Deer Baiters

[DaveTN]

This issue was brought up in Illinois when after 50 years of not allowing deer hunting they were force to reopen it after a large herd of deer walked out on one of O'Hare Airports runways while a 747 jumbo was on final approach and had make an emergency abort and it made a major panic for controllers sending planes all to complete new route to prevent a mid air crash. Farmers all over Illinois had been raising hell for 20 years about crop loss due to thousands of deer on their farms and it was all being ignored.
 
There was big fight with Mayor of Chicago and farmers when the Mayor said they would hire private companies to shoot nets over the deer, put them on trucks and ship them to southern Illinois. The farmers said they would shoot any truck driver that tried to release the deer. So Mayor could not find a company to do that. The Governor hired a large team of professional hunter to go to O'Hare and hunt the woods around the run ways and Neuhoff  Slaughter house in Chicago was paid to process the meat and give it to Homeless shelters and Orphanages.
 
 
Then the Governor told the DNR to set up a deer season.Compound Bow, Cross Bow, Muzzle Loader and shotgun slugs are allowed. No HP rifles. The first year was a Zoo because of one rule put in and that was no hunting over baited areas. Once you drive 25 miles south, south west or due west of Cook County you are in the corn belt farm belt. Game wardens were busting people for hunting over baited fields. Heck, in farm country up there you have no choice but to hunt around baited fields of some type because the deer seasons fall right in the middle of harvest time and there is corn laying in every field and the only places hunters can put up stands is in trees in the fence rows between the corn, mullet or Sorghum fields. Midway threw the first year they dropped that rule and anyone that was arrested prior to that were all released and all fines and any thing else was returned. I realize that was along read but no other way to explain it.
 
 
Since the season was opened in 1990  car insurance costs have also dropped since the number of claims for hitting deer on the highways has also declined.  On average 200+ deer were hit by cars and trucks per day across the state. That rate last year was about 70 per day and it has gone down every year since 1995 so the hunting season is working.................... :up:  :up:  :up:

The only time deer hunting was outlawed in Illinois was from sometime in the 30’s to 1957 because deer were nearly extinct in Illinois from over hunting.

Deer/Vehicle collisions for 1990 was 13,812, in 1995 it was 17,573 and 2013 was 15,328.

I think your story is about the area around O’Hare; not the rest of the state. My insurance never went down. Cook County might have a SWAT team for deer; who knows what they do up there.

[DaveS]

My son owns 14 acres of timber and woods right behind his house in Cheatham county. Right after he bought it he picked 5 different location that he saw deer regularly. On each location he plated a Peach tree and 5 Persimmon Trees and for the last 2 years they have all been bearing fruits and they always see deer in the woods. I have 5 processed deer in my freezer now and have everything from Back strip and tenderloin steaks to roasts and hamburger. He said he or my grandson will get me one more before the season is over. I have plenty to get me through till next season. Game Warden says he is totally legal........................ :up:  :up:  

What he is doing is perfectly legal. However, baiting by the placing of food where it doesn't naturally occur is illegal. Baiting was one of my all time favorite tickets to write. Piled corn in the woods, apples in a stand of oak trees Things of such constituted baiting!

 

Dave

[10-Ring]

Arise! zombie thread!

 

I need some advice. I think some ass wipe has just ruined the rest of my first-ever deer season.

 

I've been hunting some land that belongs to my cousin. There's another guy that hunts out there too (friend of my cousin). We've texted to make sure we're not going to be out there on the same days, but other than that I don't know the guy at all. The lot is about 150-200 yards wide and goes deep. I'm setup on the far right side and he's just left of center, so only about 50 yards from my stand. During another unsuccessful hunt today, we saw 2 big doe, but it's a wooded lot and we didn't have a good shooting position from where we set my stand. After a while, my hunting partner and I went walking to where we have seen the deer moving on 2 different hunts.  We found lots of tracks along some dirt bike trails so I think I know where I want to set my stand next year.

 

Anywhoo....as we were making our way back down the hill, we came out where the other guy's stand is setup. I found 2 large piles of pellets just 20 feet in front of his stand with a game cam aimed on them. That puts those piles just 50 yds from my stand. That means I'm done, right? The only way I can get >250yards away is to go all the way to the back of the property, but that means ascending and then descending a 150ft rise in terrain, and having to drag any deer out from there. No thanks.

