|
|
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,225
Campfire Tracker
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,225 |
The "secret" to hunting bait (at least for does and 18-month-old bucks) is to use a timed feeder rather than a free-feed trough.
If you set the timer to drop a set amount of feed at a half hour after sunrise and an hour and a half before sunset....you will have much improved success. The deer quickly learn that with a limited amount of feed, they must hit it fast before other deer (or hogs) clean up all the groceries. They still "want" to be nocturnal, but competition for the feed almost "forces" them to arrive in daylight.
Even this tactic won't work if you "pound" a feeder/stand every morning and evening (assuming your deer herd isn't very overpopulated). The activity of going to and from the stan (even without excessive shooting) will train the deer to not show up until after dark......even with limited feed and competition.
A timed feeder coupled with 5 or 6 stands and feed stations that are only hunted every week or so will increase your sightings (and kills). With 5 or 6 feeders, this CAN get expensive.....but it's the only way to prevent total nocturnal feeding.
It also helps a lot if you sneak into the stand before daylight (at least an hour or two before....not 10 minutes) and stay until black dark....then "sneak" out again. And don't fall into a habit of always hunting the same stand on the same day of the week.....mix it up or the deer will learn your patterns.
Even so...with your best efforts....you will still likely only see does and smallish bucks. It's also very frustrating when watching a feeder with no deer around.....and just "knowing" they are tearing up the feeder at the stand you DIDN'T go to that morning.
While I'm not "against" feeders (they are a good way to control herd numbers andremove does).....there are much better ways to kill a good buck and even better ways to kill does too.
I hate change, it's never for the better.... Grumpy Old Men
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 902
Campfire Regular
|
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 902 |
Timed, gravity, mechanical feeders are not allowed in WI. And only 2 gallons of bait per site per 40 acres. But it still is enough that the travel patterns are very much affected.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 21,958
Campfire Ranger
|
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 21,958 |
"Secrets" to hunting bait?
Is it anything like the KGB shooting up a bread line in the old Soviet Union?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,829 Likes: 1
Campfire Tracker
|
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,829 Likes: 1 |
Wanted a general consensus from others that hunt in states that allow baiting.
State of Ga House just passed it here, still has to go to Senate and be signed by the Gov.
Also what are the thoughts of my fellow Ga hunters?
I personally have never seen any benefit to it. Especially if you have hogs.
Anyway, whatcha think? I don't think it will make much difference.....here's why... When everyone starts baiting, it becomes just another seasonal food source, and natural food is already abundant during most of the hunting season in GA to go along with foodplots people plant and agricultural crops. You have to remember that people have always put out corn in GA...they just have not been allowed to hunt directly over the feeders but could always hunt trails going to them. Also, tracts of land tend to be small and controlled by different people/clubs. If all of them establish bait sites deer will have so many choices it will be just as random as hunting natural food sources. Contrast this to west Texas where the land is arid,natural food is more scarce, and the tracts of land are large and controlled by one person/club. Out there, they could set up one feeder per, say 200 or 300 acres, and have a much better chance of concentrating significant deer movements in the area around the one feeder. Baiting is an emotional issue because people who have never baited or can't bait because it is illegal where they live think that baiting means you always see and kill game. This is not the case and won't be when people in GA start doing it. In reality, much ado about nothing. Whether it makes deer more nocturnal I can't really say. In GA the season is long and they get so much pressure that they will tend to be nocturnal anyway, and bait or no bait your best chance to kill a big buck is always going to be the rut.
"Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants". --- William Penn
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 13
New Member
|
|
New Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 13 |
It's OK to bait in Ohio but, with thousands of acres around me which has spilled corn and soybeans after the harvest, what's the point?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What works in one area does not always work in every area.
23 John replied in the words of Isaiah:
�I am a voice shouting in the wilderness,
�Prepare a straight pathway for the Lord�s coming!� �
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 223
Campfire Member
|
|
Campfire Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 223 |
No bait in NYS. No salt licks or mineral rocks with any trace of salt.
From the NYS DEC web site:
Manner of Taking
It is unlawful to:
Take big game while the deer or bear is in water.
Possess a firearm of any description when bowhunting or when accompanying a person bowhunting during special archery seasons.
Make, set or use a salt lick on land inhabited by deer or bear.
It is unlawful to hunt big game with:
A firearm or bow aided by any artificial light or a laser that projects a beam toward the target.
An autoloading firearm with a capacity of more than 6 shells (one which requires that the trigger be pulled separately for each shot), except an autoloading pistol with a barrel length of less than 8 inches.
