Chris Niskanen: Hunters pay a stiff price for deer baiting

The burly hunter in the deer stand was clearly surprised Saturday when conservation officer Don Bozovsky pulled up on an all-terrain vehicle.

[Catch Me U Can]

And we call these hunters?

This is why the sport of animal hunting
is being chastised so much.

Folks are becoming coach potatoes and lazy.
They want the animal to walk straight into
their trucks.

Hunting will never be the same with cheating going on.

I bet one of these days someone will put sleeping pills
in them baits and that will be the last straw!!

[Sam]

OK baiting is illegal BUT planting acres of food AND shooting deer while they eat the food/bait is not illegal!

EVERYONE I talk to says hunting over food plots is just as bad as hunting over an area sprayed with corn/bait.

BTW the DNR always site the exchange of fluids while eating at a bait pile HOWEVER it's PERFECTLY LEGAL to feed deer with bait UNLESS it's 2 weeks prior to the legal hunt and during the hunting season!

NTM IF you hunt in Wisconsin you may use bait piles to hunt deer!

DNR policy don't pass muster!!!

==========

Catch Me U Can wrote:

And we call these hunters?
This is why the sport of animal hunting
is being chastised so much.
Folks are becoming coach potatoes and lazy.
They want the animal to walk straight into
their trucks.
Hunting will never be the same with cheating going on.
I bet one of these days someone will put sleeping pills
in them baits and that will be the last straw!!

[Alt]

I would much rather a hunter bated deer away from the highways shooting them and procressing the meat for food than having them hit by a car and laying in the ditch rotting, but I suppose that's what the DNR want's they own the deer you know.

[jvm]

Kansas and Oklahoma sell 'deer bait' in WalMart and other stores. In a state over-run by deer, it would be good to use baiting as a tool to help control the herds and maybe there would be less road kills.

[Bipartisan]

Catch Me U Can wrote:

And we call these hunters?
This is why the sport of animal hunting
is being chastised so much.
Folks are becoming coach potatoes and lazy.
They want the animal to walk straight into
their trucks.
Hunting will never be the same with cheating going on.
I bet one of these days someone will put sleeping pills
in them baits and that will be the last straw!!

Well lets not throw every hunter into the same rotten apple barrel...please. The number of hunters that do it the right way far out number the small percentage that don't,(and that's always been the case) and any Warden would tell us that. But I got a kick out of your last sentence...sleeping pill, that's funny! Sorta like a... bait rape drug!

[Eat This Bit]

CWD(Chronic Wasting Disease), as it is known, is a cousin to bovine spongiform encephalopathy — mad cow disease — which has proven deadly not only for cows but some humans as well.

Was this created by DNR to stop hunters from eating
venison? or did humans and their lazy ways contributed
to the spread of diseases like this & the flu?

[Political Hunt]

Bipartisan wrote:

<quoted text>
Well lets not throw every hunter into the same rotten apple barrel...please. The number of hunters that do it the right way far out number the small percentage that don't,(and that's always been the case) and any Warden would tell us that. But I got a kick out of your last sentence...sleeping pill, that's funny! Sorta like a... bait rape drug!

A Democrat and a Republican were out hunting deer,
the Democrat says to the Republican, you shoot first,
No, you shoot first says the Republican.

Suddenly a 20 point buck pops out of the corn field,
I'm shooting first says the Democrat, No, I want to
shoot says the Republican.

As they were arguing who shoots first the 20 point buck
strolled past them onto a rural road where it just stood
there confused and then was struck by a passing motorist.

[daML]

Political Hunt: That was dumb. Did you come up with that 'joke' all by yourself? I hope it didn't take up too much time. Now go read a book.

[dumb dumb]

If it is legal to feed deer year round as long as you don't hunt near the bait, then how can you continue to say that CWD is the reasoning you can't do it during deer hunt season?
My father in law used to plant 10 acres of alfalfa specifically to attract the deer, bail it just prior to opener, and voila!!!!! Deer everywhere!
Someone explain the difference of the load of pumpkins and the yummy alfalfa?
How come you can bait bear legally??
People are hungry, let them eat. Personally, I don't like the meat.
DNR shouldn't be allowed to go roaming around private property IMHO. Get a warrant.

