No Baiting Clubs?

how many clubs will have a NO Baiting Rule? with the new Law and having to buy a permit, how many clubs will not allow any bait to cover members that do not purchase the license or will have areas that will be for baiting and areas where bait is not allowed? just something I thought about while seeking a new club.

We will have bait. Couldn't stop it when it was illegal so just turn them loose, state law rules.

This is our plan

We won’t bait Never have Don’t see any point in it for our place

I might be naive here, but how could a hunting club not stop people from baiting? If a club is ran correctly you can most certainly keep baiting out. Trespassing/poaching is a different story if that's what you mean.

I've hunted in good clubs where pretty much any rule that was established was strictly enforced (including baiting/corn) and members were held responsible for violating rules. I've also been in bad ones where the club president made rules, then hunted elsewhere and let the inmates run the asylum.

I hope we decide to NOT allow baiting. But if we do, so be it.

Ya'll sure are worrying about something that's really not that big of a deal, its all in your head. If your planting food plots, you might as well bait.

If you had bears where you hunt, you'd feel differently.

We have bears, therefore we will continue to not feed/bait...but we will plant food plots.

With all the corn that's going to be in the woods can it even be called deer "hunting" anymore?

You mean with all the corn that's been in the woods already? Puh .... leeze

In preliminary discussions we've had so far,the proposal to issue a yellow baiting pin along with your location pin sounds like the most reasonable thing. If you present your baiting permit to the club pres,you're allowed to bait an area but must mark the area with your yellow pin to let the other members that dont bait know where not to go if they wish to stay legal.

How many bait pins does each member get? Are there master-baiter free zones? What is an acceptable radius?

How long will that pin need to stay there? If someone throws out bait for an afternoon hunt and then removes the yellow pin and another member goes to that same area in the morning not knowing about the bait..... How is that situation going to work out? that pin would need a tag that shows the date the bait was put out and should be left there until all the bait is removed.
Since the law states that ALL persons hunting over bait must have the permit, I would hate to know that I took my wife or my kid with me and they didn't have the permit and unknowingly took them to a location that someone else had put bait on and that's the dad Mr. GreenJeans shows up.
from what Im seeing it will most likely turn into a club that baits and everyone buys the permit, or NO bait allowed.
I have no issue with either way. Just playing Devils Advocate.

Everybody is trying to make this debate the magnitude of the abortion debate. It's $15, buy one and cover your arse.
We've never baited or fed during the season but probably will put out spin feeders with timers and everyone will know where they are. A whole lot of folks have been doing it for a long time. Just about every deer I've killed has had corn in its gut. Won't be much different, just legal

Only allowed 1 bait site per membership and yellow pin stays there til bait is gone. All of our members are from out of town and will likely on have 1 spot they bait per trip up,so their yellow pin will stay there the duration of their trip. Its definitely going to be a learning process though. All of the members I've spoken with do not plan on buying the baiting permit though,so we may honestly not have any issues at all. It's an additional 51 dollars on top of the yearly 300 dollar license,so that is pretty steep just to be able to put corn out. Our place has no shortage of deer and nice ones at that,so many dont see the need. Cant speak for every single one though;just the handful that I've surveyed.

So true

True for residents... it's almost a 20% increase on an already expensive license for non residents. I wont be purchasing one. Never used corn in the past,and wont begin now.

I like the thought of leaving the yellow pin up. Would make is easy for me to decide where to go. Go with the yellow pin that doesn’t have someone hunting it.

Lots of potential issues going this route unless it's a small group of guys who respect one another. The club I help lead has mandated that members can feed as much as they want (where they want), but all 20 members must purchase the $15 permit. Members don't have to advertise where their "feeding spot" is at, but in the case another member happens to be hunting within 100 yards of it, he's still going to be legal. To make sure our guests are covered, we'll probably mandate that no one can feed within 100 yards of any shooting house and that all feed is out of sight of all shooting houses.

Alabama will have more corn inside it's borders than Iowa ever produced.

Dr. B

We'll see; we'd like to think we all respect one another. Time wil tell. We also discussed a 'no baiting within 2-300 yards of a Greenfield' rule as well. Good luck with your club.

Very few clubs use the state buck "legal" shooter guidelines so it certainly shouldn't be an issue to not use bait. Just saying! you want to change their movement to nighttime only on clubs with some pressure just put some corn out!