A firearm using rimfire ammunition.
A shotgun of less than 20 gauge or any shotgun loaded with shells other than those carrying a single projectile.
A bow with a draw weight of 35 lbs or less.
Arrows with barbed broadheads; arrowheads less than 7/8 inches at the widest point or with less than 2 sharp cutting edges.
Dogs.
Aircraft of any kind.
Bait.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 46,745
Campfire 'Bwana
|
|
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 46,745 |
'zone,
Not to be a smartass, and I certainly don't agree with baiting, but seriously, when they become primarily nocturnal, do they just "disappear"? They do if you're a bait hunter. It took me about a year to figure out where the bait sitters were in the Nat. Forest we hunted. I got between them. I'm not talking 100 yds away, more like a 40 or an 80 away. You could stand hunt, sit, or still hunt in there and it was ALMOST normal. I'm also not trying to say I haven't done it. Because I have. It is a great way to get some meat for the freezer, especially if you're not picky about what you want to shoot.
Last edited by tzone; 03/21/11.
Camp is where you make it.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,313
Campfire Tracker
|
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,313 |
In Michigan baiting used to be legal everywhere, but now just in the U. P. Baiting is the worst thing that ever happened to Michigan deer hunting.
Brushbuster: "Is this thread about the dear heard or there Jeans?"
Plugger: "If you cant be safe at strip club in Detroit at 2am is anywhere safe?"
Deer are somewhere all the time
To report a post you disagree with, please push Alt + F4. Thank You.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 44
Campfire Greenhorn
|
|
Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 44 |
I currently live and hunt in Georgia.
In the past (a long time ago), I legally hunted within sight of bait in Jasper County, South Carolina. I killed quite a few young deer and hogs from boxstands overlooking the corn and other "bait" we put out. From experience, I believe that it does turn mature deer (and hogs) nocturnal to an extent and absolutely changes their movement patterns. I learned that it was not my cup of tea. I'd much rather be in my climber deep in the swamp or still hunting away from the bait piles.
Back to Georgia, the proposed change in the baiting laws this year is quite the debate these days. To clarify for those that don't know, the 2010-2011 Georgia regulations state the following under "Unlawful Activities", pg 14:
---------------------------------------------------------
UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES
� Hunting within 200 yards of bait unless bait has been completely removed for 10 days.
� Hunting within sight of bait, regardless of distance.
---------------------------------------------------------
So, it is currently legal to put bait out/use it, but illegal to hunt over it (200 yds/within sight).
I won't hunt deer over bait or use it if the law is changed.
However, I will bait nuisance hogs with fermented corn and kill every one I can with extreme prejudice.
Last edited by SakoL61R; 03/22/11.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,489
Campfire Kahuna
|
|
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,489 |
Feeders have always been allowed in most of Texas.
The problem mentioned with hogs is very real. Any type feeder that is placed on the ground where a hog can get to it....will soon become srap metal and slinters. Also ALL of your feed (even several hundred pounds worth will disappear almost overnight on any type of "free-choice" type. The only solution is some type of hanging feeder placed too high for hogs to reach that feeds a pre-detirmined amount of food at certain times of the day. Even then the hogs will eat 90% of any food that hits the ground.....a deer has to be basically stnding under the feeder when it drops to get more than a mouthful before the hogs arrive.
The hog "problem" isn't all bad as most like to shoot hogs as well as deer, buy it DOES reduce the chances of killing deer. Even without hogs present, the feeder system may not be to your liking.
Once again, a "free-choice type feeder can be emptied very quickly by a small herd of deer that claims it (as much as 100 pounds of feed every three days is common). This can be offset by placing very large feeders that cannot be emptied so often, but that takes a LOT of feed and most of the activity will take place after dark. The solution again is a timed drop feeder that only feeds a certain amount of food at certain times of the day. The deer will quickly learn this pattern and be on the feed within minutes of the timer going off......it's a first come-first served thing and any deer that hesitates will be out of luck.
This works well early in the season, but if any significant pressure is put on a feeder (and that doesn't nessisarily mean shooting.....just going back and forth from the stand alerts the deer) the deer will soon become semi-nocturnal. Most of the activity will take place as soon as it get dark.
All the other problems aside......a feeder will only be truely effective when there is little other choice food available. As someone mentioned, in an area where there are hundreds of acres of standing corn or other crops....a feeder just can't compete. The same is true even in the "deep woods" when you have a good crop off acorns.....the deer will basically ignor the feeder until ALL of the acorns are gone.
