In the north this may happen due to the absolute lack of other things to eat. But to me its no worse than yarded up deer starving and having yotes eating on them while they were still alive.
Now take away a true killer winter I think its a different story
Because its scientifically possible does not mean it happens. I lived in Michigan 2001. Deer ate 1000lbs of carrots and beets in 7 days. Oh and spotlighting was legal as long as you were found with no gun and it wasn't after 11:00 pm These baits were no something they found in nature. But while hunting them like this as was the norm and accepted way. I got to watch more deer activity there in a season than I see here in 3 years.
The thing is I noticed something most people have seen and not given much thought. These browers we hunt eat some of everything. I watched them feed across the alfalfa field into our section and eat native grasses on the way to the carrots. They then would feed through the oaks and bedded back in the swamp. Come evening they reversed for the most part.
Doe ratio was probably 10+ :1 and most of those bucks were 1 1/2 yr olds. Most the bucks we did see while hunting were not at the bait, but skirting it or waiting for dark. How did they do that? By eating the acorns, native grasses and alfalfa along the wood line and no doubt a bunch just stayed bedded. I learned to hunt areas they traveled to get to what might be what they might have wanted most. It helped me kill a few bucks but never the big ones we saw in the alfalfa fields at night. None of the kids left unattended in the ice cream parlor decided to commit death by ice cream