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baiting in Tennessee

megalomaniac said:
Perhaps the problem in south MS is 3 out of 4 hunters hunt over cornpiles... so they are everywhere... Maybe that's what keeps the older deer nocturnal? Or keeps them nocturnal around the feeders... me and a friend kill them in daylight away from the cornpiles near the thick stuff.
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I'd guess it's not entirely different than Ohio. Different terrain but the legal baiting means a big margin of hunters, maybe even a majority, use bait. Every deer I kill up there has corn in its stomach even though the nearest ag is over a mile away. Worse yet, the property is surrounded 3 sides by state forest, which means somebody is likely illegally baiting on public ground.

I think the over abundance of baiting has to create a diminishing return effect. The more corn available, the less of an urgent attraction it will be. My brother, even though he runs a feeder year round, doesn't hunt over it. He and I both are fairly serious bow hunters and enjoy the chess game of it. I don't even hunt my plots. Never had much luck with it. I much prefer pinch points. As a bow hunter the worst thing about hunting close to food is that deer spend time there during the change from daytime/nighttime and I can't move without spooking them. On a pinch point I can get in or out whenever the coast is clear because deer are only passing through. My favorites are top side of draws in hill country, or creek crossings. Both seem infinitely more productive than bait piles.
 
FTP said:
I haven't jumped into this argument about the sustainability, but from experience, in areas where there is no agriculture, keeping feeders full of corn OR some high protein pellets year round can absolutely sustain the deer in that area. And will keep mature bucks near these feeders during daylight hours not nocturnal. They get hungry during daylight hours as well and will prefer these feeders over sweetbriar, acorns, or other browse. I've watched it happen for years.
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Point was baiting not year around feeding. I seriously doubt anyone is feeding year round.
 
Ski said:
As I said, semantics. You asked me to specify he difference and I did. Completely different applications, purposes, and procedures, but a shared descriptive word. By that logic we should equate a grunt tube with a tube bait. Both are artificial, effective attractants, but who do you know would be on board for outlawing grunt calls because they're bait? I don't even care if you're right or if you're wrong. I'm only saying I'd like to see hunting topics discussed on the terms of hunting, not fishing. Arguing petty nonsense like this does zero to advance the conversation toward fruition.
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As I said previously, the definition of the word bait uses the word food. Trying to implement a grunt tube in to your argument is silly and obviously wrong. Remember, words have meanings and I do not subscribe to the narrative of making a word mean something to fit an agenda.
Sorry Ski. The degree in English Lit and the teaching of debate for 25 years disagrees with you.
 
Hillbilly Hunter said:
A one acre food plot can give as much food as 100 acres of mature hardwoods.
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Sure it can, but so can a young clear cut. Im not talking about benefitting wildlife. I'm talking about all the green patch plus plots and hot spot plots that are planted with the sole purpose of baiting deer. You cannot argue that it doesn't happen.
 
Ski said:
I'd guess it's not entirely different than Ohio. Different terrain but the legal baiting means a big margin of hunters, maybe even a majority, use bait. Every deer I kill up there has corn in its stomach even though the nearest ag is over a mile away. Worse yet, the property is surrounded 3 sides by state forest, which means somebody is likely illegally baiting on public ground.

I think the over abundance of baiting has to create a diminishing return effect. The more corn available, the less of an urgent attraction it will be. My brother, even though he runs a feeder year round, doesn't hunt over it. He and I both are fairly serious bow hunters and enjoy the chess game of it. I don't even hunt my plots. Never had much luck with it. I much prefer pinch points. As a bow hunter the worst thing about hunting close to food is that deer spend time there during the change from daytime/nighttime and I can't move without spooking them. On a pinch point I can get in or out whenever the coast is clear because deer are only passing through. My favorites are top side of draws in hill country, or creek crossings. Both seem infinitely more productive than bait piles.
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couple folks on my lease in Ohio spend legitimately $1000 on corn. I have never put out the first bag. Anywhere. I don't have any desire to do it but it doesn't really bother me. Seems like work to me. I hunt to get away from all that.
 
I'll say this, on my property that I no longer have access to as previously mentioned... no agriculture around, from February-September I fed the deer 25% protein pellets, they had access to it all the time, October- end of January they had access to all the corn (carbs and fat) that they wanted. Yep, spent quite a bit of money on this, but the deer definitely benefitted from my generosity.
Now remember, it's not baiting if the season is closed. Just feeding deer.
 
FTP said:
I'll say this, on my property that I no longer have access to as previously mentioned... no agriculture around, from February-September I fed the deer 25% protein pellets, they had access to it all the time, October- end of January they had access to all the corn (carbs and fat) that they wanted. Yep, spent quite a bit of money on this, but the deer definitely benefitted from my generosity.
Now remember, it's not baiting if the season is closed. Just feeding deer.
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I believe they call that supplemental feeding. Which is a perfectly practical application.
 
utvolsfan77 said:
Asking for the benefit of younger folks that may be growing up without a dad or those a bit older that may not have had anyone to teach/mentor them. How would those folks learn woodsmanship without anyone to teach them? A person can only learn so much from reading magazines and books or watching videos on YouTube. I think everyone will agree that hands-on learning is the best way of learning, but where does one start?
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I hear ya. I didn't have a father figure growing up. I read everything I could as I had a strong desire in hunting. Middle school had field and stream and outdoor life. Got to go with my grandfather one time at about 12-13 years old and it lit a fire. I learned the hard way by doing it, mostly alone. That was before the internet and I got all my info from books and went out and tried it. Failed a lot. A whole lot. My sons got the benefit of that and I'm glad to pass it to them. Nowadays with the info that's available online it should be fairly easy.
 
Pilchard said:
Hey FTP, I've got a serious question for you:

If bait in fishing is the equivalent to corn in hunting, does this mean you believe corn is required to be a successful hunter?

Maybe if you take a sec to apply logic and reason, you'll see where your argument falls down.
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I want to see him catch a deer on a 2 wt flyrod
 

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