Baiting Bill HB1618/SB1942

i grew up in South Carolina, and have recently moved back. Its been legal my entire life.
Ill just say this , it is no magic bullet, everyone pretty much does it , its everywhere,
I will say we sold an awful lot of corn in the fall at the TSC I managed in TN. Very late season, or a no acorn season,probably yes, youll see a few more deer. but not like you would think.
JMObservations over 55 years, idc either way.

I went back and changed my answer to "Yes, allow baiting". I forgot that this is the "everybody gets a trophy" generation. There's no reason the guys putting forth all the effort in scouting or doing habitat work should be the ones to kill most of the deer. Everybody should have one to take home. If a boy can call themselves a girl, there's no reason a baiter can't call themselves a hunter.

@ImThere , that's how you stir the pot.

Football Hunter said:

i grew up in South Carolina, and have recently moved back. Its been legal my entire life.
Ill just say this , it is no magic bullet, everyone pretty much does it , its everywhere,
I will say we sold an awful lot of corn in the fall at the TSC I managed in TN. Very late season, or a no acorn season,probably yes, youll see a few more deer. but not like you would think.
JMObservations over 55 years, idc either way.

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Guess all your turkeys are dead , right ?

Slaughter-06 said:

I'm not for baiting.

I'm also not for state or government to tell what I can and can't do on my own property that I have to pay taxes on.

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I agree with this 100%

That being said, if legal, what about all the 'hunters' who got permission to hunt that property from the landowner? They pour bait everywhere and rape the resource... because, who knows, they may not get permission the next year.

In my experience... the vast majority of people who don't own the land, but just get permission to hunt are FAR less conservation minded than the landowners who both own the land and who enjoy hunting.

I just had a conversation with a neighboring nonhunting landowner who allowed a new guy to hunt his property last year (but stipulated hunting ONLY when when the landowner was on site). I showed him pictures of deer he killed by him and friends he brought in when the landowner was not there. Hopefully he realizes he was taken advantage of.

Although I'm opposed to baiting, I could be swayed to only allow the title holder to bait on his deeded ground, but otherwise illegal for everyone else, even extended family, simply because I tend to favor direct private property rights over game rights....

That being said... if game rights did not superceed private property rights, we would have NO game to pursue... all the landowners in the past would have put all the wild game on a biscuit... we wouldn't be having this conversation, as there would be nothing to bait except cardinals.

I think I'm going to put out some corn for the poor starving deer around here.

Buzzard Breath said:

I went back and changed my answer to "Yes, allow baiting". I forgot that this is the "everybody gets a trophy" generation. There's no reason the guys putting forth all the effort in scouting or doing habitat work should be the ones to kill most of the deer. Everybody should have one to take home. If a boy can call themselves a girl, there's no reason a baiter can't call themselves a hunter.

@ImThere , that's how you stir the pot.

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Don't forget the 6.5 Creedmoor and only hunting from the ground. Tree stands are not real hunting either, Or better yet just deer hunt with tss.

megalomaniac said:

I agree with this 100%

That being said, if legal, what about all the 'hunters' who got permission to hunt that property from the landowner? They pour bait everywhere and rape the resource... because, who knows, they may not get permission the next year.

In my experience... the vast majority of people who don't own the land, but just get permission to hunt are FAR less conservation minded than the landowners who both own the land and who enjoy hunting.

I just had a conversation with a neighboring nonhunting landowner who allowed a new guy to hunt his property last year (but stipulated hunting ONLY when when the landowner was on site). I showed him pictures of deer he killed by him and friends he brought in when the landowner was not there. Hopefully he realizes he was taken advantage of.

Although I'm opposed to baiting, I could be swayed to only allow the title holder to bait on his deeded ground, but otherwise illegal for everyone else, even extended family, simply because I tend to favor direct private property rights over game rights....

That being said... if game rights did not superceed private property rights, we would have NO game to pursue... all the landowners in the past would have put all the wild game on a biscuit... we wouldn't be having this conversation, as there would be nothing to bait except cardinals.

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Cardinals would've been wiped out to decorate hats I'm sure

This might be the funniest thread I've ever read on TNDeer.

The "haves" are butt sore about the "have nots" stealing "their" deer from their ag plots, half of whom likely didn't plant them or do all the work ppl are talkin' about, b/c ol' Clyde's been tillin' that field for corn for generations and the family has had permission to hunt it just as long.
The "have nots" are butt sore that they don't have 40 acres of corn to hunt over.

Meanwhile, the anti-baiters are still dropping salt blocks and trophy rocks out for cameras, and that's okay b/c it's "legal."

I'm honestly shocked this didn't digress into why nobody should use crossbows ...

Hunting has evolved drastically over the decades. It wasn't that long ago, compounds were frowned upon, modern muzzies were frowned upon, and if you killed a doe, you were a dirty dog.
Might as well be beating your wife!

