baiting in Tennessee

Spurhunter

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The money cultivates huge food plots while the less wealthy use a small bait pile.
I couldn't disagree more with the food plots = bait pile argument. I've hunted other states where corn is legal and I've been planting food plots in TN for at least a decade. There is NO comparison. Hunt a food plot and you might see deer. You might not. You might see a mature buck out in a food plot during daylight hours in person or on camera, but in my experience it is extremely rare. Sit over a corn feeder, and 30 minutes before legal shooting time ends the deer WILL show up. Every single day. The mature bucks probably won't hit the feeder until after dark, but they won't be far. I hate corn. I hate baiting. But if you hunt a state where it's legal you will do it if you want to see deer.
 

MUP

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I couldn't disagree more with the food plots = bait pile argument. I've hunted other states where corn is legal and I've been planting food plots in TN for at least a decade. There is NO comparison. Hunt a food plot and you might see deer. You might not. You might see a mature buck out in a food plot during daylight hours in person or on camera, but in my experience it is extremely rare. Sit over a corn feeder, and 30 minutes before legal shooting time ends the deer WILL show up. Every single day. The mature bucks probably won't hit the feeder until after dark, but they won't be far. I hate corn. I hate baiting. But if you hunt a state where it's legal you will do it if you want to see deer.
I've actually heard the same argument for baiting. No guarantee that a mature animal will show up. :)
 

TNGunsmoke

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I find it odd that you can feed, bait, and have mineral licks within a certain distance of your house, but can't have any of the above out on the place you hunt. If CWD is such a problem, make all of it illegal. If it isn't as big of a deal, make it all legal. But make up your mind and be consistent for everyone, not two different sets of rules.
 

Madbowh

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It doesn't really matter to me if they allowed it or not. I really don't see the difference in food plots or placed bait.

Someone with answers more than the food plot spreads the animals out please educate me on this one.

An old buddy of mine used to use his gator with a spreader and put out hundreds of pounds of corn all over his120 acres, how is this any different than planting it. Man it was a lot of work. Anytime I was there was for pigs after deer season I'm sure he probably hunted deer there too.

I see it as bait or planted you put something there for them to be drawn to the area and hang out to eat then shoot them.

Would I bait if allowed, maybe for my kids. I don't guess I would I usually do pretty good on sightings and harvests.

I am not dogging either one. I think I would take certain food plots over corn,even though I've taken many deer on public land that had corn or sweet feed in them.

any animal shot over human placed/ planted food, in my mind is no different than over bait.
 

Spurhunter

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I find it odd that you can feed, bait, and have mineral licks within a certain distance of your house, but can't have any of the above out on the place you hunt. If CWD is such a problem, make all of it illegal. If it isn't as big of a deal, make it all legal. But make up your mind and be consistent for everyone, not two different sets of rules.
100 feet is not very far. I'm assuming this is so people can have bird feeders and the like.
 

Headhunter

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Tennessee
I couldn't disagree more with the food plots = bait pile argument. I've hunted other states where corn is legal and I've been planting food plots in TN for at least a decade. There is NO comparison. Hunt a food plot and you might see deer. You might not. You might see a mature buck out in a food plot during daylight hours in person or on camera, but in my experience it is extremely rare. Sit over a corn feeder, and 30 minutes before legal shooting time ends the deer WILL show up. Every single day. The mature bucks probably won't hit the feeder until after dark, but they won't be far. I hate corn. I hate baiting. But if you hunt a state where it's legal you will do it if you want to see deer.
it is legal where we hunt in KY. We don't bait, never have, everyone around us does. We usually kill more and the the better deer. Most people there hunt the 2 week gun season in November. Corn is a basically a waste of time there in November. This year, I talked to guy, pouring the corn out several hundred yards from where we hunt in early October. He offered to give me some, he had a trailer load. I said no thank you. Saw him toward end of gun season, he said no deer used any of his corn piles, he didn't see any bucks and killed a doe. Our numbers were down, but I passed a few really nice bucks and for sure saw a ton of deer.

Maybe early and late in season it would work, but I have not personally seen anyone have any success baiting with corn to speak of in KY in the 2 week gun season in November. The landowner of the farm would call me the first couple years we started hunting in KY and ask where my brother and myself wanted corn. As politely as I could I told him we would prefer no corn at all. A couple years ago he put a big pile of corn close to a stand we both hunt. I started to get rid of it and decided not to, and he was being nice and did not want to upset him, so I decided to watch it and see what happened, if a deer was eating from it, it would not have been shot, even if it was a giant and that would have sucked. It was a year we saw crazy numbers of deer from that stand, easily a total of 50+ deer a day. We both killed a good buck. Neither one of us saw the first deer go to the corn pile, much less eat from it. Not one. Deer did walk by it or close to it, but they never even acted like it was there.
 

