Hunting distance from feeder

If a deer feeder has been up in the same place for years, is the current law that you must hunt at least 100 yards away and the feeder must not be in a direct line of sight?

Yes

As long as feeder has oat meal in it.

It's not illegal to hunt it, it's illegal to get CAUGHT hunting it! I jest!!!

If it has had bait in it in the last ten days it is.

this is simple see...dont use the feeder!! The Man will poke and prod at you even if your in the rite!!! Aint nobody got time fo dat!! Its your preference really. I would strongly encourage reading the full dcnr alabama baiting bill. It will surely clear things up for you.

Yep, just like reading through muddy water.

The letter of the law states 100 yards away and out of sight. However, I'd make sure and check with your local game warden as to his interpretation of the state regulations about it. I know how our man in Tuscaloosa County sees it... but it might differ from county to county.

If your hunting around your feeder, then your baiting. Put your feeder where you dont hunt and you'll be fine, and now your supplemental feeding.

The law is open to a lot of "call it as I see it" where I hunt the local GW told me last year that if it is placed where it is an attractant to shoot deer it is not legal. He said that no matter if it is out of site if the deer have to cross to get to it where you are hunting it is not legal.

That is correct, and you know why? Because your using it as bait. Guys, its not that hard. People who supplemental feed, aren't putting out feeders where they hunt. Put it where you don't hunt, or don't put it out.

The best advice is to ask your local GW his interpretation of the law. In south alabama i was told i could get a citation if there was a feeder anywhere on my property if he wanted to give me one and it would hold up in a court of law. in north alabama i was told i could put a feeder on each side of a powerline out of sight 101 yrds away and harvest deer crossing between them. So i guess they can enforce whatever they choose to.

Some judges have thrown out those "interpretation by the game warden" tickets. It was a very poorly written law.

a dumbarse GW can tell you anything he wants...the Judge will decide the law. I don't personally see how any judge could convict for hunting over bait the way the reg is written if the feed is 101 and out of sight.

Has anybody had a incident with the GW on this I've yet to hear of any? They are probably to busy with other issues,could be a tack on citation if they are there for something else.

It is still illegal to hunt over bait in Alabama. The supplemental feeding law allows for feeding so long as it is over 100 yards away and is out of the line of sight, and creates a rebuttable presumption that the purpose is for supplemental feeding. The rebuttable presumption is where the grey area lies. As an example, lets say a hunter is set up on a power line and there is a feeder 120 yards away from the hunter just inside the tree line on the same side of the power line. The feeder itself is out of sight, obscured by the tree line, but lets say you could see the deer's hindquarters if his head is in the feeder. In that circumstance, the feeder is clearly used a bait which is illegal despite being out of the line of sight. If you put that same feeder 100 yards into the woods off the power line out of sight, over 100 yards from the stand, then it is supplemental feed and not bait. To me its not complicated, if you are using feed as bait to induce a deer into gun range, it is still illegal. The best rule is to use commons sense when placing feeders.

Just dump a bag of corn 30yds in front of you and hunt it. If a GW tries to ticket you for it, slap him in the face.

the reg clearly says feed or bait...BAIT in plain writing. No way in heck a jury would ever convict with that wording. There is no such thing a a baiting violation with 101 and out of sight. And any judge worth 2cents shouldn't convict either....

If the bait or feed is placed in such a manner as to be a lure or attractant on the area where the hunter is hunting then the rebuttable presumption can be overcome by testimony from the officer bringing the charges that the feed was placed so close to the area within the line of sight that it becomes a lure or attractant. We had a few feeders on our club we had to move because they were an attractant to the area within the line of sight. They were just off the side of a road out of sight, but you could easily see a deer feeding at that feeder. In that circumstance it would be baiting regardless of whether it is beyond 100 yards.

Seems legit

What about 400 yards an in sight with a 300 win and 25 power scope?

GW came and spoke at our church sportsmens dinner last week and this very question came up. He said exactly what everyone has been doing is marking off 101 yds and putting the feed behind a bush or tree or something. He said they will bust you for that because if you read to regs its also says "going to or coming from". His advise was mark off your 101 yds and then move it another 50 yds out of site. So the added 50 yds takes away the chance for the GW to say the deer was over, going to or coming from the feed.
Now, this was his personal view of the regs and how he will address each situation but I thought it was a good view and a fair way to address it.
The GW doing the speaking covers Russell and Lee counties.
Some of you may know him, M. Jolley. And he has a history of being a hard A...

The law only has 2 components:

>100yds
Out of sight

If it's meets this criteria it's legal, per the law.

The last part here may be the key matter. Our CO in the county said (I quote), "I can't get into a deer's head and KNOW he/she is going to a feeding station"... so the 100 yards and out of sight applies in our county. But... like I said before, you will want to ask your own CO to make sure you're on safe footing.

He kept going back to this as it is written "there shall be a rebuttable presumption that any bait or feed located beyond 100
yards and not within the line of site of the hunter, is
not a lure or attractant on the area where the hunter
is attempting to take deer or feral swine." Innocent until proven guilty in other words.

Case got thrown out. It was 200yards away but when all the leaves fell off the trees you could see 1/2 inch worth of the feeder. Not the feed the feeder case dismissed.

I personally think it should be legal. If you can't kill deer without it you can't kill deer with it.

Which County?

Augustus65 nailed it. All because the feeder is out of sight and 100 yards away cannot exclude you from being guilty of hunting over "bait" or the politically correct term of "supplemental feed."

Dr. B

Hey Augustus_65, would you throw a baiting case out of court because the law together with the rules is "void for vagueness"?

It seems like everything together creates a "gray zone" as even you said in one of your posts.

I posted but I decided I shouldn't have. It happened to a friend of mine so it really ain't my place to talk about it. Some GW don't take that sort of thing too well.

The short answer is no because that is not the role of the trial court. That would be up to the appellate courts. I don't believe the regulation is vague, but it does leave a certain amount of discretion to the Court. The regulation actually clarifies the law by defining area, but it requires the Court to determine from the facts of a particular case whether the party violated the law. The grey areas are where new case law is created. The appellate courts help fill in those gaps when they rule on cases.

Bait and supplemental feed are 2 completely different things. They were never intended to be the same thing. Although most people on here are just looking for a legal way to bait. Most people who are really supplementally feeding there deer, aren't feeding just corn and they are not hunting anywhere near it. IMO, if your having a hard time figuring this whole thing out, well, then your baiting.