Baiting Bill HB1618/SB1942

[TheLBLman]

Fact... Plots are placed bait to make deer come to one area...it's the same...one just took a lot less work

Not at all a fact, although some people do think that's what they're doing.

Deer are typically already in the area.
If they're not, no deer will ever come to your plot.

Wildlife food plots primarily serve to augment nutrition for wildlife, often targeting specific species such as deer & turkeys, while most wildlife is benefitted rather than harmed by a single "spot" bait pile pile or feeder.

Having been in a very large private hunting club for decades, I can tell you most of the mature bucks that have been taken, have not been taken over a food plot. The plots are "pretty", but mainly a food supplement, not a primary food source. Older deer mainly use them under the cover of darkness, and again, mainly as a supplement (think "dessert") to whatever else they're BROWSING around on in the broader area.

Deer are BROWSERS. They naturally eat or feed "on the move".
They do not naturally hang around any one "spot", not even any one small "area", unless man has done something to restrict their movements, and/or prevent them from "browsing" a large area for varied food sources.

 

[Bloodwolf1984]

No difference at all...imho if you hunt over something you put in the ground while ridiculing someone for putting something on the ground . you are a hypocrite

 

[TheLBLman]

The pro baiting arguments feed into this "oppressed vs privileged" dynamic in our society today.

And as usual, it is a "politician" stirring up the conflicts,
"divide & conquer", trying to empower & enrich himself?

As others have pointed out, the bill is sponsored by the same man that tried to take away 12,500 acres of public land from all of us and turn it into housing development.

What business does he have making wildlife decisions that are basically irreversible?

We should first unite against bad policy making processes instead of dividing on the policy.

Well there you go.

 

[Hawk103161]

THIS is what many baiting proponents seem to be missing!

The deer are considered property of the general public, i.e. the "People" of the State of Tennessee.

On a statewide basis, there are only enough deer to sustain an annual harvest of somewhere in the ballpark of 1 deer per 100 acres. Yet, many who own 5 to 15 acres seem to think they are somehow "entitled" to kill multiple deer annually on their private property simply because it's their property and they will ignore the rights of everyone else.

Just because you own 15 acres, you are free to hunt your own land.
But that should not "entitle" you to cheat others from their fair share of the public resource known as free-roaming wildlife.

This is why we have "game laws" and certain standards of what's considered ethical and/or "fair chase".

A few years ago, I found out a guy & his son killed 8 turkeys (over an illegal corn feeder behind their house) on their 5 acres. This was done during turkey season, and all were "checked in" as "legal" kills (under our statewide 4-bird limit per person). That same year, the adjoining 3,000 acres, where more than a dozen "fair-chase" avid turkey hunters were afield, if my memory serves correct, they only killed 7, with no one person killing more than 2.

Was it "ethical" that 2 guys killed 8 turkeys that same year on their 5 acres, when a sustainable harvest for the same 5-mile square area was only about 15 (human-hunter-killed) longbeard annually?

Making baiting "legal" does more harm than good to ethical hunters, and a heck of a lot more harm to OUR wildlife.

I'm allowed 2 Bucks and as many doe allowed by the "LAW". I'm "Entitled" to that whether I do or not. I never read where there was a parcel property size to hunt and determine your "Bag Limit". Deer that are "Property of the General Public". I swear you sound like my neighbor and "His Squirrels". If all this is true when they are on "My Property" they are mine... I hope "Your" deer steps on my Property and then I get to let the air out...Just saying. Also so if you don't like it then it becomes "Unethical". I bet it was "Your" Deer that ran out in front of me in Benton County outside Big Sandy on Veterans Day and did $5,000 damage to my truck. You missing a 70lb spike by chance??? Let me know and I'll send ya the bill......

 

[TheLBLman]

Here is a link to send a letter to your legislators opposing this bill:

http://advocacy.deerassociation.com/tn-hb1618/allow_baiting_on_private_land/

Mine has been sent. If you oppose this foolishness, I hope you will respond as well.

SENT.
AND THE PROCESS COULDN'T BE ANY EASIER!

