No baiting state

[Short Track]

I grew up in a non-baiting state. Just go out and scout on state land. Since have moved to a red state.
Now I'm getting into food plots, water troughs, mineral sites, etc.

How far do you go?
anyone can throw out a corn pile, like in Texas.
Food plot is extensive work.
I started with mock scrapes, and considering moving forward. Maybe mineral sites, Maybe a 2 acre plot.
Definitely won't do a feeder. That's too easy.

Where do you draw the line??

 

[Maverick1]

Since have moved to a red state.

I am not sure what a “red state” is. If that is a political angle, I am not certain how it relates to the topic of this thread. And, last time I checked the rules, politics are not allowed on Rokslide.

 

[WCB]

I've done all of the above...food plots, mock scrapes, dug ponds, mineral sites. I've killed deer with some of those and I've killed deer without them. None of those methods are "harder" than baiting. They are just different.

I have put way more effort into setting up a bait site 1.5+miles back, in knee deep or deeper snow, well below zero conditions and wind...hauling a blind, chair, and 85-90 lbs of corn at a time, than I have most of the up to 2.5 acre food plots I've put in 200 yards off the road with a box blind over it.

Also, yes, to just kill a deer dumping 50lb of corn out below a box blind isnt difficult. I've killed more big and more mature deer away from any bait pile or food plot, pond, etc than I have over them.

 

[noKnees]

I have done some hunting in NC where baiting is a thing. Its easy to kill a doe or a young buck at a feeder but its not where your going to see big bucks most of the time. The food is useful because it holds the does and if you have the does the bucks will be in the area even if they don't often come into a feeder.

 

[Chris in TN]

We've been doing habitat management for ~30 years now. I ended up with a degree in wildlife management. We do pretty much 'all the things' here, and our hunting tends to be a bit better on our little farm, than you'd expect for this amount of land in this area. My dad used to have a larger farm in an area with more deer and it was much, much better yet.

It really becomes a lifestyle. I sprayed some weedy spots today. Knocked back an encroaching hedgerow with some glyphosate and imazapyr. Last week I sprayed a pasture with 2,4-db to help the grass and clover flourish. Sprayed a different area with imazamox to encourage the clover and get rid of most everything else. That area is really a food plot, but we do graze it (just not during deer season).

Our farm is NOT intended to be perfect deer habitat - first and foremost, *WE* live here. It's our home. We have a fish pond and fenced pastures and chickens and goats and cows and we've had 3 crops of pigs in the past (skipping them this year - pigs can be a lot of work). We have a few dozen fruit trees - peaches, pears, one big fig tree, a lot of plums. We've planted tons of hardwood trees for mast (sawtooth and nuttall oaks, hybrid chestnuts, plums, persimmons) and I allow wild-sprouted persimmons to grow all over, and some of the first ones I mowed around ~14 years ago, now bear fruit reliably. We have PawPaws. We have native plums.

We have an absolutely staggering amount of bird life here ranging from 'house birds' like house finches and barn swallows and eastern Phoebes, to turkeys and woodcock that nest here in the spring. We've had quail in years past. Tons of neotropical migrants in season. Several herons and sometimes we'll see a least bittern. Every songbird imaginable. We trap predators, especially smaller nest predators. I have a small sunflower patch in the yard - the wife loves the flowers. Also, two smaller zinnia patches in other parts of the yard - maybe 2/3 of an acre total in zinnias and sunflowers. And today a doe and her fawn were munching on those sunflowers.

We have a smaller pond for watering our goats. Two small watering holes that are excellent hunting spots during our dry fall weather. Salt licks (legal to hunt here) in different areas. Mourning doves and killdeer and chuck-wills-widows and yellow-billed cuckoos and scarlet tanagers and squirrels and rabbits and I know where there's a hen turkey sitting on her nest about 200 yards from the house right now.

We do not bait. We do feed after deer season.

 

[Long Cut]

I grew up in a non-baiting state. Just go out and scout on state land. Since have moved to a red state.
Now I'm getting into food plots, water troughs, mineral sites, etc.

How far do you go?
anyone can throw out a corn pile, like in Texas.
Food plot is extensive work.
I started with mock scrapes, and considering moving forward. Maybe mineral sites, Maybe a 2 acre plot.
Definitely won't do a feeder. That's too easy.

Where do you draw the line??

“Since have moved to a Red State” - Are you overwhelmed because of the Freedom of Choice that you have without Government dictating how you’re supposed to hunt?

How is a feeder “too easy”? If you’ve never hunted over bait before?

“Where do you draw the line?” - Typically somewhere between where the Laws, my Morals & Ethics come together.

 

[WhoGarrDen]

I don't own land, but I'm fortunate enough to have a family friend that does. He has feeders, and it may be "easier" to sit and wait over the feeders (to some), but not a guarantee. Its not as exhilarating as still hunting in mixed timber/grasslands for 2 days for my last one, but it is still joy.

However...

The joy and reward also come from management (like Chris said above). We feed from Aug - March (or first green up), create bedding and cover, thin canopy for better browse, try to run a sad-looking 0.5-acre clover plot, check cameras early season to get a feel for local deer health and determine how many older class bucks may be in the area and don't shoot forkies/spikes, do a little predator hunting around fawn drop, etc.