[Get Out]

Good, DNR should sell the rifle and hire more officers to catch bait hunters. Follow the hunting rules and have a great hunting memory, now his son’s memory will be witnessing his father break the law.

[Last Hunt]

Where I hunted for 50 years and currently own 40 acres there is a rich realtor who bought a large number of acres and built a 100X100 machine shed full of bulldozers etc and has built huge food plots.

Every year this rich guys neibor finds dead deer rotting on his property, last year it was two 8 point bucks. The rich realtor has elaborate heated stands and is very comfortable "Hunting".

IMHO the realtor isn't hunting!

The practice of hunting over food plots is NO DIFFERENT than hunting over a bait pile.

The only difference is the amount of money one must invest in food plots over a bait pile.

The rich in Minnesota have a distinct advantage when hunting, Thanks Tpaw must be your buddies.

[Kaw-Liga]

A few bags of corn or a few pumpkins thrown on the ground, resulting in a few deer being taken (that likely would have been taken anyway) constitutes a criminal offense? But I can plant crops adjacent to where I hunt to attract the deer, and it's not an offense? Very inconsistent law. A good lawyer ought to be able to pick that one to pieces.

And the DNR paying for airplanes and officers' overtime salaries to go trespassing and sneaking around, just so they can take a hunter's gun, and give him a $400 ticket? Seems like a waste of money to me. And the notion that concentrating the deer in one area increases disease is just dumb--deer are already gathering together, baited or not.

We have a million deer over-running this state. As long as the hunters paid for a license, and tag their deer, what's the harm? The state makes money, the herd gets thinned, and hunters fill their freezer with meat. What's the problem?

[picklesnorkie]

Baiting isn't "hunting" but who cares...like the poster above stated, there a too many darn deer...they are a hazard to humans as well...jumping in roads, causing accidents and deaths...they are pretty to look at, but a hazard. JMO

[Get Out]

Petition the DNR to change the law and allow baiting, until then it’s illegal.

[TheK]

The "food plots are the same" argument doesn't justify baiting. It might justify a law prohibiting hunting over food plots, but it doesn't justify baiting. It's just a variation of "other people do it, too" which is an excuse you wouldn't accept from a child.

[Spinner]

So why if baiting is so bad is it legal to bait bear?

==========

TheK wrote:

The "food plots are the same" argument doesn't justify baiting. It might justify a law prohibiting hunting over food plots, but it doesn't justify baiting. It's just a variation of "other people do it, too" which is an excuse you wouldn't accept from a child.

[Keep up the great work]

Baiting is not hunting plain and simple. I think it is great that guns are confiscated, and a fine on top of it. Perhaps some jail time should also be added in, or even better take away the license for the following year. This goes for food plots as well. Also, just because the cheese heads and okies do it doesn't mean a thing. Keep up the good work making the LAZY so-called 'hunters' pay!

[Sam]

So baiting bear should be illegal?

I agree!

Also IF baiting is needed to allow a harvest then deer should be baited as they are the biggest/only cause of road kill and BILLIONS of dollars in damage to cars.

==========

Keep up the great work wrote:

Baiting is not hunting plain and simple. I think it is great that guns are confiscated, and a fine on top of it. Perhaps some jail time should also be added in, or even better take away the license for the following year. This goes for food plots as well. Also, just because the cheese heads and okies do it doesn't mean a thing. Keep up the good work making the LAZY so-called 'hunters' pay!

[Casanova Frankenstein]

To anyone posting here: If you haven't purchased a deer hunting license in the last 5 years...I don't care what you have to say.

[zed]

People that hunt over bait are scumbags and deserve every bit of a fine and punishment they get. Grow some sportsmanlike bones and learn to really hunt, punks!