 

[scn]

Fact... Plots are placed bait to make deer come to one area...it's the same...one just took a lot less work

Not even close unless you are talking about one done with a rake.

And, there's nothing in a grown plot harmful to wildlife.

Really dumb statement.

 

[scn]

Triggered?

Not at all. Just calling out dumbazz statements.

 

[Bloodwolf1984]

Please explain? Because from where I am at...I can get the same results from a 5 dollar bag of corn as a food plot..which is pretty smart if you ask me lmao

 

[Hymie3]

Signed the petition. Really easy. I try not to get down in the ruts with some of you guys on issues but Good grief. Some of y'all weren't raised right…..

 

[Hawk103161]

Feeding wildlife will never stop regardless of the laws. I live in a community near The Hermitage and there are people feeding the deer through out. There are so many deer that you cannot have a garden or nice plants anywhere. The deer get hit by cars and people ***** about them. It's a love hate thing with no common sense. Damn ignorance.

That's what happens when you aren't allowed to hunt the deer too.

 

[Hawk]

Mine is sent!

Sent! My Rep is a co sponsor of this bill so I don't expect to hear back from him.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Do you believe in what you smell, taste and touch? We only have 5 senses so I am trying to figure this whole thing out.

Does a bot have senses?

 

[scn]

Please explain? Because from where I am at...I can get the same results from a 5 dollar bag of corn as a food plot..which is pretty smart if you ask me lmao

If your ethics are such that just killing a deer while endangering a bunch of wildlife in the process, then being a master baiter is probably for you.

 

[Bloodwolf1984]

Ethics don't feed my family...and I don't use bait and kill many...but sounds like you know all about master baiting hahahaha

 

[scn]

Ethics don't feed my family...and I don't use bait and kill many...but sounds like you know all about master baiting hahahaha

It is pretty obvious that ethics aren't a concern for you.

 

[Hawk103161]

DoubleRidge, I'm afraid the issue has become more about finding ways to "justify" killing deer over bait piles, than anything about why, in the bigger pictures, the negatives outweigh the positives.
But everything you stated is correct.

IMO, a significant contributing factor to the general decline of bobwhite quail (and turkeys) has been the illegal baiting/feeding of corn. Promoting baiting would just make this worse.

I cannot Imagine the lose of Habitat to house's and the explosion of feral cat population had anything to do with the decline in Bobwhite Quail.

 

[MidTennFisher]

Please explain? Because from where I am at...I can get the same results from a 5 dollar bag of corn as a food plot..which is pretty smart if you ask me lmao

No you don't because a food plot doesn't produce aflatoxin that kills young turkeys, quail, and other songbirds. Food plots also provide much more nutrition to deer than a pile of corn does. Food plots also don't feed possums and racoons like a pile of corn does, which are two notorious turkey nest eaters.

 

[Bloodwolf1984]

And how so? Have you seen me hunt? I've let does walk with fawns...I tag every deer I kill...I respect every deer I take...i use every part of the deer most throw away..all the way down to the fat for soaps...and give thanks for it's life...the choice to bait or not bait should be my freedom to choose...that doesn't make me unethical

 

[MidTennFisher]

I cannot Imagine the lose of Habitat to house's and the explosion of feral cat population had anything to do with the decline in Bobwhite Quail.

Surely it did. But we can't do anything to stop development. We can put a stop to the irresponsible idea of legalizing bait in Tennessee and we should.

Remember, the mantra that hunting is conservation is absolute bull crap. Hunting is consumption. Doing what is right for the animals and habitat is conservation. Creating food plots or opening up some canopy to let God's food plots grow is conservation.

Pouring bait on the ground is the opposite of conservation.

 

[Bloodwolf1984]

No you don't because a food plot doesn't produce aflatoxin that kills young turkeys, quail, and other songbirds. Food plots also provide much more nutrition to deer than a pile of corn does. Food plots also don't feed possums and racoons like a pile of corn does, which are two notorious turkey nest eaters.

In the long run I can see that...but it's still the same concept whether you see it or not...that food plot was planted...not naturally there