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Baiting: Defining Laws and Concerns

by Outdoor Hub on October 10, 2011

Baiting: Defining Laws and Concerns

Setting food bait for migratory birds has been illegal since the 1930s and laws vary state-to-state on baiting bears and deer because of concerns about the increased spread of disease. Yet in states where baiting is legal hunters claim they’ve filled their tags in the first few days, if not hours… Should chemical products side-skirt the laws because they aren’t food? What is considered baiting and should the laws be universal or even more area-specific?

Do the risks of baiting outweigh the successful kills? Let’s strike up a campfire, share your opinion and debate each other’s stance on baiting.

Photo: Siggi Mus
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  • Colin Anthony

    What an awesome topic. I have hunted over bear bait many
    times and I can tell anyone that this experience is nothing less than a spot
    and stalk. Nor is baiting bears easy hunting. Heck, I have sat many times all
    week and never had an encounter.

    Baiting deer or game birds is a tough question. I don’t
    have the need to bait deer but then again I guess you could say I don’t have a
    need for baiting bear either. The only difference is I only have a week to hunt
    bear on my vacation and all season to track down a big buck. Food plots are
    legal bait stations in my opinion so what’s the difference between this and a
    pile of corn. I kid you not, I have seen 10 acres in a 50 acre section in a
    dense woods plowed down by big dozers to build a food plot that only has 3 entrances.
    Fortified by fallen timber so the critters only have select ways to enter the
    plot.

    In general I think baiting rules are okay. Sometimes you
    need bait piles and sometimes you don’t. I trust that wildlife agencies will
    make the correct decision I protecting our wild game. How the help protect our heritage
    is a different discussion.

  • http://www.outdoorhub.com/author/mike-oreilly/ Mike O’Reilly

    While I’m pretty much against baiting for any kind of bird, my stance on baiting for deer has fluctuated over the years. Growing up in Michigan, I was used to hunting over piles of corn and carrots, but when I moved to Colorado and later to Utah, I had to learn different methods of hunting. During those years I fell in love with the physically demanding type of hunting required for success in the rugged mountains. I began to think sitting by a bait pile was just not challenging enough.

    But then I started screwing up a lot of great opportunities to kill big bucks during archery season, and it usually involved shooting in a different situation each time. Uphill shots, downhill shots, long shots, short shots — even when I used my rangefinder I couldn’t hit my mark. 

    Obviously, the first thing most people will say is “Practice, practice, practice, and you won’t have any excuse.” Agreed, the more you practice the better you will (or should) get, which is a key part of making clean, humane kills. But to be a truly ethical hunter one must minimize EVERY possible variable within his/her control, and two of those variables are distance and shot angle.

    The good thing about a bait pile is that you know the exact distance to it, so you’ll be more confident in making a clean kill. It might not seem as challenging, but it’s better than the challenge of tracking a deer you hit in the stomach or the leg.

  • Jackybushman

    I say whatever keeps our hunting numbers up! Not too mention if you dont have so much time to be in the woods, observe, and hunt a lot bait is an added benefit. Then again, i say cross bows, compound bows, in line muzzeloader’s, or 300 mags are good by me. Just hunt and help our sports numbers as thats what it is all about. With radical groups like PETA out there I say hunting and pro hunting no matter what! Support the sport, support the tradition!