Is it less work than someone who escouts, drives 5hours and hikes for a week? Maybe, maybe not. It's just another type of hunting and I really enjoy it. We aren't proud that we finally get a shot on one in daylight after sitting for 3-5 days, we're proud of the fruits of our labors and to see them thriving and knowing they'll be there for years to come (trigger-happy neighbors and roaming dogs be damned).

 

[Long Cut]

We’re Conservationists first and Hunters second.

As Urban development chips away at what remaining natural habitat that we have left, it’s imperative that we are efficient stewards of the landscape and manage every acre that we’re able to.

It’s way more than just feeders & food plots.

 

[Chris in TN]

Look at all the happy creatures dancing’ on the lawn:

(Actually she’s in a zinnia patch but whatever)

 

[S-3 ranch]

Look at all the happy creatures dancing’ on the lawn:

(Actually she’s in a zinnia patch but whatever)

View attachment 1083048

Oh yeah definitely it’s way more than just dumping some corn on the ground
We do brush control, control burning , cotton seed, legumes/ beans
Animal units management on both wildlife and livestock
Now screwworm control.
And all of Texas isn’t even in the same eco zone, short track is riding on the short bus making assumptions, very science based if you’re in my area
Age structure & nutrition ( mainly age is a key factor trophy/ herd management)

 

[Rich M]

Feeder is too easy! That's a wives' tail. Most of the action on a feeder will be after dark.

We're prepping to retire on 10 acres so doing more than would if just hunting deer. Planting trees, screening cover, and food plots. The spinner feeder keeps deer coming thru daily/nightly, remove it and they don't come thru. Pretty simple for us actually.

Hard to beat a 1-2 acre food plot in a thick area with at least 100+ yards of wood on each side.

 

[KnightExtreme]

Minerals are considered Bait here in Michigan and Bait was banned several year ago partially due to CWD now here! (maybe why michigan is not a big buck state like others as you need 3 things and that includes a good mineral source in a deer's diet! (and a lot of Michigan only has sand as the soil type)
Also you can only do plots on private land ( not public ) which I own some property but I have also put in fruit and nut trees but they are never a sure thing as late frosts will knock that down.
Plus I plant for year round wildlife food sources not just hunting season plots.
KE
(not saying all abide by the non baiting but some of us do...)

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I grew up in a non-baiting state. Just go out and scout on state land. Since have moved to a red state.
Now I'm getting into food plots, water troughs, mineral sites, etc.

How far do you go?
anyone can throw out a corn pile, like in Texas.
Food plot is extensive work.
I started with mock scrapes, and considering moving forward. Maybe mineral sites, Maybe a 2 acre plot.
Definitely won't do a feeder. That's too easy.

Where do you draw the line??

Hunting "red states" all my life I have never killed a big buck in food plot or over feeder. The staging areas around and leading to food plots and feeders is a different story. They get big for reason.

I mostly hunt ag farms...feeders usually don't get filled till late November after peanuts and soy beans are harvested.

 

[dreamingWest]

I wish corn didn't work, but it does. And it seems to work better than anything else. Food plots look cooler though.

Our experience hunting small properties is the deer will just walk past your food plot to the neighbor's corn. Our experience on our large property is that the deer will actually change their historic patterns to go eat your neighbor's fence line corn.

 

[S-3 ranch]

I wish corn didn't work, but it does. And it seems to work better than anything else. Food plots look cooler though.

Our experience hunting small properties is the deer will just walk past your food plot to the neighbor's corn. Our experience on our large property is that the deer will actually change their historic patterns to go eat your neighbor's fence line corn.

We are only 4600 acres and the rain and new growth on food plots
Has corn just sitting there and rotting our neighbor is 68,000 acres and has no fence they feed corn and mineral supplement I have not seen any migratory to them for corn yet, but the rain or lack there of may change that .
Due to the rain we will need to put out some medicated feed for worms and intestinal parasites

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I wish corn didn't work, but it does. And it seems to work better than anything else. Food plots look cooler though.

Our experience hunting small properties is the deer will just walk past your food plot to the neighbor's corn. Our experience on our large property is that the deer will actually change their historic patterns to go eat your neighbor's fence line corn.

I wish corn worked like that around here...as long as the peanuts/beans are in fields like this, corn only brings in hogs.

 

[dreamingWest]

Again, I wish corn didn't work. I bowhunted many many years without the thought of corn. I think they've become conditioned to it from birth at this point.

Our Kansas property is right across the street from world class ag fields of soybeans and corn. We have prime bedding and travel corridors. Over the last five to ten years, neighbors started leasing to outfitters. Their customers like filling tags. Corn helps keep those tags filled. The last couple of years we decided to see if we could keep them on our place if we feed. It works. I don't like it, but at this point it's undeniable.


With our smaller properties in Texas. My brother and I have both planted and grown amazing looking food plots. From his back porch we've watched the deer walk straight through the food plot to the neighbor's corn feeder. It's pretty funny.

If y'all hunt where deer don't like corn, I'm jealous.

 

[Pilsner]

We have been baiting here on our farm for nearly a decade. We have killed exactly ZERO mature bucks over corn - even during the rut. We also very, very rarely even see a pic of a mature buck in the daylight anywhere near the feeders. Does, yearling bucks, and hogs love the corn feeders though, so they are useful for herd management and that is about it.
We also have food plots and mineral sites, and it is the exact same issue. Basically, if the area has any human activity around it then it will NOT have mature bucks around it during the daylight.