Illegal deer baiting in Minnesota has hit new levels, DNR says

Baiters are not sportsmen, they are sitting in their $500 stands waiting for deer to walk up to the corn or pumpkins they have been feeding the deer with for the last 3 years.

Throw all bait hunters in jail, confiscate their vehicles, guns and 4x4 ATVs. It will be one less scumbag in the woods!

just wait till unemployment goes higher- people got to eat.

Big deal. We have an over-population of deer in this state. A few piles of corn, a few extra deer shot, why all the hand-wringing? This is all a ploy for the DNR to get more money and expand their power. Niskanen, you poor sap, you write the most boring garbage.

The hunters have all the benefit, why cheat? Zed, you're right on.

"Smith said illegal baiting began "to explode" in the early 2000s, and by 2006, the DNR faced a situation that appeared to be getting out of hand."

I am absolutely NOT in favor of baiting deer; I find it unsportsmanlike and unethical. And I am sure such cases are on the rise. Having said that, I am tiring of all the bad news in every area of our society becoming a crisis of one kind or another. I feel the article is making a mountain out of a molehill. Especially with such little hard data to base the "panic alert" on.
I like Niskanen's articles but I am disappointed that he is taking the alarmist approach to this item, and that editorial attitude is becoming a mainstay of all the news articles in my beloved PP.
Let's crunch some numbers, which are admittedly little more than projections, but can put this terrible ethical crisis in the proper perspective.
67 CO's report investigating baiting in the top 2/3 of the state... If we use that average for the remaining 1/3 of the state, we can round it out to about 100 C.O.'s investigating baiting. Let's assume 2 cases per C.O.(sounds about right from Chris' earlier article, even generous); that would be about 200 cases. There are more than 200,000 deer hunters who took out permits. That averages out to 1/10th of 1 % of these unethical hunters out there in the bush.
I agree the fines should be raised to where it becomes a losing proposition to bait deer; but it certainly isn't the most serious problem we face in the state at this time.
I wish we'd have such a low proportion of unethical rule-breakers amongst our state legislators.....

Oh Deer wrote:

Big deal. We have an over-population of deer in this state. A few piles of corn, a few extra deer shot, why all the hand-wringing? This is all a ploy for the DNR to get more money and expand their power. Niskanen, you poor sap, you write the most boring garbage.

Hmmm, couldn't have been too boring. You read it. Okay, so I was looking for a way to get back to sleep. I'm going back to bed now.

Oh Deer you better you put your bait down.

Oh Deer wrote:

Big deal. We have an over-population of deer in this state. A few piles of corn, a few extra deer shot, why all the hand-wringing? This is all a ploy for the DNR to get more money and expand their power.

Exactly! Deer are nothing more than land carp. There should be no limits and it should be continuously open season.

Prayer Is Foolish wrote:

<quoted text> Hunting is NOT a sport; if the animals returned the gunfire THEN it would be a sport. As it is, hunting is just an excuse to keep animals in check and let white guys kill stuff so they can feel like real men.

sny color guy can hunt.

And if deer returned gunfire it would be considered war.

I think people with Liberal minds and tendencies should be fined and possibly lose their citizenship rights for 2 years or until they become aware of other peoples rights.

Yup, as one poster already stated and laid out well, this state and all states have bigger fish to fry than this so called epidemic.

Why not make it legal to bait like it is in the states around us and in Canada? We do it for bear. That would solve the DNR problem of enforcement.

The bottom line for the MN DNR is,,,,, If it is fun and it works, it is illegal!

That mf cheater could be your neighbor or sit next to you at work.

zed wrote:

Baiters are not sportsmen, they are sitting in their $500 stands waiting for deer to walk up to the corn or pumpkins they have been feeding the deer with for the last 3 years.
Throw all bait hunters in jail, confiscate their vehicles, guns and 4x4 ATVs. It will be one less **** in the woods!

zed you were in a movie right? pulp fiction? SIIICCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Prayer Is Foolish wrote:

<quoted text> Hunting is NOT a sport; if the animals returned the gunfire THEN it would be a sport. As it is, hunting is just an excuse to keep animals in check and let white guys kill stuff so they can feel like real men.

New record! It only took 8 posts for someone to play the race card!

Mrs R wrote:

<quoted text>
Exactly! Deer are nothing more than land carp. There should be no limits and it should be continuously open season.

Probably the first and last post I'll ever agree with from you!

Franklin Adams wrote:

<quoted text>
zed you were in a movie right? pulp fiction? SIIICCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.

The logic that the DNR uses is ridiculous. They say that baiting is bad b/c it can spread disease between animals in the herd. Then why is it only illegal to bait for 1 month a year? How many people have back yard deer feeders that they add food to all year round? At least the DNR should be honest and say that if people bait deer, then the deer population would drop and they wouldn't be able to collect the large amount of income from deer licenses and baiting fines. Also, that would decrease the number of timberwolves in Northern MN as well.(an ancillary benefit)
I think the DNR should go back to picking up garbage in the woods and making sure that all of the campsites have a solid picnic table and quit trying to control exactly the amount of deer that are taken each year.

At the end of the day, not much for "sportsmanship".

zed wrote:

Baiters are not sportsmen, they are sitting in their $500 stands waiting for deer to walk up to the corn or pumpkins they have been feeding the deer with for the last 3 years.
Throw all bait hunters in jail, confiscate their vehicles, guns and 4x4 ATVs. It will be one less **** in the woods!

Well zed I plant about two acres of clover and 3 acres of corn. At the end of the field there is about half a dozen apple trees. This is where I have my tree stand. I have on my deer scent and a set of antlers for rattling. And you no what it's not considered baiting the deer. All that corn all that clover all them apples and it's not baiting.
Now someone dumps out a 5 gallon pail of apples on the ground IT'S BAITING.......And that is how messed up Mn DRN laws are. But I'm done opening day before noon I love it.

Baiting is the LAZY mans way to shoot deer. I said shoot deer because baiting is not hunting no matter how you look at it. A real hunter goes out to the wood and learns what the animals are doing. Any slob can put out some corn and get a deer to show up and kill it. I think anyone who has their rifle taken away deserves everything they get. Most of us follow the rule and I know I will turn in anyone I find breaking them.