Baiting Deer

[Palmer]

I've hunted an area for 9 years and used to see rubs on trees the size of my ankle, turds the size of marbles, and scrapes 2' x 3'.  We've had some good luck but last fall we harvested only 1 deer in this area and he was only a year and a half.  We did see several does.

What has been bothering us is all the shooting we heard nearby across from the Geophysical Observatory along Indian Creek Rd.  We heard 3 to 5 shots on both Saturday and Sunday.  We found that there was a large structure built off the ground about 100 yards south of the Geophysical entrance.  They have 10 feeders with timers and have cleared the brush out of the way around the feeders to get a clear shot. 
I think they are taking baiting way too far.  Furthermore, they either have a large hunting party or are sharing their structure with many of their friends.  They may even be outfitters.

The downside is that Eastern Washington has approximately 50,000 whitetail and it seems that the population of mature bucks around Indian Creek Rd area has significantly declined.  Whereas, in Idaho where baiting is illegal, we saw several mature bucks and the population North of the Pend Oreille is an estimated 200,000 whitetail.

[Ray]

I think baiting should remain legal. If there are too many hunters to compete with I usually take that as a sign to myself and then 1) suck it up and deal with it. or 2) go somewhere else.

[Palmer]

In Idaho we encountered more hunters yet more opportunity to harvest a large deer.

I'll add that baiting didn't bother me before until I saw it taken to such an extreme.

[Ray]

I can understand your point of view.

I'm not a trophy hunter so I don't care about horns as much as some people. But I certainly like to see healthy animals. In the end for me... there's enough deer that I have an opportunity where I go. It just takes a while to get in and out of there and sometimes I don't get one.

[robodad]

I will politely disagree with you on the baiting, I think that the only time any deer or elk should be supplemented with any sort of feed is when there is way too much snow for them to get adequate nutrition and even then I think the only thing that should be allowed to feed them is naturally grown bailed hay or alfalfa.

I think the baiting thing has gone too far when the outdoor channel has shows dedicated to screwing with the natural life cycle of the animals we hunt, I don't really think I could gain any sort of satisfaction by hunting baited or chemically engineered game animals. In fact I think I would be more ashamed then anything, and I could not reasonably show the thing off to my buddy's and feel good about it.

I am quite certain that baiting deer and supplemental feeding has played a huge role in the CWD epidemic we see in the midwest and I'm sure it is just a matter of time before it is here !!

[Red Dawg]

Fair chase only.

[PolarBear]

I agree with Robodad on this one. 
I think the supplementing feed during severe weather conditions is ok but to use bait for scouting or hunting purposes is not.  Where is the skill in shooting man patterned game?  If I want that kind of action I can sit on my back porch and shoot one of my cows.  After all, this aint Texas.  Corn flingers and mineral attractants should be banned and probably will within the next few years in this state, imo.  I agree that all these "hunting" shows have fueled the desire to take game the easy or lazy mans way.  I can understand baiting for the disabled or for old folks but the able bodied should do it the right way.     

[Red Dawg]

I am even borderline feeding them in the wintertime. They are wild animals I think anytime we as being humans mess with the wildlife like that really screws them up. I think as a whole we are the only state that feeds the elk like we do. LIKE CATTLE. If they cant survive naturally in the habitat then maybe they should not be there. It is hard to say that but it is true. The rocky mountains get twice the winter we get and look how many animals they have. Besides the feeding of the elk has screwed up our hunting seasons. Why do you think they have moved them all up before we get any real weather now. Because they had set the elk up for slaughter. They have trained them to come down out of the high country at the first sign of weather because hey know they can get food at the feeding station. Anyway that is my opinion.

[Skyvalhunter]

We are not the only State to do winter feeding.

[Ironhead]

Its legal to bait deer but not bear, This state is all mixed up.

[singleshot12]

Its legal to bait deer but not bear, This state is all mixed up.

That is kind of backwards when ya think about it.

Habitat enhancement for deer-YES!, Feed stations in wild areas NO!
It's a proven fact that when wildlife is congregated and feeding out of a feeder it spreads desease.

[dbllunger]

WE HAVE TO FEED in a controlled manner.  We can not continue to eliminate habitate, winter range, let 10's of thousands of acres burn, not manage *censored*, and expect to have a huntable big game population.  The best way would be to have multiple feeding locations away from each other. This would require a little effort and planning and that is why it does not happen. 

[Outfitter]

Baiting has always been an ethical question and everyone has an opinion about it.We bait and we hunt natural fields and clearcuts.Where most of Washington hunters only have to find one deer a year to kill we have to fill 40 tags in the same amount of time.I personally have never seen the difference between throwing out a bale of hay or hunting over a alfalfa field or thowing out apples or hunting under a apple tree.We plant alot of food plots but again that's no different than baiting.Over here we are so covered up with whitetail you have to highfence everything you don't want them to eat.We also get archery hunters in here that think that rifle hunting is unethical and cheating.It all boils down to opinion. Basically if you don't agree with it don't do it,and don't bitch and complain about the people who do !! Its legal !!

[Ironhead]

Outfitter, if there are so many Whitetails over their, why do you have to bait ? We are all entitled to our own view when it comes to ethics.

[singleshot12]

Just because it's legal doesn't make it right,there's the "laws of nature too". I think every true hunters code of ethics is to hunt "fair chase". . . Killing an animal over a bait pile isn't even close to hunting, not sure how anyone could argue with that.
Not sure why it is legal,especially since it isn't for bear??