Brother...I've made up my mind....and I've read (listened) to every post on this thread and Ive made my opinion clear on why I'm against baiting....my ears are not deaf...I just hadnt read one single reason to change my mind on the topic...the risk greatly outweigh any true benifit...I'm for what is best for all wildlife.
Touched a nerve I see, interesting. I am not "pushing" anything on you. I have an opinion just like you and everyone else. You want to hunt with bait where its legal go ahead. I prefer not to and won't. How is that being self absorbed? I would much rather go to Maine, Vermont or New York and track a buck in the snow. That a hell of a lot more fun than I can imagine sitting in a little heated box watching a pile of bait would be. Sorry I hurt your tender feelings. Adios!
I'm not saying your reasoning is not wrong but some have said it's not about someone killing a deer over bait then the next post will refute that claim. If I copied your post then I'm sorry . Actually I've read enough that I won't supplemental feed except with feed deemed safe but alot stuff that was said didn't need to be said to get a point across . Yeah saying people who bait are lazy well could be but may be the only way they can put venison on the table . Learn to hunt heard that too but these could be the same people setting in a shooting house with a heater watching a food plot . So educating some to the dangers was a good thing but name calling is just going to stir up anger and what does that solve ? Look at all the pages that this subject has generated which with the right tone could have been accomplished with just a few pages . And not that big of difference on weather or not you want legal baiting according to the percentage. If anti-baiters had of came across in a different manner that percentage should be much wider if your points are valid which I can't argue .
Appreciate your explanation. And the sarcasm and name calling has been tossed around from both sides. I've tried to stick with the topic of whats best for all wildlife. And for the "learn to hunt" comments being compared to "shooting house with heater"
Way beyond ridiculous.
I think you've summed things up well.
See this was just what I was talking about ! Just can't help but sling a few negative words towards those that voted yes . Selfish is I guess is what we are now . Why did LBL man have to throw this verbiage ? Biggest pile of bait !!! Could ended it before he said that . Like I said before educating some of us towards the positive but no gotta sling some dirt . Got alot respect towards all you that are against baiting and your passionate thoughts but you know it's not returned at all just because we could be wrong . Been called, lazy , selfish, need to learn how to hunt , etc . YES SIR I'll agree ridiculous !!
You didn't hurt any feelings… you just exposed your ignorance by belittling the way someone legally hunts. I do find it amusing that you feel the need to comment despairingly on any legal method of hunting that is tuned to the conditions and reality of a particular area. To think tracking a deer in Maine snow is any more of a hunt or method than watching a bait pile in a remote Saskatchewan wilderness for hours and hours in subzero weather shows you truly are small minded and clueless .
To each his own…. Same method. Same train of thought. The end result could be the same. A dead deer. One come to a pile of corn. One come to a bigger pile of corn. lol
I think almost everyone that frequents a site like this is for what's best for wildlife. The question is do you think that making hunting more accessible through baiting helps or hurts wildlife. I see hunter recruitment declining rapidly. If those numbers were climbing, I would have a different option, but the reality is our way of life is dying right before our eyes. If we don't do something to bring in new hunters, we're a few generations, maybe two, of this being gone forever. Most people don't have a dad that brought them up in the woods. We have to get those people access to hunting (and the purchase of license every year) to turn this thing around. Is anyone really worried about running out of deer? I bet 80% of the land in TN isn't hunted. The deer are going to be just fine with or without hunting. Why not provide more accessible hunting methods to reach more hunters? I have personally mentored multiple adults that never hunted growing up but want to access the sport, and now they're hooked. I truly believe most people that killed their first doe over some corn would move on from that to more advanced methods. Maybe bait isn't the right catalyst to increase hunter recruitment, but we have to do something. I want my future grandkids to have the opportunity to hunt. It's been pointed out already how out numbered we are (hunters verses non-hunters). Eventually our voice will be so small that the New Jersey cat ladies will ban the whole thing once and for all. Just my two cents.
Really! They brought baiting to Michigan and cut it out in areas it was hurting and now they can't get rid of baiting and illegal baiting. It's a joke and guess what, hunter numbers are still declining.
How will allowing baiting get hunters access to an imaginary 80% of the state that isn't hunted? Why isn't land hunted now? I've never had anyone tell me they'll give me permission as long as I dump out a pile.
Well, here's an example that happened a couple of years ago. Guy I showed the ropes to got his first doe on public land. He got the bug and started looking for land to hunt. He found a coworker that had a family farm that wasn't hunted. He got permission and now hunts there. Say I would have never helped this guy, and he was having to figure it out on his own. Would a bag of corn level the playing field for a new hunter and give him the chance to get his first deer to get hooked? I could see it helping.
Oh, so they were able to control illegal baiting before it was legal, but now they can't control illegal baiting... because it used to be legal? That makes sense. I hate to break it to you but baiting was legal everywhere in this country at one point. Heard populations are controlled through harvest limits, not the amount of food on the land.Really! They brought baiting to Michigan and cut it out in areas it was hurting and now they can't get rid of baiting and illegal baiting. It's a joke and guess what, hunter numbers are still declining.
That was an autocorrect. Supposed to read non hunters. Non hunters do not support hunting over bait. Really good chance he doesn't get permission to hunt if he's slinging yeller acorns.
Actually that's an interesting theory.
Personally I don't want bait to help hunter recruitment. Maybe an unpopular opinion don't care. But you said our way of life is getting lost, I agree. With that said our way of life is way deeper then throwing corn on the ground and pulling the trigger every time you leave the house. At least to me it isn't. If that's the argument used to legalized baiting then sadly we already lost. The same argument I think we can use for foodplots, but hopefully those people introducing to that are also teaching them about habitat. We are on a slippery slope. Way back in this thread I said I was optimistic...I'm losing that optimism quick.