 

I suppose all I can do now is go back and take my stand down. I think I'll do it the day before he goes out next and make as much noise as I possibly can.

 

1) Am I correct in what I've said above that I'm done?

2) Would you call TWRA? Tell the landowner? Send the master baiter a nasty text? Move on and call it a day?

If it were me...

 

I wouldn't talk to anybody but the game warden.  I would leave my stand put and call the game warden anonymously and tip them off.  I wouldn't go in there to retrieve my stand until after the season is over.  If you attempt to talk to your cousin or his friend you will undoubtedly ruffle some feathers.  When talking to the game warden I would explain that it is very important that all information that I give him is in confidence.  Talking to your cousin or his friend will likely not get you invited back next season.  Working with the game warden and keeping your mouth shut around everyone else might fetch you exclusive hunting rights to this piece of property later on.  I know that sounds a little dirty but he's the one breaking the law.

[Howler]

A few years back I had some leftover corn that I used to lure in bucks to take pictures of. TWRA had (might still have) a contest where you submit wildlife pictures for use on their calendar. I wanted a picture of a large buck looking up at a stand on a cold morning. A TWRA agent told me that feeding deer was 100% legal, and taking pictures out of a treestand was also 100% legal as long as I didn't have a gun. It was very late in the deer season, late Dec. I think, so I put out the corn and set a treestand up. The landowner had only given one person permission to be on her land and that was me. Two days go by and I sneak in with my camera only to find my stand laying on the ground. I left a note for the trespasser, leaving my phone number for him to give me a call. Thinking that I walked in as someone that was trying to steal my stand I didn't expect a call. A couple days go by and I find that he had left me a note on the tree telling me what I was doing was illegal. He offered to call TWRA for me and Bla bla bla. He also left his phone number on the note. So I called him. Not only did he assume he knew what was going on he was a dick about it. I gave the landowner all his info and let her deal with it. She knew what I was doing and was fine with it. He pretended to be innocent and played the "I thought I was on so and so's land." bull crap.  

 

When you see people buying corn don't assume you know what they are doing.

[monkeylizard]

If it were me...

 

I wouldn't talk to anybody but the game warden.  I would leave my stand put and call the game warden anonymously and tip them off.  I wouldn't go in there to retrieve my stand until after the season is over.  If you attempt to talk to your cousin or his friend you will undoubtedly ruffle some feathers.  When talking to the game warden I would explain that it is very important that all information that I give him is in confidence.  Talking to your cousin or his friend will likely not get you invited back next season.  Working with the game warden and keeping your mouth shut around everyone else might fetch you exclusive hunting rights to this piece of property later on.  I know that sounds a little dirty but he's the one breaking the law.

 

No way to stay anonymous. When I found the bait piles, I was standing right in front of one of his trail cams. If the warden showed up, only a total moron wouldn't put those 2 things together.

 

Anyhow, I spoke with my cousin who immediately said "Whoa! That's illegal!" which is a good sign. He said he'd talk with Master Baiter and let me know what's what. Cuz' was appreciative. He needs to know what's going on in his woods. I'd rather lose a place to hunt than try to keep a hunting spot only to have that come back later to bite me. Family is worth far more to me than some backstraps and jerky.

 

I'm done there until at least Christmas at this point which sucks big donkey balls because I have several days of vacation planned between now and then.

 

Anyone want to Apopt-A-n00b for a couple of weeks?   :D

Edited December 15, 2014 by monkeylizard

[bersaguy]

What he is doing is perfectly legal. However, baiting by the placing of food where it doesn't naturally occur is illegal. Baiting was one of my all time favorite tickets to write. Piled corn in the woods, apples in a stand of oak trees Things of such constituted baiting!

 

Dave

He already had a few persimmon trees on his lace already and planted the peach trees at the far back of his yard but they still have deer eating peaches. Thanks for the update on the Illinois information. I grew up hunting up there and didn't move to Tennessee and hunted up there till I was 17 and we never were able to hunt deer even in 1966 cause we ask every year and were told there was no deer season offered. If they had reimplemented the deer hunting in Illinois in 1957 why did all the men in my family that were deer hunters have to go to Wisconsin when I was a young boy to deer hunt? I remember seeing  deer heads mounted on family member walls and all of the plaques were quoted "Taken in Wisconsin" and a date........................ :shrug: :shrug:

[monkeylizard]

why did all the men in my family that were deer hunters have to go to Wisconsin when I was a young boy to deer hunt? I remember seeing  deer heads mounted on family member walls and all of the plaques were quoted "Taken in Wisconsin" and a date........................ :shrug: :shrug:

 

Because deer fed a steady diet of real Wisconsin aged cheddar taste better than deer raised on government cheese.