Imagine we will feed from Oct to when gun season starts, take pics like always, STOP during gun season, then start back up to take pics of what made it thru the season week after gun season goes out.

More freaking club drama. Period.

15 bucks is no big deal for the in state baiting permit (although I still think it is a ridiculous money/power grab by the state). I'm in the 1% of people affected here, but the $50 out of state permit is ridiculous. I paid big money for a lifetime hunting and fishing license when I lived in AL, and now that I'm a FL resident I can't hunt anywhere in AL there is bait without forking over 50 bucks a season. Makes the lifetime license seem pointless and nearly a broken promise if I paid all that money and still can't hunt at a friend's place if they have bait. There ought to be a baiting permit exception for lifetime license holders. The whole point of the lifetime license was to pay for everything you needed to hunt in a one time fee and never worry about it again the rest of your life. When I bought that lifetime license it covered any form of hunting without exception. Now they are adding an exception. What is next? A "deer tag" that isn't included in your lifetime license with a $150 out of state fee?

But that site can’t be hunted until 10 days after the corn is gone. Not as soon as you remove the pin. So you would need to leave the pin up until all the corn is gone.

If someone would challenge it in court, I'm pretty certain they'd win. Lifetime license entitles you to a lifetime of hunting privileges. It's really that simple. And bait licenses weren't around and extra cost when we bought our lifetime licenses.

Southside will not bait and I understand Carney will not either.

I won't allow any baiting on our club. I'll put up signs so all the member know they can't put out any corn. I may put some out to do a inventory of what bucks we have but I won't let any member put any out. I'll have to let my buddy check some of my bait stations for me but I trust him so it will be ok. I may have to go at night and check some of the members cameras just to make sure they are following my rules. I don't want any drama so I'll have ride by some members on my four wheeler while they are hunting so they know I'm watching them. You have to have rules in a clubs or the members will just run over you.

If you can afford club dues and all the gear most people use but not a $15 permit I wont feel sorry for you when you get a ticket hunting too close to someone elses bait. that said our club hasnt decided but i do hope if it is allowed it isnt allowed on greenfields or club owned stands

Seems like much ado about nothing to me. An out of stater in a decent club is already spending several thousand dollars on gear, club dues, travel, etc. and $36 is a deal breaker? No comprende amigo. I wasn't in the pro baiting camp but I'll get the permit to avoid potential problems with green jeans, seems like a no brainer to me but what do I know? None of my business what people in other clubs anyway if it doesn't affect me

Is this a joke? Surely this is a joke.

No kidding

I can easily see this becoming a real dividing issue among members in hunting clubs.

At our club all stands are "first come, first serve". Every member can hunt any and every stand on the club except someone's personal lock on or climber.

Here is a hypothetical situation for you:

Let's say ol' Joe comes over to the club and baits up a spot near one of the food plots already on the club that we will call Stand A. He is lazy one Saturday morning getting up and gets to club just a little late. He goes over to the sign in board and ol' Pete has just signed out for the stand with ol' Joe's bait at it, Stand A. Ol' Pete doesn't bait up a spot of his own, he just doesn't want to spend the money for any corn. But remember, all stands are open to every dues paying club member in the club. Ol' Joe gets pissed because he is buying the corn at Stand A and Pete knew he had that spot baited up. Before Pete can leave the parking lot, Joe confronts him about going to "His" stand and next thing you know they are in a full blown argument. It is Joe's bait spot, but Stand A has a food plot and a shooting house that is open to any and every member because it is a club stand. Two guys who used to be amicable club members are now at odds with one another.

I can see this very situation happening at our club and at many of your clubs as well.

I have not heard yet nor do I have an idea as to what our club will do.

I hope and pray that our club decides to not allow any baiting at all.

I'm just kidding. There is only me and my buddy hunting 300 acres. No club.

Damn you got several bites quickly. Lol

And that would be the state's argument as well. I couldn't bait at all when I bought the lifetime license, so now baiting is an added privilege you have to pay more for. But I would contend that is a slippery slope they have now begun. Like I said, next it may be deer tags that cost extra, then maybe an extra week of gun season in February if you pay more etc. It could go on and on until the lifetime license becomes nearly worthless. And it is especially costly and burdensome for out of state hunters who have a lifetime license since they are charging us nearly 4x more. It's like buying a summer long pass to a water park, but then they open a new slide and tell you that particular slide isn't included in the summer pass.