I got to page 7, read MidTennFisher's post about the cons, and I think that was the first legitimate and rational argument I saw.

And both sides are accusing the other of Socialism / Communism. Reminds me of that Charlie Daniel's song. Hahaha!!!

I say anybody who uses a scope is CHEATING, b/c they're using technology and not the eyes the Good Lord gave them! Cause if you can't shoot iron sights, you're probably not a very good hunter ...
And all calling need to be limited to just what you can do with your mouth.
All them manufactured calls is cheatin' too!
Let's see, what else ...
Scents ... lame ...

Fred Bear used red and black plaid!
If you use camo, you don't know how to hunt!

Leather banana sling and a primitive recurve handmade from osage-orange.
Handmade arrows with flint tips.
Mud face mask.
Spot and stalk.
That's about all a real hunter would do.

Convince me otherwise with your principles!

When does this come to a vote? Hopefully after that this thread will die

MidTennFisher said:

I think most of us have stayed away from whether it's easy or not because that's not necessarily a justified argument against it. Some would claim shooting deer with a rifle is "too easy" vs bow hunting but that's not a reason to remove the rifle season.

My and most people's argument against it is fully rooted in the negative effects on wildlife. There is not one single benefit to dumping corn on the ground that you can't get with a good food plot. Or just opening up some canopy to let sunlight hit the ground and grow whatever natural food plot would grow. That also turns into good fawning cover and turkey nest cover. And all the other negative effects that come from dumping corn on the ground do not apply to having a nice food plot. Just because the rocky land in the mountains of East TN aren't fit for food plots doesn't mean they should dump corn and pretend it doesn't come with a long list of negatives.

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If corn is bad for wildlife, explain Texas. Lol That kind of destroys that argument.
Not everyone owns land or leases land that would allow them to open up the canopy or clear an acre in the woods and plant a food plot. We own 440 acres in rough mountain land and other discing up some logging roads and planting some wheat or clover, getting anything to grow there is nearly impossible and what you do get to come up is wiped out by the deer and usually killed before it can get a good stand because anything green, they hammer relentlessly.

ImThere said:

Or you need to learn to hunt? IDK?
Millions of acres? Cool fake story

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Ever heard of Canada?? You make a lot of ASSumptions based on your ignorance and narrow mindedness.

TheLBLman said:

This is not any type "attack" on anyone, but rather just a curiosity on my behalf.


First, just curious as to where there is a million acres of wilderness that it's legal to kill deer over bait piles?


If it didn't guarantee anything, how is it about "the only effective method to see a deer in millions of acres of wilderness"?

Packing corn into a "wilderness" area seems a ton of physical work?

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I sat for 60 plus hours and seen one shooter buck hunting on over 500 square miles of nothing but woods and Canadian wilderness . Most bucks avoided the area and skirted it or only come thru at night and rarely even touched the bait.
You need to get out of your 10 acres patch of woods more.

TheLBLman said:

This is not any type "attack" on anyone, but rather just a curiosity on my behalf.


First, just curious as to where there is a million acres of wilderness that it's legal to kill deer over bait piles?


If it didn't guarantee anything, how is it about "the only effective method to see a deer in millions of acres of wilderness"?

Packing corn into a "wilderness" area seems a ton of physical work?

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Ever heard of Canada?? And they don't use corn. Lol

If corn on the ground is bad for wildlife… explain Texas. Lol
Some of y'all need to get out more. There's a big world out there that laughs at most of the folks and their "facts" posted on this topic.

GreeneGriz said:

If corn on the ground is bad for wildlife… explain Texas.

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1. Texas requires certified aflatoxin free corn be sold in feed stores.
2. Texas is also a much more arid region where aflatoxin is less likely to develop.

Obviously we're not all going to agree on this topic...some are focused on shortcuts and whats best for man...some are focused on the "haves and the have nots - leveling the playing field"...and some care about whats best for wildlife...we each have to choose where we stand....thankfully this bill hasnt made it out of committee and likely wont even be voted on.

Snake said:

Guess all your turkeys are dead , right ?

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no, seen some the other day, my post was not to advocate for baiting, just t say its not a magic bullet to kill deer . I said i didnt care

Sounds like you hunt over a lot of bait when possible.

GreeneGriz said:

I sat for 60 plus hours and seen one shooter buck hunting on over 500 square miles of nothing but woods and Canadian wilderness . Most bucks avoided the area and skirted it or only come thru at night and rarely even touched the bait.
You need to get out of your 10 acres patch of woods more.

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If I hunted a spot for half that time and not seen what i thought I should I would have moved to another spot. Maybe one with no bait?

This whole thread has become too corny!

It's no longer interesting and this is post #600.

Appears to be a good stopping point.