HOW TO BEAT THE BAITERS!??

[publiclandhunter]

Public Land Beast,

You pose a great question on the legality of "planitng" a food source on public land. I honestly read and re-read the rules and this didn't meet the definition of "bait" according to what I read. Here's why.....Their definition of bait entails "placing feed out during season and hunting over it" I am placing "seed" out well in advance of the season and not hunting over the "seed" but the by-product that remains well after the seed is gone. I think that would be a tough one to prosecute in a court of law. Here's the other catch....I am not hunting over the clover - just using it as a destination that I try to pattern a buck going to or from. In most cases some other hunter finds my clover and hangs his portable right over the top of the small plot since that is what TV has taught them! Meanwhile I am hunting the buck that may want to end up there.

PLH

[Gardner Swamp]

But is it legal to "rake or till" up the soil on state or national forests

[dan]

But is it legal to "rake or till" up the soil on state or national forests

Laws vary greatly in every state, and even between state and federal land... I would suggest contacting your local warden and asking him ( or her ) if its a legal tactic where you plan to hunt...

[CatfishJack]

I agree with MagicMan on finding the thick stuff. I have hunted NE Michigan where they used to bait heavy. I hunted over the bait the first couple years but just plain didn't like the experience, and also, never saw anything bigger than a forkhorn. So I walked the area and found a very thick swamp NW about 1/4 mile. It was pretty secluded from roads or trails and showed plenty of buck sign. Even though I moved out of the area and never hunted the swamp, I definitely would be hunting that area hard. One thing I noticed about locales that bait is that if you grew up hunting in a non-baiting state, you have a huge advantage because most baiters don't know how to scout or read sign and use it to harvest deer. They have no confidence unless there is a pile in front of them. This in itself gives you a big advantage in harvesting the bigger bucks just by doing a little scouting and getting closer to where the bucks bed.