We have discussed very little but I imagine that all members will be asked to purchase the permit. We will bait at designated feeding stations. As far as individual baiting goes we are all family ( seven members all related ) so hopefully the respect issue will not rear its head. Honestly any spot I scout out and hang a permeant stand at is for others to hunt anyways.

It's not the extra 36 bucks an out of state hunter pays that concerns me. It's the broken promise that came with paying $700 something bucks for a lifetime license. When I bought that license it came with a lifetime of hunting privileges by any legal means with no exceptions. That was part of why you pay all that money upfront with no possible refund. You pay a lot upfront to have the peace of mind of knowing no matter what laws they change or how much they raise license fees in the future, you can always hunt in Alabama. This baiting bill for lifetime license holders is equivalent to if you bought a PACT program for your kid's college, but then the state later decided that the PACT program wouldn't pay for a class if that class didn't exist when you bought the program. It goes completely against the concept of a lifetime license. Florida makes you buy a deer permit in addition to a hunting license, but this does not apply if you have a lifetime license for the same reason I just mentioned. A lifetime license should include everything you need to hunt by any legal means.

Good analogy. I want to ride all the slides...

You can still hunt the way you were hunting when you bought the lifetime license, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY THE BAIT LICENSE AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO HUNT OVER BAIT.

So let's say next year the state puts out a new $50 permit to get to gun hunt a week before the regular gun season . You don't have to buy that permit and you don't have to hunt a week early. Is this what we want hunting in Alabama to become? A patchwork of permit after permit to the point of where a hunting license is just the bare minimum you need in order to have the privilege of buying all the extra permits? Because now that the state has figured out you can add new permits as a revenue tool, that is what any new changes will become. Want to kill a 4th buck? Buy a permit. Want to hunt the rut in February? Buy a permit.

ALclearcut, I believe all of your concerns are valid. It's like there's been a breach of contract by the state in your purchase. I have 2 nephews in your same predicament. Fight the state in court, I'm sure that would be cheap (sarcasm). Don't purchase the additional license and don't hunt over bait, you will be rolling the dice. I don't see how you can't purchase the license, there is corn sold everywhere. Has anyone on this site not found corn while hunting/scouting? I will purchase the license because I don't trust every person that is in the woods.

There’s a big no bait club. It’s called the WMA system.

My point exactly last week about the "It's just a minor inconvenience" crowd.

This affects a lot of folks in different ways. Lifetime owners now have to fork over more money in some situations. Non-residents like ALclearcut who have a lifetime license now have to fork over $50. And for anyone who says "You don't HAVE to do it," y'all know that's f'king bullcrap. People will quit hunting because of this OR they'll pay the money, and then in another few years it'll increase to $25 and $65 or whatever. Why? Because they can. And because y'all are frogs in the pot of water on the stove with the temperature being turned up bit by bit.

As Fred said, ten bucks ain't much until it is. When $51 becomes $153 or $204 for a non-resident dad and kids, he may rethink hunting here.

Yep

Ignorant take.

If you belong to a club that will allow baiting, you will HAVE to buy the license, or be subject to a ticket. Just the way it is.

Yep...talked to Justin last week...they will not bait.

Nothing at all ignorant or wrong about my take. I don't care how you hunt as long as it is legal, you still do not have to buy the baiting license or hunt with bait.

You're not realistic.

Bait doesn't even have to still be where you're hunting....just not gone for 10 days. Guess what...you get a ticket unless you buy a permit.

If you belong to a club that is going to allow baiting on all club property, you pretty much are forced to buy a permit...or be subject to a ticket for hunting over bait.

Not really hard to understand.

^^^ This is true.

Show up at your buddy's club and he has feeders but you don't hunt that way. What are you going to do? Sit on your ass all weekend? Hunt squirrels? Go home? Hunt anyway and maybe get a citation?

Or fork over the money the state wants for this "privilege" and hunt?

They know you probably will. Why? Because "it's just a minor inconvenience."

I don’t think it’s the issue with using bait. I’m thinking it’s more an issue with someone else using it an others not knowing about it and then being checked for a permit. Or just a fact of having to pay for the permit even if you don’t want to use bait just to keep from getting a citation.

