Whitetail management plan.

[huntnnw]

haha no kidding  
 
That is my point to draw deer off.. some of us dont have the luxuries of private,alot of the chunks we can hunt around here are timber land, which usually means it has been logged and is very open and doesnt hold the deer.

[bobcat]

Well, as I said, I never really thought baiting was as prevalent as it seems to be now. I always thought this was how Texans hunt. But if I had the place to do it I'd probably give it a shot. Actually I think what I'd prefer is a food plot that would be more of a permanent food source.

[DBHAWTHORNE]

Well, as I said, I never really thought baiting was as prevalent as it seems to be now. I always thought this was how Texans hunt. But if I had the place to do it I'd probably give it a shot. Actually I think what I'd prefer is a food plot that would be more of a permanent food source.

Without a doubt brother...a food plot, orchard, or high quality crop field is what I would prefer too. In the deep woods mountainous terrain we hunt it is nice to have the option of placing a bait pile since we can't have the others (short of owning land or having permission to prime private lands). I think baiting is a huge benefit for public land users since our mountains just don't have the crop fields of the midwest. There are some nice natural food sources in the mountains but they are usually not as concentrated and more beneficial to a rifle hunter than a bowhunter trying to pattern an animal (one of the funnest parts of hunting a big whitetail..the game of chess) and get within 20-30 yards.

[BeeMan]

Its interesting to me how so many in the hunting community are against baiting for deer but they will be the first to find some other way to "lure" an animal when the opportunity presents itself.  Example... scents, calls, decoys, rattling etc... No one has a problem using bait while fishing, but if you employ the same method on a land animal somehow you are lazy and not really "hunting."
And most hunters have no problem using agricultural areas (alfalfa and grain fields, orchards, etc...) to their advantage while chasing big game.  Those agricultural areas are not "natural" and are "baiting" those animals, but no one seems to see it that way! 
I guarantee there are way more "lazy hunters" that sit in their trucks and drive the back roads and never walk more than a few feet from their trucks to shoot a deer (I see dozens of them every year!) than there are that use bait to harvest an animal, but no one seems to complain about them.   
I will bet that allot of us that use bait have more time, money, and effort invested in the harvesting of our animals than many of those that use other methods.  Not to mention the hundreds of tons of free food that is dumped into the woods for these animals to fatten up on before winter, not only benefiting the animals, but also the rest of the hunting community that will harvest deer that otherwise would not have built up enough fat reserves to survive the winter (i.e... bucks that just came out of the rut and ran off all of their winter reserves chasing does, especially on heavy snow years like this!)
I think that most (not all) who are against baiting are simply jealous of the results they see from that method.    They see it as an unfair advantage and because it doesn't conform to their idea of "hunting" they line up in opposition to it!
I have no problem with anyone using any legal method that they choose to harvest an animal, wether I agree with it or not. I simply ask for the same respect in return.  We are all sportsman and should have the utmost respect for the animals we persue, we just employ different methods in obtaining the same end.

[huntnnw]

Baiting is huge in NE WA for whiteys. I dont even know a bowhunter around here that doesnt bait and I know lot of bowhunters!

[PolarBear]

That is funny, I know a lot of bowhunters in the 101 unit and none of us have to cheat, I mean use bait.

[huntnnw]

  i knew of 14 baits off of the south fork of sherman creek this november and only 1 was mine

[BeeMan]

Baiting is huge in NE WA for whiteys. I dont even know a bowhunter around here that doesnt bait and I know lot of bowhunters!

You ask most any one of them and they will tell you that the conditions this year were perfect for getting decent bucks, This year was abnormal in that regard.  Most bow hunters hunt for years and never kill 150+ bucks.  Usually end up taking a small one at the end of the season. I will probably hunt for the next 30 years and never get one as big as I did this year!  Baiting had a role but in other years it doesent play as big of a factor as it did this year!

[DBHAWTHORNE]

That is funny, I know a lot of bowhunters in the 101 unit and none of us have to cheat, I mean use bait.

Take them out with your bare hands do you?

[huntnnw]

lately the winters have been big in the late, been several winters in the last 5 years that dumped alot of snow in the late

[BeeMan]

lately the winters have been big in the late, been several winters in the last 5 years that dumped alot of snow in the late

true but not as early as it did this year!  And in a few of those years it melted off within a few days of coming down

[PolarBear]

That is funny, I know a lot of bowhunters in the 101 unit and none of us have to cheat, I mean use bait.

Take them out with your bare hands do you?

Nope, just with my bow, a treestand and many years of experience.

[DBHAWTHORNE]

That is funny, I know a lot of bowhunters in the 101 unit and none of us have to cheat, I mean use bait.

Take them out with your bare hands do you?

Nope, just with my bow, a treestand and many years of experience.

Plenty of guys I know think our treestands are cheating too.

[Elkslayer]

Just by the photos and stories on here and elsewhere i think there is a high success hunting over bait and personally believe it should be illegal 

This statement can go both ways as with any other argument on here. "Just by the photos and stories on here this year alone I think there is a higher success rate in hunting during the late rifle season during the rut." We could argue that maybe that season should be illegal to!

[PolarBear]

There is a world of difference between sitting in a tree waiting for a buck to walk by and conditioning it to come to a certain spot altering it's natural feeding habits.  I've shot them from a tree without a treestand as well as from the ground.