NOTE - I hope the poster that initiated my first response realizes this is not directed at him specifically or personally-if you are ever in the area and not disinclined to hunting over bait or a foodplot, I'd host you for a hunt. You have initiated a discussion that needs to be reviewed and refreshed from time to time
Thanks Guys, I grew up living, breathing hunting, I've dog-hunted, baited and participated in managing deer on our property for well over 30 years. Hunting was simply putting meat on the table, when we dog-hunted, with 15-20 people, at the end of the day, the harvest was split into shares and lots were randomly drawn. Depending on how fancy the group was, a "Caller" would turn his back, and randomly call names, while a "pointer" would point at a different share on the cleaning table. Or if one of the hunters had been industrious, we might have a series of nunbered paired disks - one went on a stack of meat, the numbered mate went into the hat(a real hat BTW).. Each person drew from the hat and took his matching share.
Now we have the luxury of a much improved deer herd, and lifestyles that don't require supplemental game meat to feed the family, if we're so blessed.
Its a way of life here, we and plenty of other landowners actually MANAGE our properties intensively. Sustainablity and conservation aren't the new catchwords of the "Nouveau Elite" hunters, its been ingrained in a lot of our local practices a lot longer than I can remember.
regarding baiting, the irony is hard to ignore.. I always ask people that oppose baiting to consider a different wording of the rule... You can't shoot a deer when he's chewwing...
Since deer browse as much as 20 hours a day, while they meander around and the other 4 hours, they chew their cud (deer have rumens, so they regurgitate and re-chew their food) you can't shoot a deer - they are almost always chewwing.
They could be eating acorns... They could be eating planted soybeans.. They could be eating fresh sweetgum leaves.. They could be eating wild muscadine grapes that fell after a windy rain... They could be eating on a foodplot (which is technically the same as baiting, IMHO you put food at a specific location to attract deer) Nothing about baiting - OR planting foodplots guarantees a deer's presence at any particular location when you want them there, as any local hunter knows.. It is a 24 hour buffet they show up when they want to.
I reviewed my game camera pictures last night, two shooter 8-point bucks were feeding at the location - AT 2:00 AM. During Daylight hours, there was no activity - EXCEPT for a drove of 9, yes, NINE Gobblers.
In the overall equation, baiting AND foodplots add additional nutritional value to the environment. It supports other wildlife and its no guarantee of success..
About the biggest legitimate management arguement about baiting is NOT related to "fair chase" "ethics" "rules" or "unfair advantage" its about concentrating the population in one location and allowing communicable diseases to spread throughout the herd. Chronic Wasting Disease and some other deer diseases are a problem in the Northeast. One of the ways to limit the impact of the disease is to avoid baiting. Here we do not have that problem, at least not enough to make it become an issue, as far as I know.
Baiting and dog hunting have been in this area for decades, we hunt with modern weapons from August 15 to January 1 - the longest or one of the longest whitetail seasons in the nation - and we have yet to harm the deer population in this area. To the contrary it was also the "Nursery" that seeded plenty of other management areas that HAD depleted their resources and caused a complete crash of their whitetail populations..
The areas that DON'T have allowances for baiting, in a lot of cases, were the areas that lost their whitetail deer populations in the past, and as the programs to recover the populations progressed, stricter rules were imposed, than in areas that were not under such intensive management. They were repopulated with deer from the local population HERE!
The biggest problem with intolerance/misunderstanding other's hunting methods is that there really is no RIGHT way that works in all environments. What has been done, and has worked, is that individual areas determine what management model works for them. As long as the herd can sustain the management model, and is not in decline, there is no reason to change the method. Obviously, the converse would apply, if your population is on the decline, OR on the rise, you need to "tweak" the management model.
20-30 years ago, it was unacceptable to shoot a doe deer. Nowadays, because the herd is sound, deer-car collisions increased and the population appeared to be increasing in this area, improved management practices have been implemented, allowing us to take more does... at first, it seemed sooo wrong, it took a few years of tweaking, but the model began to work, and our hunting methods and management adjusted accordingly.. We took more does for the freezer and harvested fewer, but more quality, mature bucks.
We are stewards of our property and our area, because what we do affects the deer population local to us, if baiting "harmed" the deer population, it would have been eliminated a long time ago. In some areas, it is not recommended, but in other areas, with proper management, it is not the end of the deer population, either.
We as hunters are no longer bound as tightly to a successful hunt as the examples I provided from when we dog hunted. We have options, LOTS of options.. Rifle, bow, blackpowder, pistol, baiting, foodplots, dog hunting, management practices, etc, etc. The biggest disservice we give to hunting as a whole, is to break up into "Camps" and then begin to believe "My way is more or better than THEIR way"
Jim Zumbo learned that lesson a few years ago, regarding firearms. He made the paraphrased statement that a "Black rifle wan't a sporting/hunting gun" He immediately lost the respect and support of THOUSANDS of people that were finding MANY sporting purposes, including hunting with A/R style firearms. He lost his job over it, because of one thing - he was intolerant of another group of shooters/hunters, and diminished their CHOICE simply from a lack of understanding/ignorance. He can only speak about his preferences, but when he downed another's he crossed the line. Hunters and shooters have to remember that Divide and Conquer works, and as the current political class warfare shows, its a tactic that people opposed to guns and hunting WILL be glad to use.
A lot of people wrote off Jim Zumbo, very quickly, but Ted Nugent approached him and asked him to come hunt with him using A/R's and THEN form his opinion. After it was all said and done, Jim didn't exactly eat crow, but he did have to admit his error and preconceived notions were unfairly directed.
As long as we are legal, ethical and skilled to the point we can succeed in making a clean kill, we are all Hunters, how we succeed in putting meat on the table should not be a matter of division.
SC