Start your own club, plant green fields (that's not baiting?), put out white salt, hunt acorn trees. Hunt state management land, hunt federal land or join a club that isn't going to bait. It isn't the end of hunting and a sack of corn isn't a guarantee you are going to kill a mature buck. I will be buying the $51 license and won't complain at all.

$51 dollar license? Damn Timber, you get extra perks with that platinum package.

This, yes.

I shouldn't have to pay for a "privilege" to keep from getting cited if I visit someone for hogs or deer.

Yep.

Battle of corn piles.

Battle over who gets to hunt the biggest corn pile.

Battle of who put the corn pile there.

Stacking corn on and near property lines.
Because the Bible says love thy neighbor.

Deer hunting has clearly been improved.

You ain't seen nothing yet.

Wait until clubs begin getting broken up into "sections" and you can only hunt whichever section is assigned to you.

It's coming.

I thought this already happened. People hunted their "area" and if they hung a stand in an "area" that was "their area" and anyone else going in there was a fargin icehole who better leave "the area."


Corn will make all this easier.

Yeah, we joke about that here, but it's a real thing in Florida...pretty much everywhere in my neck of the woods. By necessity, too...not by choice.

A lot of guys I know sit in the same shooting house all year long every time they go "hunting".

It has to be miserable.

Yep. Just another reason to hate Florida.

This is how most clubs here in Louisiana are. You get 2 spots. And most won't let you hunt anywhere but those 2 stands. Can't go out in the woods and find good sign and hunt it. F$&K THAT!!!

We got 4 hopper bottom trailers on standby to haul the corn to our place. We're gonna have a yellow glow over our place.

Does anybody have an answer to Inflation or dispute the fact that it cost more for an Agency to operate now than it did 10 years ago?

That seems to be be main complaint....the fact that they will be directed to contribute more to the DCNR to purchase a license to hunt in a Baited Area.

Also, judging by the Votes vs the Comments on this thread, it seems as if the vast majority Supports this. But, the whining Minority is by far the most Vocal.

About the same spread as it is on Aldeer...................

The way we did it in SC in the club I grew up in that worked well was club buys the corn and only club stands get baited. Members can hunt any stands, no private stands, and can climb anywhere, but no corn was allowed to be put out except on those club stands using club bought corn.

I’d rather them just increase the price of a license by $15 than have an a la carte menu.

I'm beginning to think this feeding bill passage was all about generating revenue and not the betterment of wildlife in the state.

if a club doesn't bait and the one next to it does. Guess which club will have all the deer.

The club that baits will have all the mature deer at night. Easy answer.

Yes Sir!! A blind person can see that.

I see it slightly different than that.

This Bill has been introduced in various forms for many years in the AL Legislature; which is where Laws are made/modified/deleted. The Legislature is made up of elected Representatives of the citizens of AL. The few polls that I have seen are all similar to the one I posed above showing overwhelming support. So, I feel like the Bill supports the majority of people’s desires.

Now, we all know that our DCNR in the past has either kept quiet, or actually resisted the issue of legalization of Baiting. That changed the past few years with what appears to be support of the efforts of those who want to supplementally feed the deer on their hunting properties.

In what I see as a compromise, it does appear that there was a resolution made by the DCNR to remain neutral and silent on the issue and let the votes be made without any bias from them. But, in return, they were given the Authority to cease feeding if required for Biological reasons and to also generate revenue for the Dept to offset the loss of fines and such and to help support their budget.

So, yes, money was involved. Anyone who thinks it is not a primary consideration in almost ALL decisions that are made is quite naive. But, I do not think that it was the driving force behind this Law that was created by our Legislature.

I agree

Aw, c'mon man. Surely you're not THAT cynical and skeptical. This clearly was about sound wildlife management, which is the basis for all decisions regarding hunting and angling laws and regulations.

/not/

Yep.

Never had a chance of passing until they figured out a way to make money off of it.

We all know that it was never about "sound wildlife management".

I wonder how many folks who are in the "we're killing too many deer in this state" camp were also in favor of baiting being legalized? How are those folks going to feel in two or three years?

It's not hard to kill a whitetail deer in Alabama. I hate that the state has made it even easier.

Upwards sports has come to hunting.

