vtbuckrulrss

ok, i have read everyone' s arguements, and have to say this, in MY area of the world, deer are few and far between. sometimes just seeing one a season can be a chore. now, in my opinion, there is no difference between baiting and a food plot or feeders. they are all meant to do one thing, attract deer. period. while i haven' t hunted over feeders, friends that have have told me that when they turn on, the deer come a runnin. where is the diff between that and a guy that drives out, drops food, and the deer come when they hear the vehicle? NONE, nada, zip. feeders and baiters are one and the same.
food plots vs. baiters; ok, you have to put more work into doing a food plot, but you still have the same result, waiting for a critter to come by, whether you sit on stand all day, or for only a few hours. do we downgrade those who hunt over food plots? no, we make tv shows on their " hunt" . i am not against any of the above methods, but don' t get all high and mighty saying food plots are the next best thing to sliced bread, and that those who hunt over bait don' t know how to hunt. i hunt my tail off every year, walking through the woods for hours, and in the evening, i may sit at a bait site, which usually contains enough food to last untill spring( believe me, i mean spring, which is usually late april in vt.) or, i may sit in a spot which has good sign, not even close to bait. and in my area, deer use the bait in much the same way i would believe they would at a food plot, they come when they want to, not just at nightfall.
yes, i do believe, however, that many people have not learned how to hunt anymore, but i believe that part of it has to do with not only baiting, but, get ready, FOOD PLOTS! and tv, of course, lets face it, how many deer do you see every weekend shot on a food plot? a lot. i am sure that many think that that is the only way to get a deer, you don' t see someone on a show still hunting, at least i haven' t. we need to bring reality back to the sets, then maybe we will learn how to hunt again. go days at a time without seeing any deer, much less a buck, that' s what it is like here) thats why BUCKMASTERS left during a shoot, not enough deer for them, said we were crazy to hunt here). ok, enough rambling on, said some of my piece.

NorthJeff

The bottom line, in my area, the AVERAGE hunter can' t hunt without using bait. That' s the problem. You shouldn' t HAVE to rely on any one method, and the average guy does.

Also, the average guy doesn' t own land or hunt over food plots, another huge difference between bait and food plots, so the choice we are discussing can' t even be made by the average hunter, and the average hunter doesn' t have enough experience on either to even make an educated decision.

But, until we get rid of the baiting in my area, the average guy will still get discouraged by having to use bait, whether they realize it or not, and the quality of hunter will continue to decline.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan

Dan O.

vtbuck; I' ve got to agree with you that the tv, hunting videos etc. almost always show deer being harvested next to a corn field, or an apple orchard or a clover plot. So look at food plots on your property as beneficial, long term, natural baiting (attracting sites) sites. If you want to become a purist, doe in heat scents are attractants that the deer doesn' t feed on. But; they artifically change a buck' s travel patterns the same way a bait site does.

Dan O.