Baiting for management purposes

[BT]

This is a subject that I was thinking of today.
Other than the chronic wasting disease issue....is there any real reason to disregard the use of baiting in big game law?.

I personally think that baiting is going to have a more effective out come as to maintaining game number count than the present strategy which is employed in states that do not allow baiting.

Here is the thinking...

lets take situation average and throw Joe an Moe into a patch of woods.
Now Moe is allowed to hunt over bait while Joe is not.

Moe has deer that come on time , each and every day and stay put for 15 minutes or more while they feed.
Moe can wait for a deer to put itself into a perfect entry/exit position and can even box the food so that the deer must enter that box for a perfect shot every time.
( just like bear hunting )

Meanwhile , Joe has to hunt and hope that any deer that comes by him will be close enough and will stop or slow to allow for a shot.

Moe is having shot opportunities daily and becomes situation comfortable very quickly due to high deer sightings and shot opportunities.
Joe on the other hand has had few opportunities and is getting ready to launch at the first sign of an opening.

Who will wound the most deer in the course of a season?
Who will have the most shot opportunities?

Since game agencies dont record wounds , the deer that do die from wounds will not be tabulated into the statistics which will be used to figure out the following years allotment.

The question is this.....is baiting a bad thing when viewed in such a way?

The second part of the question is this....
Is sport the issue?...fair play if you will.
I dont see any game agencies caring one way or the other how you get it done as long as it gets done.
What matters in the end is that the management tools work.
Hunting is a management tool....nothing more than that.

So ..... is baiting (where it is illegal) just a matter of being a blue law based on little more than past judgement or is there more to it?.
It was illegal in many states before CWD was ever heard of , so CWD is not the reasoning here

[Greg Krause]

Until last year I only hunted NY, so I never even though about hunting over bait.
Last year I started hunting CT and used some Acorns my buddy had saved from the lawn of the property i was hunting. In late season I decided to put them out and give it a try. I managed to take 2 deer off the pile.
This year I have been involved in a city cull hunt in CT and all of the properties have at least 1 feeder or bait station. I sat near the bait about as often as I sat away from it and my kills per sit were about equal.
I'm not sure if it really gives you an edge other than positioning and stopping the deer for a shot. One thing I did notice was that the bucks stayed away from the feeders and the does became un nerved after a a few deer were taken off the feeders.
I prefer to hunt deer away from the bait, because I feel i have a better chance at a good buck(except possibly late season or during the rut) and the deer on trails seem to less alert than when at a feeder.
As for CWD, I really don't think feeders have much effect. Maybe in huge quantities in a small area or in a trough, but not in small amounts scattered over many yards by a feeder. You will see a higher concentrtion of deer feeding in close proximity of a white oak tree or in a small food plot. so I don't buy that (at least in an area of high deer population) a feeder promotes the spread of CWD any more than found in nature
This week I will be hunting on an estate where the deer are plentiful and the owners want the deer thinned. I will be using sweet feed. It won't make killing deer any easier, but it may let me kill more deer per sit.
Is it less sporting? I don't think so. you still have to put the feed in the right spot, you still have to position your stands correctly, you still have to play the wind and above all you still need to make the shot. Does it make your job easier? It might. Does a range finder or climbing stand make your job easier? They might. Do any of those things guarentee you a deer. Nope.

If it's legal where you hunt, then the call is up to you and I'll stand behind you whatever you choose. i would hope you would do the same for me.

[jamaltwy]

as you know i hunt texas, where baiting is legal!! let me tell you them animas know it too!! to score well you must sit off the bait otherwise the game doesn't come in till night......this is hogs or deer.. i have found you hunt the trails to and fromm the bait station to get better shots.. baiting lets you see what game you have , how many, and quality of the game.. by far this is still a hunt if wind is wrong they know !!how many times have you seen a deer walk in and look right up to your tree stand?? hunting over bait doesn't make it instant kill.... i'm all for baiting most bear hunters will tell you if not for bait you might not see a bear!!! you get to size up your bear so you don't shoot a boo-bear... i'm all for baiting, isn't food plots a form of baiting?

there i'm done ranting

thanks for listening now pass me my meds!!!!

[azslim]

Can't say much about this as I hunt water, and if it is a guzzler I can set up at the proper position for a good broadside or qtring shot, on a dirt tank I take my chances based on tracks. Don't see how water is any different than bait.

[BT]

Water , food plots , oak groves and such are bait and IMO the only thing not baiting allows is lesser take numbers for some people.
I am not sure at all how this weights into good herd management
If you are rolling the dice as to how many deer are harvested each year then why have a program at all

I am believing that it all comes down to old mind sets from years gone by which dictated that baiting gave an unsporting advantage.
Again....what does sporting have to do with game management

Heck.....if baiting were allowed you could basically know for certain how many deer a year would be bagged and from what counties , depending on where the tags went and in what numbers.

Now I can see how that would change after awhile...deer are not ignorant
Like Jamal said...eventually they would adapt.
But...until that day came....game management would be far better as to filling quota's

[Greg Krause]

If a state needs more deer taken, all they have to do is give me and BK a call

[BT]

;D