HOW TO BEAT THE BAITERS!??

[big v]

Any ideas how to even the odds in the big woods when your WEEKS of scouting turn out to be for not do to corn dumpers changing deer movement?

[Slider1005]

I can say from the little knowledge I have, you need to be closer to where the deer are bedding at that time. Regardless of the food source and changing travel routes, you find the bedding you will see the deer you're after.

[matt1336]

Gotta out work them. Get back in the big public tracks close to bedding. It's frustrating. My PRIVATE PROPERTY in Price County WI is tuff to hunt during gun season b/c our nieghbors bait and hunt unintelligently....drive to their stands in trucks w/ corn in the back and dump it at thier piles 1/2 hour b4 light on opening day. ARRRG.

[publiclandhunter]

If you are just out hunting "deer", then bait will definitely pose a problem for most. The deer tend to turn nocturnal and limit movement to and from the bait sites. This turns out to be a situation where you need to pattern the hunters and how they come and go and the winds the deer use to skirt and check the areas the baiters reside in.
Most all "mature" bucks in a heavily baited area will primarily be nocturnal - at least that is what I have experienced. You need to study your aerials and topos to see how the hunters access the sites and then figure out how a deer can utilize the terrain to check the sites from afar. Might be a ridge downwind of the site or a thicket-edge or they may be bedding farther away and then not getting there til way after dark. If so, start looking for untouched areas away from the sites where a mature buck can get away from pressure and use the terrain and wind to his advantage to check the bait. As someone mentioned earlier - bedding security is the key, especially in hard-hunted areas. Find the beds then spoke out to the bait sites from there to consider an ambush point. Remember - it has to be 90% right for the buck for him to feel confident on even going near the established bait site. If you find a set-up that compromises him at a 100% disadvantage, he probably isn't going to use it til the wind changes and it is in his favor. With that said, find the 10% wrong on his regular travels where he feels safe and exploit it to your advantage. You will up your odds with this approach.

PLH

[dan]

Good points everyone... I would like to also mention that in heavy baiting situations I have done fairly well by hunting very close to the bedding areas. No buck is fully nocturnal. They all move around near there bedding area at least a little during shooting hours. When they are traveling to a food source they deem a trap,or consistently associate human scent with there "un-natural" pile of food, a mature deer usually won't go there in daylight. If they did, they would of died well before making it to maturity.
So, those deer stay in there "Safe zone" till darkness,or near darkness.
What I am referring to as a "safe zone" is an area around the deers bedding area where he is confident it is safe. Its a small area and generally when he catches human scent within the area he moves to another bedding area.
To get within the zone, the best method would be to find these bedding areas in spring time prior to green up and set up as close as possible to the bed without being detected. Yes, you will spook him if he is there now, but he will be back in fall.
Another method that works, but not near as well as knowing the bedding area in advance, is to back track the bucks trail from the food source till it starts looking like a bedding area. You risk your scent hitting the bedded buck because they generally head into there bedding areas with the wind to there back, and you risk not setting up close enough when guessing where to hang the stand. Or to close and we bust the buck out of there.

[big v]

Thanks for all the info. Things would be much simpler if there was no baiting and new FOOD SOURECES were'nt popping up unexpectedly throughout the season. Thanks again for the advice. Big V

[PLB]

I agree! On public land you can beat the baiters by cutting them off near bedding areas! I also think morning hunts with the right moon can work too especially on public land where he has had all night to calm down.Not many people hunt the mornings in big woods settings! I also think you could slip into his staging area mid-day and whack him! Deer up here move when the hunters are not in the woods

[Singing Bridge]

It wasn't uncommon to have 40-50 bait piles per square mile, and yes sometimes more, around my home area (recently outlawed, but the baiting remains). The important thing to realize is that there are hunters consistenly taking nice bucks despite this obstacle- do not use it as an excuse to give up on your state, if you're not being successful learn from those that are (that's what I had to do!). There are top level hunters that posted above me here that have taken mature bucks in heavily baited areas... I suggest looking at the tactics they employ, some of the same techniques are mentioned multiple times.

[chadhaucke]

I agree with what your guys are saying about following tracks back and trying to find these bedding areas off these baits, but in big woods its tough. They have so much area to sleep in. When you guys are out doing your scouting whether it be in spring or during season is there something exact your looking for or just the way the land lays out. Ive seen it time and time again up by us, all these guys have all these big deer on trail cameras all season long (on there baits im talking). They get all these pics most of them at night but still quite a few during daylight hours and these guys get so confident that there gonna sit there all day long for three days and there gonna shoot one of these mature bucks right on one of these baits. And the season closes and VERY seldom do any of these guys end killing any of these deer and then everyone has to listen to all there different reasons why none of these bucks ended up showing during daylight hours. It makes me laugh.

