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Mississippi Senate Passes Deer-Baiting Bill
From the Clarion Ledger:
By a slim margin and after nearly an hour and a half of debate, the state Senate today approved a bill that would allow Mississippi hunters to bait deer. . . .
The House passed the bill by a 74-47 vote several weeks ago after a long debate. The Senate passed the bill with 25 “yays” and 24 “nays.”
Differences in House and Senate versions still must be worked out in conference, and of course the final bill must be signed by the Governor. According to another Ledger article, it’s final passage is still very much in question.
i bait in the bow hunt but at my age, i need all the HELP i can get.
Don
i hunt from a 6x6 shack also
Posted by: don m. | March 20, 2008 at 09:09 PM
If baiting is running a "feeder", then I suppose I'm guilty, although my state allows it!
About the only thing my state, besides federal migratory bird baiting laws, doesn't allow is hunting within 100 yards of a "corn/grain" feeder during "Spring Turkey".
I'm a lot like don m., at my age, I need all the help I can get!
Besides, the deer might come to a feeder, but they don't spend vast amounts of time. They like corn, but it's not their favorite food!
Bubba
Posted by: Bubba | March 20, 2008 at 09:18 PM
Maybe, when I get into my 70's would I hunt over bait but I, myself, don't think it the Fair Chase way.Maine doesn't allow it and they have tried to enact it but it never passes.The anti's feed on things like this so why give them more to "feed" upon.I think the only ones that should be allowed to sit over a corn or sweet feed pile are those that are disabled and can't walk. I am no spring chicken by any means but I Git*R*Done.Last year I saw over 40 plus deer by walking or sitting in my stand and let them pass.I was hoping for a trophy buck(and usuaully see quite a few but last fall was "off") but they only seemed to move in the dark,lol!
Posted by: Wanda | March 21, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Wanda
I enjoy being outdoors. Unfortunately, I kinda fit into one of your catagories. I have a steel hip. I can walk, just not great distances. I bait not only to bring deer in my direction, but as a protein source! It helps me to get some idea of what kind of deer are in the area and helps me decide how many does I cull and what, if any bucks I can, or want to take! Not only that, sometimes, even with a rifle in the stand, I can just sit and watch the deer!
I set my feeders up to throw approximately 1 or 2 cups of corn. That doesn't sound like much, but with it scattered pretty widely, they can spend several minutes picking up the corn, giving you time to judge each one, I think, to make sound management decisions!
Bubba
Posted by: Bubba | March 22, 2008 at 09:14 AM
Baiting with a feeder or piles of food is a complete failure in Michigan. A lot of people ignore the rules up here.The deer up here are not everywhere,so people use that excuse to bait,this in turn takes deer out of there usual trail following routine.I feel that most people bait so that they can stay in one area to hunt.If people would follow the rules I would be fine with baiting.In my mind,baiting is a waste of money,senior citizens,handicapped and young kids learning to hunt,should be the only ones allowed to bait.
Posted by: Mark Hansen | March 25, 2008 at 11:20 AM
We must remember, this blog is about bear baiting, not baiting in general. I have harvested two black bears via the baiting method and this method benefits the bear more than the hunters. Yes, the bears come in to the bait site, but instead of killing the first bear you see, you get to watch the bear for a greater period of time to determine if it is a boar or not. Alberta Canada allows baiting and their harvest rates of boars far out number the sows which is good for the population. If you never tried it, you shouldn't knock it, because doing so is out of ignorance. Baiting should not be involved when discussing fair chase. Killing an animal while it is eating to survive, no matter how the food got there, would be an understandable argument, but not how the food got there. Now to the baiting in general issue: in Florida, deer congregate under nut trees to eat, so whether they congregate to eat nuts or corn that dropped out of a placed feeder, so what, they only common thing in both situations is, the deer are "eating". In Indiana, you hunt deer entering and leaving corn fields, is this baiting? Someone planted the fields, they didn't naturally grow so this is baiting as well. What we should focus on is herd management, is the deer population in balance? Are enough deer being harvested or are too many deer being harvested? The management of the game species should be at the fore front, the method of harvesting the species is irrelevant. Do what is best of the species and hunt, hunt, hunt.
Posted by: John russo | March 26, 2008 at 08:22 AM
I used to be opposed to baiting, cause I came from a state that didn't allow it. Now I live in Oklahoma and have a 3,000 acre lease on which we're intensely managing the herd. Corn feeders are a huge part of this effort. We simply couldn't kill the does we need to without them. My experiences on both public land and private land in several different states have led me to the opinion that baiting only has merit when a management plan is in place and people follow the rules. I don't even want to think about the chaos that would ensue if you let the Pennsylvania hilljacks I grew up hunting with start baiting. They'd kill deer till there were none left. Actually, the Pennsylvanians have almost accomplished this thanks to the Game Commission.
Posted by: John D | March 27, 2008 at 09:46 AM