Baiting has always been illegal in Pennsylvania. You can hunt food sources, both natural and agricultural like white oak acorns, cornfields, apple orchards, hayfields, etc. But you can’t place bait, mineral licks, or anything like that.

Maybe I don’t know what I’m missing, but I kill plenty of deer without the use of baiting.

I think some areas of the country you can’t just walk in “the woods” like other places for many reasons be it thick cover, swamps. snakes or other dangers some areas have less daily travels other have constant movements. Each area has its needs for one reason or another some places it might make sense there.

No baiting in SD but we have plenty of reasons for the deer to keep moving here.

That makes sense Jerry. I have a couple of buddies that hunt a lease down south. They tell me it’s so thick you can’t hardly see 20-30 yards and you don’t want to be walking through it.

They use dogs to drive the deer and shotguns with buckshot to kill them.

Well swamp, not going there, but going on private property without permission is different than accessing the same private property WITH permission, but you knew that.

But who ya gonna call when you have a problem with a trespasser?

OK for the GW to come on your place then?

Won't be long & yall will be trying to re-instate that. Or you just as well open your property to everyone....you wont be able to have quality game unless your neighbors want quality game ....because legal methods of taking game will be non-existent.....just a free for all. Kill'em anyway ya can. And folks will.

You missed the point of WITH permission...

No...I know the point you were making about GWs only allowed to come on private property with permission.

For those that don't follow wildlife laws.....that's an oustanding concept. Those folks can't wait for that to begin.

Hope ya got good neighbors as best one could hope for is that nice buck, gobbler, bunch of ducks or doves, etc aren't killed illegally next door. Probably wouldn't know it anyway...unless the shot/shooting was heard. Would be no need to scream the neighbors actions were unfair.

Could still call the GW, but without probable cause....officer can't get a warrant to enter the neighbor's property. Must have more than mere suspicion to reach the level of probable cause.

Basically, without open fields doctrine and state codes allowing game wardens to enter lands without landowner permission.....all wildlife will essentially become "property" of those whose land it is on. Many folks will salivate at that idea.

Wildlife management for a small landowner or lease holder will be useless in many areas due to lack of enforcement.

Here In WI trespassing calls are handled by the local police.
I'm not sure If game wardens can access your property without your permission here in WI.

Very nice

Lucky here the worst poachers don’t hunt on their own land that much mostly on everyone else’s places.

This is really something else.A relatively short time ago baiting was legal statewide.Then the DNR claimed they were finding CWD in different areas of the lower peninsula so the whole L.P. was off limits to baiting.Now their offering to legalize baiting in the lower peninsula,IF you buy a permit.Meanwhile the upper peninsula baiting is still wide open,no permit required,as its always been.How can you take these people seriously??

Tennessee could fly drones over properties looking for bait piles. If the $50.00 baiting fee wasn't paid, they could charge a fine, say $500.00. It would not take the drone operator long to pay back their wages and benefits in fines. I'm not recommending this, just pointing out this is the way governments operate.

Keith

Can’t use game cams in places because of privacy issues for hunting but drones would be allowed I don’t think that would fly for long.

I have always questioned baiting here in Minnesota where it is not legal. But can plant food plots with any crop and hunt over it. Not a whole lot on difference in my eyes.

Plus you want to charge someone for trespassing they just get a warning.

They definitely can. Open fields doctrine is alive and well in Wisconsin.

Got to be smarter than the drone operators. There is a reason that the reefer growers around here girdle the trees to promote sunlight, and if the trees have to come down, they paint the stump with green paint.

Maybe Swamp W has info to back it up his prediction but it feels like unsubstantiated doom and gloom to me. I also don't see that having a CO randomly roam private properties keeps trespassers off.

Baiting is allowed in Ky and the state has become one of the top producers of quality bucks, so I don't think illegal baiting is going to ruin the opportunity to take a quality buck in Tn or the other states that reject the open fields doctrine. Ky achieved their current status by other management means, specifically the one buck per hunter rule implemented in the early '90s.

I am not in favor of allowing hunters to bait illegally, but I am also not in favor of laws that preclude baiting for scientifically unsupported reasons (CWD). If a state wants to ban baiting for any particular reason, that's fine with me if it is supported by the hunting public, but don't lie about the reason. Clearly these states that claim it is because of CWD then reverse the decision to raise revenue are not being truthful or transparent.

I think the reason hunting over bait is illegal in Pa., is because it's not considered "fair chase" hunting.