Snake

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You are correct my friend
Here in Alabama if you don’t feed ,them deer will be on your neighbors land . Once it starts it doesn’t end . Protien in the summer corn in the winter months . I used to spend over a thousand dollars on corn when i had a 500 acre piece to hunt . Now i hunt 380 and have a $500 corn bill .
I hope they dont allow baiting in Tenn for ya’ll.
It will sho nuff change deer huntin for the worse
No one makes you bait , right ?
 

RobDooley

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Hamilton County, Tn.
You are correct my friend
Here in Alabama if you don’t feed ,them deer will be on your neighbors land . Once it starts it doesn’t end . Protien in the summer corn in the winter months . I used to spend over a thousand dollars on corn when i had a 500 acre piece to hunt . Now i hunt 380 and have a $500 corn bill .
I hope they dont allow baiting in Tenn for ya’ll.
It will sho nuff change deer huntin for the worse
it ain't hurt the Bluegrass State. We put out corn and BB2 in mid October and again in mid November. Spent a whopping 100.00. I don't think most hunters would bait year-round. And, if there are acorns on the ground, the deer will eat the acorns first.
 

RobDooley

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The only reason they would make it legal is to make money off of it. There's no telling how much money they'd make if they made people purchase a $50 "baiting permit".
that is what I have preached for years. Private Land only. However, I think the only reason (cwd) it is illegal is because it is potential revenue in fines if caught. Same with "tag before you drag". What BS. What does that prove? OK, I killed, tagged and dragged. Back home or camp I take the dang tag off and do or don't check him. I carry a baggie in my pack with tags, zip ties and ink pen. Well, I learned a lesson, dang ink froze up this year. I still put tag on buck. I will carry a pencil next year. Lesson learned; I need a damn secretary.
 

DoubleRidge

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It doesn't really matter to me if they allowed it or not. I really don't see the difference in food plots or placed bait.

Someone with answers more than the food plot spreads the animals out please educate me on this one.

Corn in a high humidity climate can develop aflatoxin which is toxic to a variety of wildlife...Food plots don't have this issue.

Bait stations concentrate deer and certain style feeders even promote the sharing of saliva which can spread disease like CWD quickly....with Food plots this is much less likely to occur.

Corn feeders are dependent on a human to fill them on a consistent schedule...Food plots can feed a variety of wildlife for months with no human intrusion or interaction.

Corn feeders do not provide fawning or turkey nesting cover.... depending on what variety of seed is planted Food plots can and do provide excellent cover for wildlife in the spring and summer...forage and cover win-win.

Food plots can be great for pollinators and a variety of non-game wildlife....corn feeder...not so much.

And the list goes on....true nutritional value, tons of forage generated per acre, tons of forage generated per dollar spent, etc.
 
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Chickenrig

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Barbour County ,Al
This is the truth right here. The money cultivates huge food plots while the less wealthy use a small bait pile. Like I said earlier, I'll opt to keep hunting the woods myself, although I wouldn't mind if I had a green field too.
Can ya’ll not plant food plots?
 

Chickenrig

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Barbour County ,Al
No one makes you bait , right ?
No, but if you don’t the chances of getting deer on your place just about goes to zero because all of the surrounding property owners or lease holders do . Corn is a premium here . Every dam store sells it by the pallet load . Hell you cant see the store fronts because the stacks of corn are so high
 

MUP

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Can ya’ll not plant food plots?
I don't have logging and farming equipment to even begin cutting the timber to start. Even tho I could have a portion of it logged to put in a food plot it's not worth it to me to justify the end result. I've hunted these wooded mountains all my life and I've done ok just staying in the woods. :)
 

Spurhunter

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Munford, TN
Corn in a high humidity climate can develop aflatoxin which is toxic to a variety of wildlife...Food plots don't have this issue.

Bait stations concentrate deer and certain style feeders even promote the sharing of saliva which can spread disease like CWD quickly....with Food plots this is much less likely to occur.

Corn feeders are dependent on a human to fill them on a consistent schedule...Food plots can feed a variety of wildlife for months with no human intrusion or interaction.

Corn feeders do not provide fawning or turkey nesting cover.... depending on what variety of seed is planted Food plots can and do provide excellent cover for wildlife in the spring and summer...forage and cover win-win.

Food plots can be great for pollinators and a variety of non-game wildlife....corn feeder...not so much.

And the list goes on....true nutritional value, tons of forage generated per acre, tons of forage generated per dollar spent, etc.
EXCELLENT POST! Thank you for posting!
 

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