[PLB]

They aint coming to a pile during daylight. If you bait you are creating deer sign so that is where your rut sign is because that is where the does will be! But I still feel a mature buck will hold up out of range even though you might see him. I feel any real mature buck taken over bait is taken after hours during a cold snowy late season after Rut! Ever wonder why Vilas Co. used to lead the state in Late season buck harvest! I'd be willing to bet most of those were well after legal shooting hours

[magicman54494]

I agree with what your guys are saying about following tracks back and trying to find these bedding areas off these baits, but in big woods its tough. They have so much area to sleep in. When you guys are out doing your scouting whether it be in spring or during season is there something exact your looking for or just the way the land lays out.

If you scout a lot you will start to see patterns develop as to where deer (bucks) tend to bed. This will help you in finding beds in the future. Check the edges and points of edges on high points. these higher stops don't have to be real high. maybe 20-30 ft rise or less even. They find spots where they can bed and watch below them. There is usually good cover on the uphill side. (a downfall or maybe thick brush) Another hot spot is where the hardwoods (higher ground) falls down to a swamp. There is usually high ground followed by thick brush then wetter ground. The hot spot will be past the thick brush into the swampy area. Look for a lone tree or thicker patch of brush in the swamp. Nobody ever ventures past the wall of thick brush and the bucks can bed all year and never be bothered. A good guideline is to search where you don't want to go. Another real hotspot is if there was a blowdown area. In a few years it gets real thick and the bucks can bed and when they get hungry they only have to get up and move a few feet to fill their bellies. The big woods are big but deer are creatures of habbit and will find safe places and stick with them. There are few deer and lots of areas that fit my discriptions. It takes a lot of leg work to find these spots so be patient.

[publiclandhunter]

Here's a way to "bait" where you aren't supposed to bait and actually have a chance of killing a mature buck over it.

I go way back to hard-to-get-to high-ground areas close to pinpointed bedding areas in the big-woods public and take a rake and a frame-pack with no-till clover blend and some 12-12-12 fertilizer. This works best in late March or early April. Find a semi-open area and then rake the leaf-litter away to expose the black dirt below. It usually takes maybe an hour of work (wear gloves or you get huge blisters) to clear up an area 30x30. Throw the fertilizer and then throw the no-till clover blend. Come back in a month and you have a nice carpet of clover that they will be hammering. This is a great location for a trail-camera when you come back. I used this tactic to kill a nice 130-class eleven point several years ago on public ground. I got a trail cam pic of him using the site in velvet and then went they went hard-horn was able to decipher his travel route to the point the plot was on. I set-up in a funnel near his bedding area that we was using to get to and from the area.

PLH

[PLB]

Here's a way to "bait" where you aren't supposed to bait and actually have a chance of killing a mature buck over it.

I go way back to hard-to-get-to high-ground areas close to pinpointed bedding areas in the big-woods public and take a rake and a frame-pack with no-till clover blend and some 12-12-12 fertilizer. This works best in late March or early April. Find a semi-open area and then rake the leaf-litter away to expose the black dirt below. It usually takes maybe an hour of work (wear gloves or you get huge blisters) to clear up an area 30x30. Throw the fertilizer and then throw the no-till clover blend. Come back in a month and you have a nice carpet of clover that they will be hammering. This is a great location for a trail-camera when you come back. I used this tactic to kill a nice 130-class eleven point several years ago on public ground. I got a trail cam pic of him using the site in velvet and then went they went hard-horn was able to decipher his travel route to the point the plot was on. I set-up in a funnel near his bedding area that we was using to get to and from the area.
Great tactic but is it legal? I din't know if the DNR wants you raking and planting clover on State or National forest
PLH

[PLB]

I kinda messed that post up PLH, is this a legal tactic on public State and National forest??

[Singing Bridge]

Some of the way's I've seen bait impact older bucks are when they are with a doe in heat and don't know the bait/stand exists, they may walk themselves into trouble. They may adjust their "cruise trails" while looking for a doe in heat to take in the downwind corridor of baited areas. They may start spending more time in the buck bedding areas that are closest to the bait to be near the does in the rut...... But with all that said, just because bait has a large impact on the other deer doesn't mean it shuts down everything you have done to scout out older bucks. They certainly don't "abandon" their seasonal, secure bedding areas because the bait showed up. In pressured areas, they know what bait and human scent is all about- they have wounds they survived from hunters from when they were younger and near bait, yet managed to survive. Most times nice bucks in pressured areas won't go anywhere near a bait pile. I'm not talking about six points and spikes here, but the buck(s) we are all after. Find those secure bedding areas for the calendar period in question, and bait or no bait you will find the bucks you are after.