Does baiting help him grow?

First, before you start reading this article, let it be known that I am not a scientist or biologist, just an experienced hunter and outdoorsman, with some training on the transfers of diseases and viruses. I start by saying this because I really am not writing the answer, but actually asking many questions. Baiting has come to the forefront with state lawmakers and sportsmen over the past few years and we need to discuss several topics.

I’m probably kicking a hornet’s nest by writing this. But quite frankly, I’ve always been one to wonder if there are “really bees in it or not”.

Can baiting help a QDM:

Quantity lessens the trigger pull.
I think we’ve all been there. We have been hunting many times one season and just haven’t had great luck. We haven’t even really seen a deer all year, not even a doe. Time after time in the woods, waiting and anticipating but nothing. Then a 6 pointer steps out and our heart starts pumping. Pow! We have one.

Now let’s look at this in a different light.

What if each time we sat in the stand we just knew we were going to see deer because there was a food source we placed?  Corn, wheat whatever it might be. We knew the deer would come. We would probably see 10 does and 3 bucks during the days hunt. It’s a totally different mindset. When you know they will come, your “trigger pull” lessens. Wait for the “big one” because I can see these all day.

Placing bait or a food source increases deer sightings, often reducing the number of smaller deer taken on many hunting clubs. See deer all the time and you become a patient hunter. Here I am pro baiting.   

Disease:
The transfer of any disease, including Chronic Wasting Disease, is a serious issue that may one day threaten deer hunting all together. This is where baiting and I disagree, especially on “pile baiting”. Pile baiting is exactly what it sounds like. Large concentrations of feed piled up. Multiple deer feed out of the same small area and the transfer of disease greatens 100 fold. Large areas of lightly spread feed are far better and give a virus / disease less chance of surviving and passing on to other deer. In my opinion however, the use of food plots is a much better way of accomplishing your goal. As far as I know, they are legal in all 50 states.  Chances of two deer eating from the exact same plant within a “living transfer period” of a disease or virus lessons greatly by using food plots.

Many states that have CWD spreading have rightly banned baiting.  The disease is getting more and more widespread and I think we will see a push to stop baiting all together.   

Ethics:

I really think there aren’t ethics involved with this issue, unless you are an anti-hunter. You kill something, you eat it. Whether it comes out of a corn field at 200 yards or to a logging road with bait at 100 yards, there isn’t much of a difference. Non-hunters think there are 40 deer sitting under your stand. In fact I have sat on a stand in NC watching 200 pounds of corn down a logging road for 6 hours. I counted 24 squirrels.

My final thoughts?

I believe the baiting issue will be put to bed by the issue of CWD. I also believe that most hunters would much rather give up the practice of baiting, rather than lose their deer hunting all together to disease. If you haven’t kept up with CWD you need to research it. There are places in this country that the order to “kill them all” has been given.  Areas known to have high concentrations of CWD have been told to virtually eliminate their deer herds to stop the spread statewide. 

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