They will begin the campaign for a 1-buck season and more restrictions on does.

Clem said-"They will begin the campaign for a 1-buck season and more restrictions on does."

Let me tell you how that works--I am living in a one-buck state. In the western part of Oregon we have a month-long general season where we can buy a license and a tag (total $49) to shoot one blacktail buck. This year I also paid $8 to get in a drawing for a doe tag (about a 10% chance, and if I win the doe tag will be an additional $27.50). If you want to hunt mule deer in the eastern part of the state, or elk anywhere, you pay $8 to apply for a tag drawing for a week-long hunt in a particular unit. It is so complicated that the big game hunting regs and seasons brochure runs over 80 pages. There is another huge brochure for fishing, and a third for game birds. If you want a license for everything, it costs around $150 per year, and you still have to pay for additional game and fish tags---yes, we tag steelhead and salmon. Most western states have these complex regs and seasons. If you have lots of money to throw around, there are "consultants" who will help you navigate the process in each state so you have a chance at an elk or a trophy buck. There are trophy mule deer units in Oregon where over 1000 applicants vie for 10 tags. When they talk about the "hunt of a lifetime" they really mean it.

This is the crux of the situation. It eventually gets to the point where hunters and anglers say, "Phuck it, y'all have made it too complicated and not enjoyable anymore. I quit." and they hunt squirrels or fish for bream or just quit altogether.

Less. Is. More.

You could always ask Alexia how to do it.

Clem, you are spot on. From my back window I can get a glimpse of one of the nation's premier steelhead streams (the Umpqua River), and I don't even buy a fishing license. They change the season dates, and place some sections off limits, to correct for the current water conditions in the river. It's not enough to have a license and tags, you have to check their website for the latest closings. Once you catch a steelhead, you must release it unless it is a hatchery fish (clipped adipose fin). If you do keep one you have to use one of your tags on it. On my property I have deer, California quail, mourning doves, band-tailed pigeons, and western grey squirrels. I only hunt the deer because the other seasons, regulations, licenses, tags and bag limits are just too much to deal with.

Only if the area(s) are over hunted. Feeding corn or other items to the deer will not make them any harder to hunt or cause them to be more nocturnal.

Baiting is a bad idea. I grew up in Alabama with no baiting and have lived in Michigan for the past 15 years. Michigan has always been a legal baiting state and has now outlawed baiting beginning this season due to Bovine Tuberculosis, EHD and CWD being found. Passing the baiting bill in Alabama is a bad idea. Will cheapen the experience and tradition and invite diseases which are costly to control. Instead of dads teaching their kids to scout, plant greenfields, etc. they will now teach them how to throw corn on the ground.

Think your deer are nocturnal now, wait until you start baiting!

Myth! Hunting in S.C. and Georgia with baiting for years and “feeding” the deer is the least of what causes deer to be nocturnal.

People make deer nocturnal. Hunting a corn feeder is no different than a food plot. The more you hunt it the less you see.

We're already there IMO. License numbers continue to fall, and dipchits like Chuck continue to make it harder and harder to just go out and hunt and enjoy yourself. We really need to get PCP to replace Chuck, Chris Blankenship, and all the other IDOTs who are coming up with these game laws

Hunters numbers is not falling due to regulations that is BS. Hunter numbers are falling due to the mismanagement of the State's deer herd and the steady decline in the number of deer and quality hunting experience. You can thank the liberal does season for that.
As far as the baiting topic....it is legal so it will be allowed and everyone will pony up the $15 or not bitch when they get a ticket.

Yep. The 10-15% of hunters who hunt land that has an abundance of deer don't want to hear that, but it's the absolute truth. I know people, other than on aldeer, who hunt in every corner of the state and they all say the same thing. Seeing deer is what gave me the passion when I started deer hunting. Not seeing deer is what made my teenage son grow to dislike deer hunting. It's not hard to figure out, the state folks are just too headstrong to admit it.

Our Club is enrolled in the State’s DMAP System.
Our biologist recommendations are pretty conservative on antlerless harvest.

While I agree that the extremely liberal Season long antlerless season really allowed the herds to be decimated in places, it was hunters themselves who killed them, not the State.

