2 questions here,
1. the regulations say you can't use sight exposed bait consisting of feathers, animal flesh, fur, hide, or entrails within 25 feet, so does that mean that that I could use apples, corn, ect.?
2. you cant put out bait during the closed season, but are you allowed to bait during the open season but not put a trap on it?
thanks,

Your best answer will come from the DNR. They have a question line and if it is ambiguous, they’ll put you in touch with your local warden. It all comes down to interpretation.

Your trapping pre-bait of apples after trapping season starts is not likely to be interpreted as a trapping bait…especially if you or anyone else hunts around it!

Call the hotline and don’t rely on internet responses!

When we teach our trapper education course and talk about sight exposed bait, we explain that fruits and veggies do not fall under restricted items for sight exposed bait purposes. What we focus on though is what else might you catch when using things like corn and apples. Sure raccoons would like corn and apples, but if you're trapping near water and using corn, you're much more likely to catch non-target species of the avian variety. Se with apples and deer. Not that you'll catch and hold deer, but they could very easily step on your trap and now it won't catch what you're going for. The reason for the sight exposed bait rule is to prevent catching birds of prey that fly around looking down for meat and fish to eat.

As far as "pre-baiting" goes, if you're in one of the 60 something counties in WI where baiting and feeding deer is illegal, it doesn't matter if you claim it's for trapping purposes, you could get cited for that. It is legal to feed small mammals, but it has to be done in a way that's inaccessible to deer and within a certain distance of a dwelling. Not worth it. Better of spending time scouting where the animals already are and want to be rather than trying to make them go somewhere else.

That's the answer I'd give you if you called the DNR and I answered the phone.

Also to be considered ... Corn and apples, as an example, are attractive to deer; what are your county's deer baiting regs? Best to contact your warden with specific questions.

You can bait and put a trap on it during the open season for the target species but it can not be sight exposed bait.

If the reason for covering bait is supposedly to keep birds from finding it they are out to lunch.
Ravens and other scavenging birds have superior olfactory senses and find as much or more carrion by smell as they do by sight or sound.

Interesting