Deer baiting poll

[WAcoyotehunter]

So I have been sitting in my office watching hunters head to the woods (Pend Orielle County) and my (very) anecdotal survey looks like about 30% of the obvious hunting vehicles have hay on them?  I know there are bait pile all over the place along the valley, but how many guys bait higher up?  How many of you guys feed/bait the deer??

[KFhunter]

.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Not too sure about baiting with hay.. 
Some use it for target (Archery) and some use it to add weight in back of truck for slick roads, some spread it under tent for cushion/insulation...
Now if it were apples...

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Oh, and what about option, tried it for camera, but never got consistent results, or bear took over, gave up.
 

[seth30]

Cant wait for the ethics police to come out

[Russ McDonald]

Oh opening up a can of worms again.  Just to let you know.  This same subject was brought up before the beginning of the season.  I believe it got nuked because it got pretty nasty if I remeber correctly.  Good luck though 

[WAcoyotehunter]

I do put out hay for my camera.  Others have hunted over it, but I don't get too excited about it.

[KFhunter]

I'd just be happy if folks used clean weed free hay

[stryker]

Well, if you watch the Saturday and Sunday morning hunting shows, feeding them first is the way your supposed to do it. 

Personally, I think baiting and using attractants of any kind all fall into the same basket. 

[pd]

Here is something that I learned this year: Make sure that your bait makes culinary sense to the targeted animals!

I spent the entire summer and early fall of 2013 lugging hundreds of pounds of apples deep into the woods (all on bicycle, several miles back), to place in front of my game cameras.  My daughter and I always downloaded the pictures with great anticipation, to see what critters had come to the feast.  We were surprised that the previous drop of apples were never completely eaten when we came to refresh them.  Only after the season did we learn the reason why: Our cameras are very deep in the mountains, far from any agricultural sites.  The animals there have never seen apples before; thus, they never touched our camera bait.

I learned this from a knowledgeable and kind gentleman, who told me that he once dropped a bale of alfalfa in the same area for elk, only to discover that the elk wouldn't touch the bailed green stuff.

The lesson here is this: Bring whatever bait you like (it is all legal, except if your quarry is cougar or bear), just make sure that they are familiar with your offerings.  Otherwise, you are waisting your time.

By the way, when I went to my super-secret spot during general elk season this year, the last round of apples were still there, perfectly frozen. 

[Jonathan_S]

Personally, I think baiting and using attractants of any kind all fall into the same basket. 

Attractant is defined as a substance or agent that attracts other insects or animals.

So using a scrape scent to lure a mountain whitetail into bow range is the same to you as dumping a truck bed of apple flavored corn and in a private hayfield with a heated treehouse?   

Here's how I deer hunt now, I find a deer that I want and I do what works to get that deer.  Now I'm not claiming to be an expert on this strategy but it is how I head into the woods June-Sep/Dec 

I've got only ten acres for my wife to hunt in a private land GMU.  Should I have her still hunt it? 

By the way, that is how "baiting and using attractants" came to be more mainstream.  Back east when every piece of land got broken up into little parcels, they couldn't do long drives every year and hunt deer with their hounds so they adapted.  Still hunting through swamps isn't as fun or productive as it may sound.

So I agree with you, I also think baiting and using attractants are one-in-the-same...because I think the legal killing of deer is an admirable pursuit and whether I am still hunting, spot-and-stalking, or sitting in a bush waiting for a buck to show up and have a nibble of alfalfa, I will see other hunters and their differing styles and wish them well.

[deltaops]

The times I have used bait ended with no deer, nothing even touched the bait. After trying several different baits with no results, I think I will move on without the bait.

Now next year I will start putting out some mineral licks and a cam to see if I can get something to stop in a say hello! 

[DoubleJ]

Blacktail LOVE LOVE LOVE alder boughs.  Works better than apples I promise.  Put out some fresh cut alder branches and I promise they'll be stripped clean the next day.  Is it baiting if I cut a bunch of alder boughs off of alder trees that overhang a deer trail and let the cut branches sit on the deer tail? 

[Skyvalhunter]

Ohh look another baiting poll!! Sweeeeet

[deaner]

Here is something that I learned this year: Make sure that your bait makes culinary sense to the targeted animals!

I spent the entire summer and early fall of 2013 lugging hundreds of pounds of apples deep into the woods (all on bicycle, several miles back), to place in front of my game cameras.  My daughter and I always downloaded the pictures with great anticipation, to see what critters had come to the feast.  We were surprised that the previous drop of apples were never completely eaten when we came to refresh them.  Only after the season did we learn the reason why: Our cameras are very deep in the mountains, far from any agricultural sites.  The animals there have never seen apples before; thus, they never touched our camera bait.

I learned this from a knowledgeable and kind gentleman, who told me that he once dropped a bale of alfalfa in the same area for elk, only to discover that the elk wouldn't touch the bailed green stuff.

The lesson here is this: Bring whatever bait you like (it is all legal, except if your quarry is cougar or bear), just make sure that they are familiar with your offerings.  Otherwise, you are waisting your time.

By the way, when I went to my super-secret spot during general elk season this year, the last round of apples were still there, perfectly frozen. 

its all legal except for cougar or bear?  if youre going to tell people what the laws are make sure you know them yourself.  baiting cougar is perfectly legal.  its all legal except bear and game birds