within a certain range, and if someone’s feeding them corn or hang, they’re much more likely to hang around.
I’m not sure what you mean by “baiting”. I wasn’t aware that you could get deer to come to a bait the way you can with bears. Also, about 20 minutes into Opening Day, every deer in the region goes on Red Alert and gets totally paranoid, and I’d be surprised if you could even get it to come to bait.
The only way I’ve heard of people “baiting” deer is where they owned like 100 acres, a farm or something, and it was all posted No Hunting, so nobody else could come in and hunt. They fed the deer that happened to hang out on their 100 acres, and then shot a certain number of them, themselves. The deer were of course very tame, because they were only shot at on one particular day a year.
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen
Baiting is legal in some states, but I’m not sure which ones. In Montana, it is very much illegal. You are in violation of the law even if you take an animal that was responding to bait planted by someone else, whether you knew about it or not.
Notthemama’s link is a good one. From there, you’ll find links to hunting regulations for all the states.
As far as baiting increasing the percentage of animals taken by hunters this is true but is a minimal concern in the grand scheme of things. In most states where baiting is legal it is due to the deer herd being over the population goals of whatever entity oversees wildlife in that particular state. In Wisconsin it is legal and we are way over population goals due to successive mild winters.
The main impact of baiting comes in bowhunting when they are in their natural patterns. While I agree deer go on “Red Alert” after the first couple hours of the opening of gun season they still fall into patterns. This is generally the does that still follow these patterns but at that time of the year when a young buck’s thoughts turn to love…
Anyway I digress, the arguments against baiting fall into 2 basic categories.
1.) Is it ethical? This is something you have to answer for yourself if you live in a state where baiting is legal. I live in Wisconsin where it is legal but I don’t bait. I know people that do bait with great success though and they have no problem with it. To some extent you are hunting an animal you trained to come in at a certain time to a certain place. However if baiting is legal then why not? Does it not fall into the natural evolution of a hunter refining his/her tactics to improve their chances of success? Don’t tell me any other predator wouldn’t do it if they had thumbs!!!
2.) While #1 has been enough to make baiting illegal in some states the other argument and probably the stronger one is the spread of disease. Whne you are bringing animals into close contact with one another you increase the possibility of the transference of disease. This is similar to what happens when deer “yard up”. The problem arise when one deer begins eating some of the bait(say an apple) and another deer eats the remaining chunk of said apple. Thus we have swapped bodily fluids and…
The main problem here is the transference of bovine TB. I believe Michigan illegalized baiting for this reason as of this year.
Anyway, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!
Also rather than baiting why not plant a food plot such as clover or other grasses. This provides a renewable resource that you don’t have to carry out to your stand every 2 days. Mossy Oak on-line and other outdoors stores offer a variety of seeds for just this purpose. This is a convenient solution that will generally involve less work than maintiaing a bait pile without creating the TB problem.
I would think this would fly in states that don’t allow baiting because it is a living plant. It’s not your fault that deer find it tasty. Of course you never know how a state agency will interpret this so check with them first if you are in a no-bait state.
Also rather than baiting why not plant a food plot such as clover or other grasses. This provides a renewable resource that you don’t have to carry out to your stand every 2 days. Mossy Oak on-line and other outdoors stores offer a variety of seeds for just this purpose. This is a convenient solution that will generally involve less work than maintiaing a bait pile without creating the TB problem.
I would think this would fly in states that don’t allow baiting because it is a living plant. It’s not your fault that deer find it tasty. Of course you never know how a state agency will interpret this so check with them first if you are in a no-bait state.
WHOOPS!!! Sorry about that.
I’ve always assumed it was a matter of ethics. In various states you may or may not use artificial light, aluminum or carbon arrows, crossbows, bait, grenades, tactical nukes, etc. because of the “unfair” advantage it gives the hunter. It’s not clear to me how one form of lethal force is unfair vs. another so long as everyone sticks to their bag limits. It would be nice if the law discouraged the losers who can’t make a quick kill with a well-placed shot from going out in the first place.
One deer hunting limitation that makes some sense is no firearms .22 calibre or smaller (this includes .223, I think) for humane quick-kill reasons.
I lead a boring life of relative unimportance. Really.
The .22 caliber thing is undoubtedly a good idea. I used to think it would be nice to go to a lower caliber(7mm/08) just because of the reduction in recoil and the lower damage to the meat. However while there is no substitute for a well placed shot a little extra “punch” from the rifle you are using can help root game in place that otherwise might have been lost. Bottom line use as big a caliber as you can comfortably and accurately shoot.
I also agree about the people who can’t make a clean kill. I believe in Germany they do or at least once did require anyone who wants to hunt to pass a skills test. Anyone else have more info on this? I remember something about this from an article in Outdoor Life I think and from a book about Manfred von Richtofen.
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- Of course, if you use a blowup immature doe as bait, it’s called , , ,
, , oh, just forget it. - MC
- Of course, if you use a blowup immature doe as bait, it’s called , , ,
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Ummm MC, why do you have a blowup immature doe ?
Forget I asked. The last thing I want is that mental picture hanging around my brain.
Maybe because hunting is supposed to be a sport and by baiting, some of the sport is taken away. Another possible reason could be that if a hunter is entitled to say 3 or fewer deer a season, baiting could attract more than that number which may also increase the number of deer taken. Either accidently or on purpose.
I agree with VATech22 about it being a sport.
The whole idea is to hunt the animal - figure out the patterns, where it feeds and beds down and rests naturally. If I needed that venison to feed my family, instead of as a supplement, I would be baiting and night hunting and running those guys down with my car!