Bait near private property line

I have a question. I understand the 100yd and out of sight rule for using bait. My question is how does that apply to the neighboring property owner that isn’t putting it out and is unaware of it when hunting. If the bait is 10 yds across from my property and fence line on the neighbors side will I be the be charged with hunting over bait even though I’m on my property with no knowledge of the bait but only 60yds away? I fear that what one property owner does within legal right can affect another legal hunter illegally.

If it's not on my property, I don't really have a way of knowing about it.

It would depend on the game warden yes he could ticket you for it the law doesn't say anything about property lines only if it's within 100 yards or in your line of sight past 100. I wouldn't worry about it to much wardens usually pretty good about figuring out who's doing what

I understand what you are saying but is that how a warden will view it also?

Not to split hairs but technically, baiting deer is still illegal in AL. The 100 yds and out of sight was approved for Supplemental feeding. 70% of Alabama hunters were already hunting over corn anyway so they readily viewed the supplemental feeding rule passed by the "high fence CAB" as justification that what they were doing was now legal as long as it was 100 yds away and out of sight. Baiting to assist with harvest is still not approved in any way in Alabama.

The way our GW explained it to me was that if he felt that the feed was placed there to influence deer movement so as to assist the hunter in harvesting the animal, he was going to write the ticket. We dont allow supplemental feeding on our property during the season for that reason alone.

It's really just going to depend on his mood and what kind of evidence he can find if you're 50 yards away over a property line facing the opposite direction in thick woods. Or are you 50 yards away over a property line in a clear cut looking right at it.

writing a ticket and proving the charge in a court room are two different things. If you can prove its over 100 yards and out of line of sight thats the law regardless. I've had a warden in montgomery tell me the exact opposite 2 of them were eating at the stockyard cafe back when they changed it up I couldn't help but to ask and they told me that as long as it's 100 yards or more it could be on the other side of a tree as long as you can't see it he couldn't write a ticket.

I've wondered the same thing this year. We have new neighbors at my hunting place and they set out a feeder in their front yard. We asked about it in passing and they said the like to watch them in the evenings... Front yard is fine; My stand is well beyond 100yrds from there anyway. But, what if they put out a feeder right on the line, close to my stand? One stand is about 60yrds from the line.

Here's a direct quote from Sykes on the issue.

“But a supplemental-feeding program is totally different than baiting. With supplemental feeding, you’re doing it for the wildlife. With baiting, you’re being selfish and trying to kill something instead of getting out and hunting. That’s just being lazy, and it’s against the law.”

It's completely arbitrary in my book the way that the game laws are written, you have this clarification as to proximity but the actual law, as written, still says that baiting is illegal and also defines baiting. Until it is challenged in court and the state looses, there is not definitive answer. It's up the warden and it's up the judge you're brought up before. It all depends on which part of the game law he wants to interpret as being applicable to your case. When they defined area, they should have removed or revised the illegal baiting language but they did not. Both are now the "law" and they contradict each other.

I've got a feeder flinging corn just over the neighbor's side everyday at 16:00. I couldn't quite figure out what the sound was until after the season was over. Not sure how far away it is but I just use it to my advantage on my side.

You will get ticket if you are aware of bait. GW's always say people put bait across the line so that they can say its not their bait.

Had a neighbor ask me was this still applicable if the feeder was in a pasture with livestock?

"there shall be a rebuttable presumption that any bait or feed located beyond 100 yards and not within the line of sight of the hunter, is not a lure or attractant on the area where the hunter is attempting to or taking deer or feral swine."

The important bit here: Rebuttable - is an assumption made by a court, one that is taken to be true unless someone comes forward to contest it and PROVE otherwise.

If you take it to court, you won't pay the fine. Unless the game warden has pictures/video of you spreading 50 lbs of corn the day before and spreading molasses over it and coming back the next morning, you should be good.

No that is the regulation, not lthe law. The law says no baiting.

You could ask 5 different wardens and prob get 5 different interpretations.

And there is the problem. You need to talk to your game warden in your area and ask specific questions on their interpretations..

Doesn't matter. "Your" game warden may not even show up that day and another one does. You should be able to ask any game warden in the state the same question and get the same answer across the board no matter what it is.

Amen , everything should be cut and dry , not to some joe blows " disgression.

My old landowner received a ticket (about 15 years ago) for what u are referring to. Gw told him u should've known you're hunting near bait! Landowner asked him oh really how is that, it's 30 yards over on his property, and i would have had to trepass to know it was there lol. Case was throwed out quick, but he still had to deal with the hassle of going to court...

Call your local warden, invite him out & let him decide what is best.

