if I "Plant" a cornfield and hunt between it and the Bedding (woods) im a ethical hunter but if I "Place" corn out there i'm a criminal I suppose if I cut down some cedar i't be considered baiting also
Topknot your rite but not because of baiting The cause in MHOP is the damage that the QDM AND DNR PROMOTED with the let him grow alienated many who didn't wish to be told what to do When I started hunting people asked if you got your buck and if so congratulated you Now your ridiculed for anything less than a Massive 8 point I've talked to many younger folks that were ashamed to admit they shot a doe,fawn or spiker As far as the point restrictions shooting a 1 1/2 year old 6 or 8 with a small rack doesn't add to the herd base it detracts but that's up to the hunterThis crap in Michigan is the result of turning hunting into another video game You wouldn't tell a young person they're not a trapper cause all they caught was a muskrat, Well maybe You would

As usual this opens a can of "OPINIONS"!

Just like what's the best trap...………?

All in all, Its the one method or tool that works best for YOU!

Perfectly legal to bait for deer here and plenty of folks still dining on tag soup at season's end.

I see no issue with it in a well regulated, science based management system. Some people really are just out there to put meat in the freezer and there's nothing wrong with that either.

Personally, I can't be bothered hauling loads of bait into the bush and would rather set up along an established trail and wait... but I don't begrudge anyone who does it differently

and legal

Once again one less tool for the youth.

We are denying the children an opportunity to succeed.
For no valid reason.
Shouldn't matter ?
Not the way I do it ?
We grew up without it, should be fine now ?
Political influence ?

No scientific evidence i've ever been shown,supports this move.

When your kid gets off the bus to go home and hunt, how many others on the bus desire?
But from lack of opportunity, they are denied until the desire burns away, .

If you think it doesnt effect you , your island is under attack.
Understand people, you are allready a minority , and shrinking fast .
I am very alarmed about the future.
To just deny it is folly.

I don't hunt anymore except to carry as many young people into the outdoors as i possibly can.
Family ,friends of family , neighborhood kids with single parents working 2 jobs,
Any child who wishes to go outdoors and parents agree to it, is welcome in my truck.
Don't care if I ever harvest another animal, or catch another fish.

Every person who isolates others, will someday understand their errors.
I know it sounds like i'm preaching.
But if i open one set of eyes , its worth it.

Not here to argue , but your future in the outdoors is at a very high risk.
Your headed towards a wall of negativity.
If you can't see it then I have wasted my breath.

Proactive is the winner , reactive is no more then damage control as you slip into failure in the future.
Don't just take a kids to the outdoors , take a truckload.
I read on here of many who do work with the youth. I commend you. each and everyone.
Those of you who can't be bothered with it.
Your bliss is short lived i'm afraid..

Share the wisdom and passion you have developed through out the years.
We are the teachers ,the trainers, the support , no one else is going to do it, ( if they even care).

Friend to all who I meet , untill they change my mind..
Just my thoughts.
I have probably said enough..
.

Jeff I think part of the issue with planting vs placing is in how would a food plot for deer be defined in such a way to not be a farm field? I think that line gets blurry. Plenty of crops still up in Presque Isle last I checked. If food plots were illegal than so too would farm fields, and I am sure the folks in Posen will kill a few deer this Friday with the aid of a farm field. The point being I think that making bait illegal was easier to define and baiting deer is more of a black and white issue vs trying to determine if someone's food plot is part of a normal agricultural practice.
Again I don't care one way or another but I do agree that we as sportsman shouldn't be against each other. I do think that we should have civilized discussions on issues that are important to. us.

dillrod "No scientific evidence i've ever been shown,supports this move" ?
Man I wouldn't finish a half eaten pie from a sick person at a pie eating contest. It doesn't take a scientist to know that could be detrimental to me. And I don't think we are denying our children an opportunity to succeed. Deer can be killed without bait. Will it be harder, sure. But not everything needs to be spoon fed to kids, nor do kids always have to succeed.

Oh my gosh! Are you available to speak at my school any time in the near future? Just need you to emphasize that last line if you could.

You were right. She is a twit.

the WIS DNR and most others see baiting as concentrating deer in a small space with the possibility to spread CWD and other deer diseases. It won't be going away any time soon.

raptors probably spread the CDW the farthest and widest but that won't change either.

.

I was never much of a baiter we just did drives , best bet is clear cut 5 acres in the middle of a 40 and plant hay you will have a pile of deer on it all the time and not break a single law , you might even be eligible for crop damage tags as a result

I live in the middle of the so called CWD area. For me I don't see how baiting would be very beneficial as its primarily farm land here. The deer simply move between cover and food around me. But we are absolutely overrun with deer and need the herd to be knocked down about 50+% yet its simply not going to happen. There has been pretty much complete open hunting from September into spring for a couple of years now and I can't tell any difference. I've come to consider whitetails to be vermin so if baiting kills more here I'd be all for it even weighed against the potential of spreading disease from close contact at feed piles. And I'm not sure that the bait piles are any more congested than the herd itself; I watched a group of roughly 50 does move from swamp into radish field two nights ago as I was starting to call. Those critters are bunched right together touching each other so I'm thinking disease can spread fast all by itself if its really there to begin with.

This state is so variable though its going to be hard for the DNR to cover all of the bases. Go 100 miles north of me and I'd think baiting would be useful tool compared to here given the lack of food in comparison.

I had two very good aquaintances get a fine for baiting Turkeys in Ohio when they were hunting turkeys in the woods near a corn field and there were pieces of corn on a trail leading to the corn field. Three pieces of corn to be precise. The pieces were not placed by the hunters and when the warden approached them about looking at their hunt site they abliged. they had went through the site three weeks prior to remove any bait that was there. They even had bait removal on their calendar to make sure the site was good to go 2 weeks before like the law at the time stated.

My point of adding that note is not that baiting should or should not be legal but the second you take that step then you have to classify what is and isn't and leaves a whole list of things that could be and could not be. By taking the ability to do so you also step in and take the ability of one to know if you are in the right and not in some circumstances. These two hunters could recite the rule and regulations manual for the state of Ohio to you. They eventually had to pay the fine and have that mark on their record. One of the two has not hunted turkey in Ohio or bought a tag since.

Should be the hunters personal decision whether he/she wants to bait, not state law.