Don't hunt over a baited field in Sumner County

[MikePapa1]

I spent the morning in Sumner County General Sessions Court this morning. Fridays, among other things is their TWRA docket. TWRA is cracking down on hunting violations. The Hunting over a baited field today got a $50 fine plus court costs and taxes, totaling about $225 plus lost all their hunting gear forfeited to the TWRA. Certainly not worth it.

[LagerHead]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[gregintenn]

DOn't mean to offend you, but good. I wish the TWRA well in cracking down on law breakers. They give legal hunters, and gun owners in general, a bad name.

[bigwakes]

I dont think the OP is telling us he got caught. Only that he was in the court room watching others who got caught.

[ShaunM]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Couldn't have said it better.

[whiskey]

50.00 plus court cost and forfeiture of guns/treestands/gamecams/atvs/bows/decoys ect. They are lucky they didn't loose their hunting rights for a year or two also.

While I DO NOT agree with TWRA on feeding wildgame, I do believe that we all have to play by the rules until we can get the rules corrected. Glad to hear Sumner is cracking down. I really wish our local wardens would find a way to stop all the road hunting here. Scares the hell out of me to have some idiot shooting from the road with no idea of what lies beyond the deer.

[Guest adamoxtwo]

50.00 plus court cost and forfeiture of guns/treestands/gamecams/atvs/bows/decoys ect. They are lucky they didn't loose their hunting rights for a year or two also.

While I DO NOT agree with TWRA on feeding wildgame, I do believe that we all have to play by the rules until we can get the rules corrected. Glad to hear Sumner is cracking down. I really wish our local wardens would find a way to stop all the road hunting here. Scares the hell out of me to have some idiot shooting from the road with no idea of what lies beyond the deer.

Stewart County is really big on baiting with decoys off the road. They have a pretty good operation going on there. Simply don't do it or you will pay for it!!

[Guest Spurhunter]

While I DO NOT bait, I think its stupid to have baiting laws. There are so many serious hunting and fishing violations going on, an dthey go after these poeple becuase its easy to catch them, and prosecute. Sad....

[LagerHead]

While I DO NOT bait, I think its stupid to have baiting laws. There are so many serious hunting and fishing violations going on, an dthey go after these poeple becuase its easy to catch them, and prosecute. Sad....

I dunno. Baiting kind of takes the sport out of it, don't you think? I mean any idiot with a rifle can kill a deer when you can lure them in that easily. Granted I see what you're saying: It's kind of like speed traps. You can argue that they take away from other, more important police work. But sometimes you just gotta go after some of that low-hanging fruit that's easy, and get the other stuff when the opportunity presents itself.

DISCLAIMER: I'm a novice hunter by all definitions, but I don't want my first deer to be bagged with an asterisk. I want it to be because I was in the right place at the right time and made a great shot. That is all.

[monkeylizard]

I'm not a hunter so this may be a stupid question. It seems logical that baiting is cheating, but if it's not legal in TN, why does Dick's have a pallet load of feed corn and a stack of hoppers for it?

[Ghooge2008]

Is planting green fields cheating? I know shooting over a feeder blatantly is hunting over bait...but what about feeder fields?

[LagerHead]

I'm not a hunter so this may be a stupid question. It seems logical that baiting is cheating, but if it's not legal in TN, why does Dick's have a pallet load of feed corn and a stack of hoppers for it?

You can bait up until ten(?) days before you hunt an area.

[kb4ns]

You can bait up until ten(?) days before you hunt an area.

Yep. Good way to get them used to coming into your area and near that trail cam so you know what you've got in the area.

[DaveS]

OK....I'm going to open a can of worms here. If it is LEGAL to hunt over planted food plots, turnip fields, standing corn and anything else you or TWRA plants for the deer, why is throwing "corn" or "minerals" on the ground to feed your deer herd and improve their quality illegal ? I see no difference my self! I don't bait....but I see nothing wrong with it....TWRA

does however. I'll shut up about this for now!

[Guest BEARMAN]

IIRC minerals, such as salt blocks, are legal to hunt over...as long as it doesn't have any food content in it.

[DaveS]

It is my understanding that they are not legal....not within 10 days of hunting. I may be wrong though.

[LagerHead]

OK....I'm going to open a can of worms here. If it is LEGAL to hunt over planted food plots, turnip fields, standing corn and anything else you or TWRA plants for the deer, why is throwing "corn" or "minerals" on the ground to feed your deer herd and improve their quality illegal ? I see no difference my self! I don't bait....but I see nothing wrong with it....TWRA

does however. I'll shut up about this for now!

Don't know for sure, but my bet is that you can't exactly stop agriculture. And since a corn field planted for human consumption is going to have human activity around it, deer will naturally be somewhat wary of it. But planting corn in the middle of the woods gives the deer a false sense of security.

[DaveS]

That's my point about twra...it's all about the animals, not agriculture!