Edited December 15, 2014 by monkeylizard

[mikegideon]

Because deer fed a steady diet of real Wisconsin aged cheddar taste better than deer raised on government cheese.

 

There's an EBT sign on the front of Papa Murphy's. That's the good stuff

[monkeylizard]

Double check the regs.  I am not sure if there is a distance rule or not.  I would definitely tell the guy to remove the feed.  If he refuses let him know you will tell the TWRA because it is effecting your ability to hunt.  This is all assuming that your cousin has not approved of the baiting.

 

I called the Region 2 office. She said 250 yards is not in the regulations, but it's what the field officers use as their guideline. I suppose depending on the circumstances they could choose to shorten or lengthen that radius.

[Hozzie]

I called the Region 2 office. She said 250 yards is not in the regulations, but it's what the field officers use as their guideline. I suppose depending on the circumstances they could choose to shorten or lengthen that radius.

 

Not really.  I spoke directly with a game warden and there is a written proclomation stating the 250 yards.  I just called a little over a month ago so I am sure on this.  They put the proclomation out about two or three years ago.  Yes, it isn't in the law, but the proclomation is as good as the law in this case.  I looked it up and confirmed it.  I will see if I can find it again, it wasn't that easy.  I suppose anyone can take their chances, but I sure wouldn't.  Not worth my rifle, truck, and whatever else I have with me that day.  I wish they would just make it clear in the regulations.  Maybe we should ask for that to be added.

 

If someone wants to search for it, here is a link to all procolomations.  http://tnsos.org/rules/WildlifeProclamations.php.  They are just scans, so you can't easily search in them.  You actually have to read them.

 

Updated:  They call it a proclomation and not a directive.

Edited December 15, 2014 by Hozzie

[monkeylizard]

I know they clarified it in 2011 at 250 yards (at least that's the date of the news reports covering it), but I couldn't find it in writting from the TWRA anywhere on their site. Either way, it looks like that's the magic number. I'm definitely not going back out there until I hear from my cousin and know what the resolution is + 10 days.

 

She did confirm what I had read in the 2011 news stories and what Hozzie stated earlier: 250 yard radius is a fully protected zone. Can't shoot in or into that area.

Edited December 15, 2014 by monkeylizard

[Luke E.]

 I have never had as much luck hunting over corn as I have had hunting over a plant plot of wheat, oats, peas and/or kale etc... No, I'm not talking about having hunted over bait in TN, I have many hunting opportunities in FL where it is legal. If a doe is going to come in to corn she would have come in to a food plot just the same or better so even where hunting bait is legal I much prefer to hunt in the woods or over a food plot. That being said I'm in FL right now for family reasons and just planted about an acres worth of plot split into 2 places but I did put out feeders topped off with corn and will leave them out until I return to hunt later next month. I have NEVER had any luck seeing "shooter" bucks at a corn pile so even when hunting around bait I will typically hunt away from it and try to figure out where the bucks stall out to wait on the doe that are coming and going. Honestly, I almost didn't put the feeders out today because there are SO many acorns on the ground this year that I don't think the corn is going to offer much advantage but since I hunt this property solely for meat and it's absolutely over run with doe I'm not as concerned with the whole sportsmanlike/unsportsmanlike debate in this case. I definitely wouldn't be as proud of a trophy buck killed over bait as I would one killed by traditional methods. My biggest thing is to stay within the laws.

[mike243]

If baiting didn't draw deer folks would stop doing it. I have seen a lot of pictures of deer killed over bait and yes acorns will some times slow down the deer from hitting the corn . I have no interest of being in a baiting war with any one . I also have no interest of seeing Tn get crazy prices just to deer hunt. folks complain about lic prices but with out being able to hunt somewhere cheaply the lic cost doesn't matter as much in the end. folks are asking $10+ per acre for hunting property's and are getting it. I refuse to be like other states in regard to trophy deer only. im a deer hunter and take what is legal and offered. corn fed deer is better im sure but id rather they knocked the stalk down to get it :)