We lease a good-sized chunk of property. And, Mike and I are constantly working behind the scenes on how to ensure that we accept members who share the same Vision and Principles as we do. And, we also have group texts, emails and a private FB page and share information with each other all of the time, year-round. To me, that is a key component; surround yourself with quality, like-minded individuals. We are also lucky to be part of (actually, right in the center of) a huge Co-Op of Clubs that share these same strategies!!
Just because something is allowed does NOT mean that it has to be done. And, with everything, moderation is usually the best answer.

Also, on the issue of corn making deer go nocturnal. That is just untrue. We ran 10 feeders in pre-determined and ‘off-limits’ locations this past Fall. We used them to provide supplemental food and to run cameras on to monitor the deer herd for census info. We got lots of mature buck pics at these unhunted feeders all Winter long. It is NOT the feeders or the feed that causes the change, it is hunting pressure that does that. We work really hard to be sure our deer have MORE quality food than they can utilize through habitat management, year-round food plots and the feeders. The abundance of food, in all of it’s forms, does ensure hat our deer are not malnourished to the point that they are up and moving 24hrs a day to be able to survive on low-quality browse. But, let a good cold front hit.....they will get up and move as well as any. I personally do not want to hunt starving deer. I prefer to hunt healthy deer.

Just my take on all of these issues that people keep bringing up as reasons why this new Law is such a bad idea and their creation of ‘what-if’ scenarios while running around in Chicken Little fashion screaming that the sky is falling. Don’t like it, don’t do it. Don’t like your Club or your Club Rules, get out and join another that is more in alignment with your own ideals. Or, just lease your own and set it up as you wish. Heck, hunt Public Land! Either way, nobody is FORCING anybody to do anything!

And anytime people do see more than 1-2 does, they’ve been convinced for 30 years now that those does need to die, for the good of the herd. That’s what has made hunting stink in a lot of the state. It’s hilarious circular logic.

This thread is just like a train wreck, I try not to look but I just can't help myself. I'm pretty sure there are people on here that could find fault with someone giving away free money

It may work for you because have a fairly ideal situation, though. You cannot deny that.

Not everyone in the state has neighbors who are on the same page they are. Not every club in the state has high acreage:member ratios. I would say that you are in the vast minority in that you do.

High dollar clubs with low member:acreage ratio that already had good hunting probably won't be affected nearly as much as others. Not really even sure it will benefit them all that much. Pressure is the biggest key, and if feeders even at clubs like yours begin to get pressured, sightings will go down. Human nature is to take the easiest path...and the easiest path is to sit and watch a feeder.

In other words, just because you're convinced that it works great for your club doesn't mean it's a great thing for many others.

The state's job is to do what's best for the state's deer herd...not what will benefit a handful of clubs who don't need that much help already. i honestly think they have failed in doing what's best for the state's deer herd.

{Caveat} I'm fortunate enough that I also belong to a high acreage:low member club. We have not supplemental fed in the past, and we will not put out feeders now. We have bears, and we have no desire to have even more bears. Food plots do not attract bears...feeders do, though.

May I ask a question on the not seeing deer? What is that definition and time line? Is that not seeing any for 1 hunt, 5 hunts, 1 season? The reason I ask, and I don't think it's just kids. The society and mental state we are now is just move to the next thing. I can show you with stats that viewership time spent on videos on FB and Youtube are lower, Why? Because of the adds put in that we have no control over. When the add pops up it's clicked to the next video. I do it. I know everyone else does it. Is it the same with hunting? I don't know that answer, but I would guess yes.

I agree. Kids (and even most adults) have no attention span anymore. No patience. It's no surprise that kids nowadays lose interest if they're not constantly seeing deer. It's the society norm now. Many parents do anything they can to appease the kids, instead of teaching them about patience. Instant and constant gratification is a necessity.

Upwards sports has come to hunting. Everybody gets a trophy, everybody gets to see deer when they hunt. It has to be that way.

Yes. There's an attitude of and need for immediate gratification and when it doesn't happen, it's someone else's fault.

"I planted all this! I bought (or leased) this land! I paid all this money! I want to see an ungodly amount of deer like "the good old days" and big bucks and they're not here!"

And then it's one of several things, often including:

THE STATE HAS SCREWED ME.

MAH NABORS SHOOT-BAIT E'RRYTHING.

THE DEER ARE NOCTURNAL!


