Illegal to feed big game animals??

[Palmer]

Feeding big game animals would include baiting.

After reading the Humane Society of the US website, I'm for whatever they are against.  Let hunters use all their knowledge and skill to get that one species of big game that they want.  Don't limit our opportunity.  If you don't agree with feeding or baiting then don't participate in it.  

I've seen some baiting practices for whitetail last year that made me uncomfortable but there are plenty of deer to go around.   Furthermore, the seasons are short and we only get one deer and one elk so use all the tools you legally are able to use.

Since the winter storms came late this year the big game should have survived the heavy snows.  We should see strong numbers of elk and deer.  I'm sure any feeding has helped more than harmed.

[bobcat]

Feeding big game animals would include baiting.

Well, not necessarily. It would depend on how the law was written. They could outlaw feeding of wildlife in the winter and still allow baiting during hunting season. I'm not trying to argue for or against feeding of wildlife, I was just in the beginning trying to point out that this post was not about baiting. In my opinion they are two different things.

[Red Dawg]

i agree it is different. Not against baiting bears.

[Outfitter]

The only baiting we have ever lost was due to anti hunters, so is that what you are Governor Groundhog. We have allways been allowed to feed anything .Stopping that would be nearly impossible. We would have to quit planting agricultural fields and cut down all the apple trees on our property. There has to be something better to complain about !!

[robodad]

I to think that baiting should be illegal, I also think that those that chose to bait animals are lacking some of the necessary skills to be a true hunter, I also think that those who use baiting commercially are stealing from those of us that chose to hunt fair chase.

There are other reasons that have already been thoroughly covered on this board so I will leave it at that.

We would have to quit planting agricultural fields and cut down all the apple trees on our property

If you harvest these fields and orchards for a living then it is not baiting.

Anybody can kill animals over a pile of food, but it takes skills to out wit and out smart and out maneuver your prey in a fair chase environment, that is what I am about !!

[Skyvalhunter]

oK lets drop this thread.

[popeshawnpaul]

This is ridiculous.  It's not skillful to you so lets make it illegal?  Why don't you expend the energy you have fighting against anti hunters and those trying to place more restrictions on us than in-fighting amongst hunters. 

Know your true enemy, please.

[billythekidrock]

I to think that baiting should be illegal, I also think that those that chose to bait animals are lacking some of the necessary skills to be a true hunter, I also think that those who use baiting commercially are stealing from those of us that chose to hunt fair chase.

There are other reasons that have already been thoroughly covered on this board so I will leave it at that.

We would have to quit planting agricultural fields and cut down all the apple trees on our property

If you harvest these fields and orchards for a living then it is not baiting.

Anybody can kill animals over a pile of food, but it takes skills to out wit and out smart and out maneuver your prey in a fair chase environment, that is what I am about !!

That is one of the weakest arguemments I have heard.

My thoughts from another thread.

I am going to go on my little rant again about standing by our fellow outdoorsmen.

Do you think using hounds for bears is ethical? What if it was legal and "ethical" to those that do it? Who's ethics are right? If you think it is un-ethical would you vote to ban the practice? What about baiting?

What about traditional vs compound? Most of the trad guys would gladly turn their backs on any type of rule changes that favor modern bow shooters. And most archers are more than quick to put down rifle hunters.

If you are an upland gamebird hunter you probably don't care much for trappers or leg hold traps. If even just the bird hunters would stand by the trappers we wouldn't have lost the ability to control predators in an effective way in many states. Not to mention part of our heritage that will not be introduced or carried on by our children.

What if you duck hunters lose your right to use your dogs? How will that affect your hunt? How will it affect your enjoyment of the outdoors? Now think about this. Many states have lost the right to use dogs to hunt bears and cougars... it may not be too long before we lose the right to use dogs for any type of hunting.

One of PETA's big targets right now is fishing. Do you think that the elite fly guys are going to help the lowly bait fishermen? Maybe, if they try to outright ban fishing, but if PETA takes small steps and bans live bait, you can bet that most fly fishermen won't vote or will vote to ban bait. It is these small steps that PETA takes that leads to everyone of us losing our hunting and fishing rights.

We, baiter/hound/rifle/archery/fish, are all bricks in the wall...every brick we lose, the weaker we get and the sooner we all fall.
This is not a local issue or even statewide. This is across the whole nation.
If the fishermen (outdoorsman) would stand by the hunter (outdoorsman) the "city folk" and PETA freaks would not stand a chance.
We need to stand and support each other.

Baiting for deer and elk is legal and we need to keep it that way even if you don't participate in that activity. I don't duck hunt, but you can bet that I would stand up for your right to do it. If we lose something we have to fight ten times harder to get it back (if ever) and that allows the anti's to move on to another target.

I may not bait, bow hunt or run dogs, but I stand by and support them. that is what I am about !!

[robodad]

Well I guess my ethics are different then yours !!

We could go back and forth all month about which methods are ethical and which are not so I will just say that, hunters should be willing to give the animal the advantage in every situation !!

Just because something is or was legal does not make it right or ethical in my book.

It's not skillful to you so lets make it illegal?

This is not the statement I made counselor, I said that if a person needs to use a pile of food to harvest wild animals then he/she lacks the skills necessary to out wit and out maneuver his prey in a fair chase environment.


 

[Ray]

I'm all for keeping the rules as they are. Some people are way too busy trying to get into someone else's business instead of carrying on with their own lives.

[Red Dawg]

the hard part with this issue is that we have taken away much of our wild game winter habitat. So feeding them in the winter has sort of become essential as much as i dont like it, it is necessary. Then you have the land owners who put crops right in the middle of natural game habitat and dont do anything about keeping them off and in turn kill them because they are ruining there crops. that is something that i have a very hard time with. Its not like people didn't know they were there prior to the crops being planted. I will not say any names but a certain guy i sort of know killed approximately 60 head of deer and of that 60, 40 of them were bucks and they were thrown into a pit to rot. I can think of a couple of different instances where this happened so maybe feeding them in designated areas does actually save some of our game from intruding on crops.

[robodad]

There is no doubt that you should be allowed to make a living by planting crops on your land and the animals should be dealt with accordingly, no different if there was a fox or coyote in your chicken coop, What I have a problem with is those that take the chicken and tie it to a post then sit and wait till the coyote comes then shoot the coyote, Or dump out a bucket of corn by your stand and wait for the deer to show up. I just can't understand how this is right so I think it should be illegal !!

It has nothing to do with the anti's trying to take away from us it should be us showing the anti's that we are better then that !!

[Curly]

I'm all for keeping the rules as they are. Some people are way too busy trying to get into someone else's business instead of carrying on with their own lives.

 

[Palmer]

You know I think tearing into mother Earth and shredding her precious soil and killing the native plantlife only to pollute her womb with fertilizers and seeds is unethical.  If you want an apple or some berries you should wait until its in season and look for a wild grown berry bush or nut tree to satisfy your greedy hunger.  In fact one should only eat nuts and berries so as not to kill any living organism.

I'm so sick of this kind of thinking from anti-hunters.  Any one else getting fed up?  Some of these sick people are sad when an animal dies and happy when a human dies (ie. an American Soldier or a republican).

[Palmer]

Thank you Billythekidrock.  Nicely written.