Hunting my first year here in Missouri it's illegal to hunt over any bait, even mineral blocks that have any food additives. An area is considered baited for 10 days after being baited and can not be hunted legally. With this rule, it makes your time in the field much more valuable. One must scout and pattern these deer and find their bedding and food source and try to get in between the two. Or hope that a deer just happens to pass your area or hears your rattles, grunts, etc. I feel it takes more work than setting up a feeder and waiting for them(deer) to find it.

Just curious who here would like to see it illegal to hunt over bait in Texas? Would you spend more time in the field trying to read the deer patterns or would you simply not spend as much time in a stand since there is no real incentive for the deer to head to your stand area b/c there is no food source.

Whatcha got?

Honest question, not trying to stir anything. Ive hunted over bait in Okla and Texas just can't in Missouri. Just something I was thinking about in the stand this past weekend.

So in 6 days take your popcorn and go skillet shoot some ducks.

I wouldn't mind it either way. I can't remember the last deer I killed over a feeder.

I'll kill some over a feeder this year though.

no matter your thoughts, There are a BUNCH of hunters in Texas that spend a BUNCH of money. The hunters like their feeders, and the politicians like their votes, so I don't expect there will ever be a change.

Na man, don't hate, Im just playin. I would throw out corn if it were legal for ducks. Hey ain't nothin wrong with skillet shooting. A dead duck is a dead duck is a dead duck. If it makes you happy to shoot some ringers on the water, go for it, nothin' illegal about it . Im not a big deer hunter, but I do enjoy it. As far as hunting over bait I don't see anything wrong with it. Theres plenty of deer to go around, and especially if you've got a high fence place ( opening another can of worms) you have got to supplement. I can understand putting out corn on a low fence place too, because the deer are gonna be where the food is. When something legal like baiting or skillet shooting, or shooting a dove out of a tree, the question isn't down to right and wrong I think, but the question is what makes it a fullfilling hunt for you. Honest question, How does baiting/not baiting affect the quality of cows, I mean deer, in the herd?

Thanks for you input on a question that wasn't asked.

lmao

Just the anti hunting wacko's.

Lots of states allow baiting, even though they choose to call it something else. Texans are just smart enough to realize that food plots and feeders serve the very same purpose- to create a food attraction that makes is easier to shoot deer. Sure, there are those who try to defend their food plots (and egos) by saying they're somehow better for deer. In the meantime, high-protein feed and feeders just keep improving the quality of Texas deer, with or without rainfall, throughout the year.

Yeah, it always worth a chuckle when some guy tries to attack someone else for using a feeder as he climbs into his heated shooting house overlooking a lush field of Biologic.

NEVER...and I mean NEVER happen. Texas has a HUGE DEER POPULATION and the amount of money spent in the economy on everything from Corn to wool socks would cripple a lot of folks.... if Baiting was eliminated and we had to actually work for our meat! Now I say that losely because baiting is a very EASY way to hunt...bait ....wait .....Kill! I have hunted both ways and actually guided in N.M. for Deer, Pronhorn, Oryx and Ibex. This helped supplemnt my college income and allowed me to ALWAYS have Fresh meat.
That is work and I put in a lot of hours scouting up and down ridges and looking for animals for my clients to take. Spent many a night freezing my arse off in my Landcruiser as well.
Baiting is not a bad way to hunt and with the popoulations of animals that we have in TEXAS it makes it VERY managable to control the herds by baiting and killing the amount of deer we do in the state. You have to look at this from a Deer Mngmt perspective and NOT from a "Who works harder for their deer" perspective. I know a lot of guys that are GREAT deer hunters in Texas but could not track a Mule in their Living Room. Those guys would not be able to hunt the way you do w/o some serious help.

Lastly, by baiting you have created a nutrition program and opportunity for those HUGE deer herds to survive...eliminate that and you will have DEER in your front yard eating your wife's Zinyas because they are all starving.

I am sure i have opened a CAN OF WORMS...but this is JMO.

I hunt Missouri every year. Own land there and have friends with a farm there. Killing deer with a gun or bow there is not any special challenge. Edges of soybean and cornfields, wooded hills and draws, briar patches and creek bottoms. I can hunt them as well as a feeder here. If you want to start an argument at least have solid ground to stand on because I know for a fact you are FOS on this one.

x2

As a matter of fact the only deer meat me and my family eats is from Missouri. That corn and soybean diet gives them a good flavor.

Well.....do you consider food plots bait in MO?

Actually I consider it all a food source. Whether it is natural, crop, plot or feeder it is all a food source and that is the place to be or somewhere in between bedding and food.

The TPWD defines bait to be the following..

"Minerals, vegetative material, or any other food substance placed to lure any wildlife resource."

IMO, the definition covers any food source that is planted, positioned, or placed for the purpose of attracting an animal for harvest.

It should stay legal. That way it can be left up to the individual hunter. If you want to try to stalk east Texas deer through briars, holly, poison ivy, and whatnot go ahead. I think the reason we have a good sized and healthy deer population in Texas is due partly to secondary feeding.

The truest post I have seen.

NO I DON'T WANT to outlaw baiting in Texas!!!

When I hunted in the Trans Pecos area we didn't need feeders you could seen for miles sometimes.
Where I hunt now you're doing good to be able to see 200 yds. Also I used to be younger and could handle the elements a lot better, now days I get in the blind and turn the heater on and take a snooze....how would I ever wake up to look for deer without the feeder for an alarm clock???

Ummm...is that directed to me or the original poster.

The poster pretty much.

Baiting is good for animal and hunter, if baiting were illegal a lot of people would not feed deer, which a lot more deer benefit than die from baiting

ok, I'll answer again. Texas is pretty spread out. The hunting grounds for many people are quite a distance away. As hunters, we spend as much time as we can out preparing for the hunt. If you took away our feeders and food plots, we wouldn't spend any more time out there looking for deer than we already do because most of us simply can't spare more time and gas money than we're already putting out. We own our place and spend family time out there, so we are there more in the off-season than we are in deer season. Some places would still have deer, some wouldn't. The herds in some places would be skinnier, others wouldn't be affected at all because they are in agricultural areas and don't eat out of feeders that much anyway.

I think the feeding (not just corn during season) helps sustain larger populations than with nothing, so I'd argue that that the deer are better off (healthier) with supplemental feeding (baiting to some) than without.

BUT, it's sort of pointless to debate it because it's a moot point for the reasons given in my first post (and many others reasons given by others).

Ok, Mr JaMata, what is your opinion?

A friend of mine has fed his deer for 3 years. He has 12-14 does coming in, and 2 nubbin bucks. (neither legal shooters)

Yesterday marks the 2nd time i have witnessed bucks fighting in the woods on his place this year... One of them was a big bodied buck - legal 13" or more... Last month I witnessed 5 bucks walk into his back yard... If he had not been feeding and attracting the does, do you think the bucks would be wandering into his property? I doubt it.

I have not yet shot a pig or a deer at a feeder, so it would not matter to me if it was made illegal to feed here.