Upward Deer Hunting ... lol. True for a lot of people, though.

Quick poll of our club resulted in all agreeing to buy bait licence, but we will not put out bait during season. We are doing it to support return of fed funds to help the LEO's we call to help us with problems on our property.

We were told by the Department during the GameCheck deal that there was no "neutral" when it came to a decision of for or against.

We were told that "neutral" was counted as being "for" it.

So, going by their own words publicly made just a couple of years ago, the Department was in favor of this.

Maybe it's not the "baiting" per say, but all of the traffic in and out of the bait sites refilling the buckets, checking cameras, etc. That's what will turn the mature bucks even more nocturnal. A food plot is a little different. You plant, it rains and the plot grows. It continues to grow all season no matter how hard it gets pounded. Rarely is there a need to be walking around a plot during season, so it stands to reason a plot will have much less traffic than a bait site. My 2 cents.

Totally agree. Because now that this door has opened up, the hunting menu is about to become a reality. In Florida you have to buy a hunting license (basically the cover charge just to get into the restaurant), and then an extra permit for deer, an extra permit for turkey, an extra permit for bow hunting, and an extra permit for crossbow. You guys are naive if you don't think this is coming to Alabama. They took something the citizens badly wanted and should have already had (baiting), and used it as a way to open up a new revenue stream that won't stop at just corn.

I am in your camp. we have not had to feed constantly to hold or grow deer. We "farm" for them and are trying to be selective about shooting bucks. We have as good a deer herd and we are seeing more bucks than ever. big surge in seeing deer and bucks last couple years has been limiting traffic and unnecessarily creating pressure the deer react to.

The bill is popular because the people were presented with the false premise that the only way they could ever be allowed to bait legally was through a permit system. I have no problem with the government asking the citizens to pay for a new service that the people want. If you want more police officers? Pay more taxes to hire more officers. But simply allowing people to do something on their own land isn't a new government service. It doesn't require new revenue. If anything it should require less revenue because you would need fewer game wardens out trying to catch people baiting if you truly legalized baiting. The permit system provides no new service, adds a new hunter tax, and requires as many or possibly more game warden hours to enforce because now there will be even more baiting that still has to be policed.

I mostly agree with your take. Allowing people to do an activity without governmental penalty does not place an additional burden for services on the regulatory structure. In fact it takes the enforcement burden away. I do understand they are probably strapped for cash to run their department, but dang just increase the license cost or campaign your case for extra piece of the state tax income stream pie.

I wish they hadn’t passed this new baiting allowance, but not that it’s here it just irks me they take advantage of the chaos to charge a new fee put of nowhere. I know others on here hold very strong heartfelt beliefs on this subject, but I actually think everyone who “benefits” from the law enforcement and game management state activity should chip in with license fees equally. I’ll admit if I owned land or was a retiree I’d prolly feel a different perspective. Just my take right now.

Our club will allow baiting. Most seem to be in favor.

Baiting only leads to nocturnal behavior, imho, when feed is available through the night. You have to train your deer to eat during daylight hours and they will move more during the day. I'm not talking about does and young buck only, but also mature deer.

All clubs should mandate one member to be the master baiter.

Listening to a podcast with Chuck Sykes now.

He makes no bones about this being all about the money.

If you take your 3 year old son/daughter hunting with you, and you're hunting over bait, you have to purchase a baiting permit for him/her. That's flat-out what he says in the podcast. Doesn't matter if your hunting partner is carrying a gun or not.

Then he goes on to say that people have to have common sense. LOL.

Perch has a hand on it😂

I must truly be a master baiter cause I’ve never experienced any of the “feeding deer makes them more nocturnal”.

🤷‍♂️

Keep the feed hot, keep your ass out of there except to feed until it’s time and the wind is right. Helps with the frequency of the hot doe visits.

Oh, and when you go in to feed, blaring heavy metal seems to put them at ease. Think of it like the ice cream truck music.

Your welcome

I agree. Traffic in and out of areas will increase. It will turn the deer more nocturnal without a doubt.
The club I am in as of now has decided it will not be buying any feeders or corn. We did a quick rough estimate of purchasing 50 feeders with holding 4 bags of corn per feeder and filling them 4 times during season and it was like $10k. Most clubs dont run a surplus of funds and I have yet to hear the first person not just in this club but anywhere online, in person or at all say they want their dues to go up to pay for corn and feeders.
The club will allow members to put up their own feeders and buy their own corn if they wish.
We are taking bets how long it takes before we hear "someone is hunting my feeder" complaints to start coming in.