My old landowner received a ticket (about 15 years ago) for what u are referring to. Gw told him u should've known you're hunting near bait! Landowner asked him oh really how is that, it's 30 yards over on his property, and i would have had to trepass to know it was there lol. Case was throwed out quick, but he still had to deal with the hassle of going to court... [/quote]

Every profession is evaluated on production. Sounds like this GW needed to get his numbers up.

It's a stupid law. The state needs to make it legal and be done with it. That would free up time to chase poachers, trespassers, and such. I'd venture to say that most people that are going to hunt over corn are already doing it, and most people that wouldn't hunt over it, won't if it's ever legalized.

I agree 100%.
There are a lot of things that can fit into this description.

That's what I figured

My position would be that if it is over the property line, it is by definition not within the area over which I am attempting to harvest. Plus, under the Archie Phillips case, the hunter could not discover the presence of bait through a reasonable investigation since its on property he cannot legally access.

this^^^^^^ you cannot be held responsible for something that happens on yer neighbors property.

“The Alabama law says you cannot hunt deer in the area of bait. The only thing we could do at the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources was define what that area was. That area is within 100 yards and/or line of sight. If you’re outside of 100 yards, and the feed is out of sight because of natural vegetation or terrain, you’re okay. That’s as far as the Department could take it with a regulation.” That's straight from the mouth of Chuck Sykes so that's how wardens have been instructed to enforce it and should enforce it. If it's 101 yards and behind a tree or bush you're legal I don't care what anyone else wants to speculate. http://m.courierjournal.net/online_only/article_13077b40-997a-11e7-a78b-03a7448d9659.html?mode=jqm

That is exactly what our game warden told me. He even said that a game warden couldn't read a deer's mind and tell if it was going to or from or just passing by a feeder.

its just like the baiting law now. It is up for Agent to determine. A friend of mine got a ticket for baiting. The bait was over 100 yards away and out of site but the agent wrote a ticket because he determined the deer had to cross the line of site to get to the corn. Thus baiting.

i think the agents can only enforce, the courts determine. Thats how its supposed to be anyways.

^^^ that is total bs.

99% of hunters do not hunt over corn and never would.

It may not be 70% but it ain't 1% either. I can confidently say its higher than that after being a lease agent in 31 counties and doing property assessments everywhere but SE AL.

In my lease agent days, I saw obvious baiting on most of the tracts I visited at some point. Not sure what percentage but it would have been high. Some we warned and told to quit it, others were reported.

Yeah, WM Hunter you're right. That's why every convenience store in AL has pallets of shelled corn stacked out in front from opening weekend of bow season til the last week of the gun season. You're delusional if you dont think the majority of the hunters in this state aren't baiting. I saw no less than 5 trucks last Friday afternoon hauling 4 wheelers and UTVs with sacks of corn on the backs of all of them and that was just on a 40 mile stretch of HWY 10 between Greenville and Camden. I just shook my head and laughed. "Supplemental feeding" yeah right. I'm sure that's what they were using it for.

I know my 1% comment was pulled out of my rear end for dramatic effect lol, but I will stand by opinion that the VAST MAJORITY of deer hunters do not use corn.

I am confident that 5% or 10% of hunters are buying 100% of that corn. Max.

You'd be shocked. You dont have to take my word for it. See Nighthunter's post above mine. He handled the leases in 31 counties for years and he openly says that there was obvious baiting on "most" of the tracts he visited. I'd like for Troy to chime in on this one as he's probably got a better idea than just about anyone. It might not be 70% but it is dang sure more than 5-10%. In all honesty, 70% is probably exaggerated but it is probably somewhere in the 40-50% range. Most processors will openly tell you that a high % of the deer brought to them have corn in them. You'd be shocked to know the truth.

I've hunted AL for the past 35 years and never had a lease anywhere in the state that at some point, I didnt have someone on the adjoining property around me baiting and baiting heavily. I'd call it in and the GW would bust generally them sometime in the next 3-4 weeks. I'm sure the % using corn is up even more now that they passed the "supplemental feeding" rule.

everyone that I know who hunts uses corn to feed deer. The 100 yards and out of sight has given folks the right to feed deer corn. (baiting is different than feeding, I don't get that.)

Ten years ago I would have agreed with the 5 to 10%. It seems like a sign of the times where people dont really hunt anymore.Time that used to be spent scouting is now used to pour out corn and park a ladder stand next to it or sitting in shooting houses over green fields.(which I have no problem with) But I would say that more than 50% of the people in my club put out corn or some type of bait. I personally do not like hunting around bait and it can be a challenge just to find bait free areas.Fortunately, most baiters dont like to get too far off the beaten path.