The Baiting Issue?

[walt4dun]

www.whitetailinstitute.com/info/news/jul06/5.html

Another interesting read; talks about South Carolina and a study done by Charles Ruth comparing the Upstate to the Lowcountry's baiting policies.

It may surprise you.

[Idlewild]

very interesting!

[SCDkhntr]

Good article.

[Creston]

i'll agree with that

[DUCKMAN]

What if you maintain your feeders year round with the exception of turkey season? Would this not become part of the environment/landscape?

[ziggy]

very nice read!

[Greeny]

Very interesting article.

[tradorion]

I have long held that baiting is both counterproductive to good hunting skills and not particularly good for the deer herd...

I wish that the good sense of science and biology would let it go away but that will never happen.

T

[Palmetto Bug]

Comparing the upstate to the Lowcountry seems like apples and oranges. If baiting stopped, the harvests from the upstate would still be different than in the Lowcountry. The differences in terrain alone could explain the difference in harvests.

The article also makes it sound like Charles Ruth was on a mission to prove baiting is bad and used a lot of inductive reasoning to do so.

Having said that, I'd be thrilled if they made it illegal in the Lowcountry. Hauling corn is a pain in the ass but you feel like you have to if the club next door does it. I killed plenty of deer before baiting became so popular.

[Kwacker]

Having used feeders alone and food plots alone there is no doubt in my mind which will get the deer in faster, feeders. I will also say that using the two together is the most effective way to get deer to you over your neighbor using corn alone.

Does hunting over "bait", which is what a food plot is as well, make you a better hunter? Probably not. Will you kill deer easier than someone hunting woods alone? Yes.

I also note that the front page of WI is a nice big add on food plot products for sell, don't think they wouldn't have some interest in promoting one over the other. Also from the body of the article "DNR biologists do not support baiting due to biological, social and ethical issues." and " “Many believe that hunting with bait leads to better hunter success and higher harvest rates,” Ruth said, “and this should lead to a better deer management situation.”

DNR biologists disagreed, and they set out to prove it."

I'd say Ruth proved what he wanted to prove and we all know about lies,damn lies and statistics but y'all can draw your own conclusions.

[walt4dun]

After reading the article and giving it some thought, I think I am going to stop putting out corn on the 600 acres I hunt in Clarendon county. I'll consider it somewhat of a personal experiment.

WHY?

It's expensive and I'm poor. Plus, I can't keep it out consistantly; I only get to hunt there on the weekends (if I'm lucky).

I have so much farm land I really don't need to bait. For example, my buddy hunted a stand I have that has a really defined trail leading to a corn field last weekend and saw 11 deer, no bait around - just on a good trail leading to a primary food source.

I, personally, have never seen a big buck with its head in a corn pile out there. I always consider my baited stands doe killin' spots.

Even the does seem to get spooky when they get to the corn piles. They know that corn ain't supposed to be there. On a trail however, they are calm as can be.

The only big bucks I have ever seen huntin' were behind does out there. They just don't come to corn piles during shooting light.

And yeah...I personally get alot more satisfaction sticking my deer on trails than I do over a corn pile. Not that I haven't killed my fair share over corn piles. Its just that like Trad said, I feel like more of a hunter when I'm doing it "naturally." I guess it just says something about where I am as a sportsman these days.

Just my opinion. To each his own. As long as its legal, I got no quarrel.

[2thDoc]

i agree woth all you said...except i will keep putting out corn for doe whackage and the camera.

still more fun to find a grapevine or a persimmon and know they want to be there.

[Sportin' Woodies]

seems to me we boys in the upstate are just better hunters.

[AJTiger]

I awlays thought the lower state had some of the biggest finest food plots I've ever seen. They're called corn fields, bean fields, and other agricultural fields. They used to try that in the upstate and all it did was make the topsoil wash away and got left with red clay for which there is only pine trees to plant overall. You should see the old (very old) pictures of what is now the Clemson Experimental Forest (Fants Grove). Cotton fields with huge washed out gullys. Agriculture lands or lack of it due to terrain have always been what has made the hunting different between the two. And thats not likely to change with or without bait. Its the one thing I like about living in cockville. You are a short drive to either.

This year I joined a piedmont club along with the swamp club I'm in so that I can get up there and hunt some trails and other sign, Get a nice (albiet short) bow only hunt period, and get a little break from the corn piles. I'll be harvesting some sausage from the swamp if nothing else though.

[Mars Bluff]

Kinda reminds me of a river rat I knew. I'd hunt the corn piles hard & he'd go & sit on a trail against a tree with his 12ga & he always had more success....

[ziggy]

Originally posted by Sportin' Woodies:
seems to me we boys in the upstate are just better hunters.

[img]graemlins/iagree.gif[/img]

[JABIII]

Yeah but we mountain unit hunters are the real deal...

[Catdaddy]

It always amazes me to hear the western SC hunters talk about fertilizing honey suckle or a certain white oak tree. Do you think it's because they want that particular oak tree or honey suckle patch to be the best in the woods?

No, it's because they want their efforts to lure a deer into range whether it's for a bow or rifle.


Corn is no different.

[CAMO SNOB]

Originally posted by Catdaddy:
It always amazes me to hear the western SC hunters talk about fertilizing honey suckle or a certain white oak tree. Do you think it's because they want that particular oak tree or honey suckle patch to be the best in the woods?

No, it's because they want their efforts to lure a deer into range whether it's for a bow or rifle.


Corn is no different.

Wake up Bubba!! dumping corn you got at the feed store and hunting a fucking Oak tree are not in the same ball park, they ain't even the same fucking sport. You are a hell of a sportsman and conservationist, what are you a fucking wildlife biologist? Try to justify your bullshit somewhere else, I ain't buying it.

Sooner or later that putting corn out bullshit is going to be against the law and a damn fine day it will be. Some of you no hunting bitches that have a deer feeder out front of the "condo stand" will have to get in the woods and learn what a deer trail looks like and how to find honey suckle and mast trees. Maybe even hunt out of a climber and wear some scent blocker. Baiting deer is for the ignorant lazy want-a-bee with hunting stickers all over his back glass.

[Catdaddy]

Originally posted by CAMO SNOB:
Wake up Bubba!! dumping corn you got at the feed store and hunting a fucking Oak tree are not in the same ball park, they ain't even the same fucking sport. [/QB]

Why don't you fertilize all 500 acres?

Let me answer that for you, you don't give a damn about herd health or you would. You want to lure the deer into shooting range, plain and simple.

We understand what you folks are doing, you are the ones in denial.

It will never be illegal to bait deer on this side of the state.