Question on cut corn

[Pilchard]

A couple years ago before bow season I was scouting some public land. It was a couple days before opener and I came across a field that had just been cut. At the edge of the field where they had loaded the truck was a pile of corn that had to be a few hundreds pounds of corn.

I ended up not being able to hunt that season but I have always wondered the legality of hunting over that pile. I'm not a bait hunter by any means but what would the law say in such a circumstance if a hunter decided to sit over that pile? There was plenty of other corn in the field from the combine missing a percentage of kernels from each ear but the deer were certainly attracted to the large pile based on the amount of sign around it.

 

[younggun308]

Surprised it was that big a pile! It's definitely easy to find where the loading truck was parked usually. But typically it's a relatively small pile that'll turns into volunteer corn until the cold kills it.
Though the pile is a product of normal agricultural harvest, I could see a warden thinking it looks like someone just dumped extra corn in the field trying to get away with it.

 

[Boone25/06]

Normal agricultural practice (waste grain) if I knew the farmer and he could back up my explanation to game wardens if needed I would hunt over it.
Some of the baiting laws mainly migratory bird baiting are very much game wardens discretion. What might be fine in one county might get you a ticket just across the county line.

 

[megalomaniac]

Not legal if it's in a pile, even if its 'normal ag waste'

 

[TnKen]

Legal, normal agriculture practice.
Now here is a question I have that I think would be a gray area. my farm in Illinois had a truck turn over and spilled a load of beans, a LOT of beans were left after the clean up. The deer were wearing the pile out. The beans weren't dumped intentionally, but it also wouldn't be considered "normal " ag practices.

 

[ADR]

Not legal if it's in a pile, even if its 'normal ag waste'

Assuming this is correct Mega, does this also mean you can't hunt within a 250 yard radius from this sight?

 

[younggun308]

Surely there is case law somewhere in the country on this?

 

[Pilchard]

@scn would you have written up a hunter in these circumstances?

 

[megalomaniac]

Assuming this is correct Mega, does this also mean you can't hunt within a 250 yard radius from this sight?

Yes, in TN you cannot hunt within a 250y radius of unnaturally aggregated food sources, nor can you shoot into that 250y radius circle around the food.

You can set up 251yds away from the food and shoot deer outside that 250yd circle around the food.

It's easier to just hunt oak trees or plant food plots

 

[redblood]

Normal agricultural practice. Local game warden parks on my farm a bit. Very obvious pile adorned one of my fields in clear view. I asked him about it and he said i was good to go. Clear and obvious grain truck and combine tires tell the story.

 

[ADR]

Yes, in TN you cannot hunt within a 250y radius of unnaturally aggregated food sources, nor can you shoot into that 250y radius circle around the food.

You can set up 251yds away from the food and shoot deer outside that 250yd circle around the food.

It's easier to just hunt oak trees or plant food plots

I have yet to see a farm crew that didn't have at least some spillage. Even just folding in the auger on the grain cart will leave a small amount of grain on the ground. I don't see how any harvested field is therefore legal to hunt. I am as meticulous as anyone when I'm in the combine but inevitably a rookie cart driver or overzealous truck driver will almost always spill something. Sometimes a handful, sometimes a couple hundred pounds. When you take a 100 acre corn field that yields a modest 150 bushel/acre, that's 15 semi loads. If in the loading of 15 hopper bottoms 200 pounds gets spilled, that is 0.002% of the total yield. That would be completely acceptable loss by most any farm standards. I just don't know how this small of an accident would ruin an entire field.

 

[Andy S.]

I see spillage a lot of places. Saw this pile last weekend when I was squirrel hunting.

 

[muddyboots]

Lol at Andy.

 

[Knothead]

Normal agricultural practice. Local game warden parks on my farm a bit. Very obvious pile adorned one of my fields in clear view. I asked him about it and he said i was good to go. Clear and obvious grain truck and combine tires tell the story.

Good to know…….. since you are right down the road from our lease. Our farmers spill
lots of the harvest (whether beans or corn) and it always concerns me to hunt in the area where the spillage is. Not only do I question the legality of it, but the ethics of it as well. Kinda makes me feel "dirty".

 

[megaman7253]

Not legal if it's in a pile, even if its 'normal ag waste'

So then define pile , please !!!

 

[megalomaniac]

So then define pile , please !!!

I'm not a warden, but if it is unnaturally aggregated in a single location, even if agricultural, I'd be leery about hunting over it. There is a lot of variability between wildlife officers... what one would consider normal ag spillage another would consider artifically placed/ baiting.

I believe that discrepancy between officers (and even judges) is what led to the redefination of the baiting laws...hunt 250y radius from the unnaturally placed food attractant, and cannot shoot an animal in that 250y radius circle.

And when it comes to federal baiting... I had a friend who prepped a dove field a decade ago with disking and wheat. He and everyone in the field got busted because at the parking area there was a single kernel of corn on the ground. He had no idea how it got there, never used corn to bait the doves. The feds don't play!

 

[holstonangler]

I'd bet it would get thrown out of court pretty quick if it was well documented with pictures. I've never seen an ag field with no spillage.

 

[rukiddin]

And when it comes to federal baiting... I had a friend who prepped a dove field a decade ago with disking and wheat. He and everyone in the field got busted because at the parking area there was a single kernel of corn on the ground. He had no idea how it got there, never used corn to bait the doves. The feds don't play!

I have a buddy that something very similar happened to in NC except it was a handful of corn directly under the tailgate of a truck in a sunflower field. NC is legal to bait deer and guy had corn in the bed of his truck. The owner of the field lawyered up and not only did the judge throw all the tickets out, he lectured the officer for 10 mins on how he wasted the courts time. And this judge was known as a very anti poaching judge who usually didn't go easy of wildlife violators.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Ask you game warden. He says it is ok, and you are ok with yourself with it, then go for it.

 

[Planking]

Some is going to get spilled its just part of it.