As an aside.....it always struck me as odd that those who cry the most about the "unsportsmanlike" method of hunting deer over a corn feeder........thing nothing of sitting overlooking a 200 acre cornfield.....of a 50 acre grove of White Oaks or Apple trees. Kind of a "Anyone who doesn't hunt EXACTLY like I do....is a low down semi-illegal and unethical SOB".
Once you solve the problems of hogs, deer eating all your feed and nocturnal behavior you still have the number one problem of feeding......killing big bucks.
Feeders are an excellent way to take does and thin your herd, and even a good method to take young (18 month old) bucks. However any older buck will avoid a feeder like they would a pack of wild dogs. Rarely you will take a 2 1/2 year old buck at a feeder because he is just stupid (for as deer). The reason it is "rare" is because most "stupid" bucks are killed before they get to be 2 1/2.
Bucks that most hunters want are 3 1/2 year old....or older. Those guys (almost without exception) will NOT go anywhere near a feeder. And believe me, they know exactly WHAT a feeder is and exactly WHERE every feeder is located. I've worked with biologists who radio tracked buck on an intensively managed ranch. Time after time an older buck traveling through an area in daylight would turn as soon as he got within a couple hundred yards of a feeder/stand, detour around it, and then resume his travel.
The ONLY time really mature bucks can be taken near a feeder is during the rut. When the blood rushes to his dick, it cuts off the cirulation to his brain.....and he does foolish things. As does tend to gather near feeders.....sometimes those brain dead buck will follow them to their death......but not often enough to depend on it....and ONLY for a very short time each year.
If your goal is to fill the freezer with young bucks and does (and hogs).....feeders may be your best friend. Feeders are also good for young hunters who want to "see something" when they go hunting....and the relatively still targets shot from comfrtable stands are just the ticket foe inexperienced hunters.
If you are thinking a feeder will be your ticket to a mature buck.....think again. They are one of the least productive methods of hunting older bucks.
The other side of the feeder view here. Same state. We put our feeders, including free choice, in pens. No hogs can get to them and we have very few issues with hogs that way. As to deer coming to free choice at night, I see deer all day long visiting both types of feeders. They come to the free choice a lot after daylight and before dark, either going to bed or coming from. Yep deer know whats going on, but then if you sit in the same spot overlooking the same area as you would normally in TX, feeder or not, your stand will be burned by the end of season. We play it a bit more careful, I"m at least 150 to 200 yards from any feeder. We can approach and leave without being seen within about 25 steps of the ladder. We come in almost an hour before light, without lights on foot, wind almost never gives us away, and leave after dark same method. As to nocturnal deer, when they eat, they eat at all times, when they are not hungry they often don't touch it overnight either. As to mature, as we all know thats a needle in a haystack, but I've killed a few mature deer at feeders, its just that you don't see them there every time. More like once or so a season. By mature I mean both male and female, and 5.5 years old and older. Sure the young ones can come morning and evening like clockwork... but don't think for a minute that the old ones dont come and are unkillable. Of course they are no more so easily killed for the most part, without feeders. Age class deer, sure we have 1.5 YO deer at our feeders but every year we have 3.5 to 4.5 ones show up all the time. I"m not sure if its due to less pressure than most, or what, but they certainly are around and while they don't show every hunt, they do show often enough that you know and identify them. And they dont get shot either, we are looking for 5.5 plus... hopefully 6.5 plus bucks.
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 889
Campfire Regular
|
|
Campfire Regular
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 889 |
Deer baiting has ruined Wisconsin Deer hunting.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,533
Campfire Outfitter
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,533 |
Deer baiting is legal in Kentucky, but I've never seen a big buck taken over bait. Lotsa dinks and does, but no big bucks at all.
I deer hunt in Missouri, where baiting is NOT legal, it doesn't seem to keep folks from killing some big deer, even without bait, though food plotting is very popular.
I can't see where baiting is any kind of advantage at all. Set up with the wind, somewhere between a food source and a bedding area, and kill a deer. Sometimes, a BIG deer....
But, if you want to start a ruckus, try to explain the difference between baiting, and a food plot..................
You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,882 Likes: 6
Campfire Ranger
|
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,882 Likes: 6 |
Can't bait anything here in Oregon.
1Minute
|
|
|
|
|
556 members (160user, 1badf350, 1Longbow, 10ring1, 1936M71, 1lessdog, 52 invisible),
2,541
guests, and
1,258
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
Forums81
Topics1,192,336
Posts18,487,662
Members73,969
| |
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023
|
|
|
|
