So why exclude public/WMA land from baiting?
I'm opposed to killing wildlife over bait piles,
regardless whether public or private lands.
The wildlife belongs to the public, so if pulling wildlife to a specific spot for the purpose of killing it is made legal on private lands, then it becomes even more important that it's also legal on public lands.
Again, the wildlife belongs to the public, and the public's wildlife should not be allowed to be unfairly claimed by any private land owner. We are all free to hunt on both our private & public lands, but the playing field should be level for all, regardless.
It's totally different if we're talking about farm animals on private lands. Those animals belong to the landowner. Free-roaming deer (or turkeys or birds or whatever) are considered "wild" and to belong to everyone, not whoever's property they happen to fly or walk across.
As to the deer on my private property at any moment, the neighboring hunters on public land can make at least an equally valid claim that those deer belong to them? And it would be unfair if I were allowed to herd them off public to then kill them off "my" private land?
Since deer typically freely roam over somewhere between several hundred and several thousand acres, should a person who owns 15 acres be able to claim ownership to those deer, while the adjoining thousand acres (perhaps with over a dozen different owners) is also hunting those same free-roaming deer?
Should a person owning 15 acres be given the legal right to spotlight & kill those deer at night, if all the other adjoining landowners are not allowed to do the same? Why should killing deer over bait be any different?