When I grew up there was no such thing as baiting. You found what looked like a good spot and hunted it. You really don't need to bait if you hunt farmland, the deer are there. The northern part of the state and the UP, there was much more in the large forest tracts. My favorite places to hunt, I enjoy getting out and scouting these forests and pinning down area the deer are moving and using.
I know DNR biologists working on this problem that are avid hunters. The issue isn't food itself, it is nose to nose contact over a feeder or pile of feed. When you pile food over couple of square feet, you increase the likelihood of contact. A multi acre food plot is not the same.
405wcf
The problem with that is deer are social and are nose to nose all the time regardless of if it's a bait pile. Scrapes? Licking branches? Concentrated food sources such as cornfields, acorns, apple or pears, grooming each other?
I think supporting this as a good thing against "bad hunters" is short sighted; feeds right into the divide and conquer of hunters. If you don't like baiting, deer, bears, whatever...don't. But don't cheer more restrictions being put on hunters, if you like to hunt. Your "unsporting" use of a firearm, or whatever else is deemed "unsportsmanlike" may be next.
Great post. And you'd be hard pressed to see a group more divided than MI deer hunters. You have elitist archery hunters looking down their nose at crossbow or firearm hunters (ironically 99% use the latest compound technology), you have baiters and non baiters, private vs public land, , traditional vs QDM hunters, numerous seasons starting in September through Jan 1st. Yet they all wonder why, as a group, they can't get anything accomplished to better deer hunting overall as compared to groups with a fraction of the numbers such as the bear hunters or trappers. Deer hunters are divided and their own worst enemy.