[Guest clutepc]

I checked with the TWRA earlier in the season because there was one in a area I hunt and they said that Mineral blocks were fine as long as that's all the were and not loaded with something else.

[kb4ns]

I checked with the TWRA earlier in the season because there was one in a area I hunt and they said that Mineral blocks were fine as long as that's all the were and not loaded with something else.

That's the answer I got as well.

[JAB]

I dunno. Baiting kind of takes the sport out of it, don't you think? I mean any idiot with a rifle can kill a deer when you can lure them in that easily. Granted I see what you're saying: It's kind of like speed traps. You can argue that they take away from other, more important police work. But sometimes you just gotta go after some of that low-hanging fruit that's easy, and get the other stuff when the opportunity presents itself.

DISCLAIMER: I'm a novice hunter by all definitions, but I don't want my first deer to be bagged with an asterisk. I want it to be because I was in the right place at the right time and made a great shot. That is all.

I don't know. I mean, I can see where you are coming from but, at the same time, I think that all the hunting regulations, hunting seasons, etc, (and, yes, I know why they are necessary) kind of make everything artificial, anyhow. After all, in a more 'natural' setup, if a man needs meat he could shoot a deer, turkey, pig, rabbit, squirrel or whatever - any time and anywhere it was legal for him to hunt - and he could darned well use his superior intelligence to realize that putting food out would help his chances of getting meat. What is so non-sporting about using our superior intelligence to help in hunting? To me, using our superior intelligence to outsmart game that is faster, stronger and has senses more keen than our own isn't cheating and is very natural. Superior intelligence is pretty much how our ancestors survived. Of course, that is coming from someone whose purpose in hunting is to get meat, not to put a head on the wall - someone who is, admittedly, a pretty inexperience (although I have been hunting, off and on, since I was a teen) and unsuccessful hunter. Probably because I do follow all the rules that the TWRA and others come up with.

The problem, of course, is that some people are incapable of self-limiting. They wouldn't be satisfied with a couple of deer to fill their freezer and would want to blast as many as they could draw to their bait just for the 'sport' of it (and I would agree with you that such actions are not 'sport', nor do I believe they are ethical, etc.) Just another example of the bad seeds ruining it for everyone.

I do have to wonder, though, why TWRA doesn't allow hunting feral pigs over bait like some other states do. I mean, on the one hand they talk about how they want hunters to kill as many of these invasive pests as possible then on the other hand, unless I am mistaken, they require the same licenses - and following the same regulations - as required for hunting deer.

Edited November 2, 2010 by JAB

[DaveS]

You are right about the feral hogs...at least on public land...kinda crazy!!

[whiskey]

There was an article in the TWRA magazine that comes out a couple times a year. The article was printed a couple years ago and pretty much explained TWRA's point of view on "baiting" or "feeding", which ever name you prefer. The story mostly focused on the increased risk of spread of disease from a feed area. Texas and Florida are among the states that allow feeding and hunting over feeders. Last I heard, Texas didn't have deer heard problems due to this. Hell, they have more deer than any other state, IIRC. I have hunted over year round feeder in Florida and I can tell you that it is much less consistent than hunting a biologic food plot (legal here).

If feeding deer is harmful to deer populations, then outlaw feeding all together. Currently it is 100% legal to feed deer all year around in your back yard or anywhere else for that matter. It's only illegal to hunt over it!

The truth is that TWRA is behind the times on feeding just like they were on shooting doe! Now they want us to kill 3 every day (over 300 per year/ per hunter). Just imagine how great the hunting would be if we had opened doe season years earlier and kept the population closer to a 1:1 ratio.

Kill more hogs! But don't do it on WMA's outside of deer season! BS

[JAB]

The problem, I believe, is that hunting and fishing in TN are often viewed more from the standpoint of how to sustain a money-making venture rather than how to best manage and sustain wildlife populations.

[ShaunM]

OK....I'm going to open a can of worms here. If it is LEGAL to hunt over planted food plots, turnip fields, standing corn and anything else you or TWRA plants for the deer, why is throwing "corn" or "minerals" on the ground to feed your deer herd and improve their quality illegal ? I see no difference my self! I don't bait....but I see nothing wrong with it....TWRA

does however. I'll shut up about this for now!

I am going to have to agree with you wd, I see no difference either.

IIRC minerals, such as salt blocks, are legal to hunt over...as long as it doesn't have any food content in it.

You are correct.

Don't know for sure, but my bet is that you can't exactly stop agriculture. And since a corn field planted for human consumption is going to have human activity around it, deer will naturally be somewhat wary of it. But planting corn in the middle of the woods gives the deer a false sense of security.

Thing is it doesn't have to be for human consumption. You can plant a corn field, push the corn over and leave it and your legal to hunt over it. I asked the game warden a couple of years back and he said that was fine but if you add corn to it then your baiting which makes no sense at all. It's all about money.