That plan puts you ahead of schedule for being on the "Florida club" plan.

I'm going to use 55 gallon drums set for about 5 pounds of feed each evening, one fill-up should last close to 70 days.

I am not a big Moultrie fan but...I replaced a couple of my feeder motors with the Pro Magnum Feeder Kit . It uses 2 6v batteries that will last all year. When you fill it and set the timer you program how much corn you put in and it show how many days that will last. It seem to be spot on last year.

I also have the 600 and 1200lb Boss Buck that I only check once or twice a year.

I did the same for our club. Figured it would cost somewhere between 3k and 4K just to get it started on half of our plots. I can see this thing busting up many clubs!!

I wish more of Alabamians had access to private property or not having to deal with club properties. I’ve been blessed my whole life with it and have never had to worry about these sorts of things.

I have struggled with how to approach this new law at our club. But after much thought, I have decided that all members will be required to purchase a permit that will allow them to hunt over bait and any guest that hunts at club will also be required to have a permit. If they don't want to purchase and show me proof of the permit, then they will simply need to find another club to hunt. I don't have the time or desire to be checking on every hunter to make sure they are not hunting over a bait pile if they don't have the required permit. I don't like the law and wish it would have never passed but it did so this is how I am handling it our club and I think all of our members will be in agreement. We will still plant our 30 acres of food plots as well. Should be an interesting year to say the least.

They do have access to it, but instead of saving money and buying their own land they would rather live in a $300,000 house, driving a $40,000 truck, with a $25,000 utv parked out back.

Muzzie, why should you have to worry about your fellow hunters having a bait permit? That's on them. They will have to pay the ticket, not the club.

Avoidance of drama..

How do you keep the deer out of the food plots so they don’t have supplemental food available at night ?

This^^^. It's already been said a thousand times. Pressure is what makes deer nocturnal, not a damn food source.

I think he has a solid plan. As the club president he only has two options allow members to bait or not.

Good point.

That's the problem with food plots, they feed at night. Food plots are for nutrition, which is good for the deer, but unless they are unmolested during their trips there, they will feed mainly during the night. Feeding done right can make them move more during the day. If you're smart enough, you can figure it out.

Gonna be chaos, drama and arguments all over every hunting club in the entire State.
And conflict with neighbors.

So nothing has really changed.

^^^ LOL

So it will just be a lot worse.

Because I run the club and the local game wardens know that we do not break any game laws and I plan to keep it that way. It just simplifies things for me and takes out any gray area that may be in the mind of our members.

This fall and winter here and on Facebook Alabama hunting pages is going to be epic and entertaining. I can’t wait.

Where I deer hunt baiting is legal. My neighbor has a 80 acre cattle pasture deer really don’t use much.......a week before gun season they put 20-30 bags of corn out and kill 10-15 deer when season opens. I corn like heck trying to keep the deer out of their field. It’s a death sentence to cross into that field. Maybe I’m selfish......but you can about kill them out over a corn pile if you wanted too

lol.. my thoughts exactly

does the natural forage just up and leave when the sun sets? I dont think its the corn that make them nocturnal its Bubba stomping thru the woods 2 and 3 times a week to dump a 50lb sack out. Im gonna be using a 55 gallon drum i rigged up with timer and a 2x4 bolted to one side so i can just strap it to a tree like a ladder stand it holds close to 5 bags but i usually set it to keep corn on the ground 24 hours a day deer will leave a broadcaster in favor of a corn pile if they have to pick thru the leaves too much.

Mmm Hmmm

I don't really anticipate it to cause us problems, we've never fed deer on our leases during the season but just about every deer killed had corn in its gut. The same is true on my personal property so someone has been feeding around us. I plan on having club feeders and everyone getting a permit. Nobody has objected to it. We'll put feeders in designated locations and keep feed in them. Time will tell. We've had the same members for several years and have had no problems. You cause problems, you find another place to hunt. Ol Ron don't put up with no foolishness

I have hunted a lot of times (Florida) where you would have either corn on the ground or in a trough. Most of the time a deer will come in, nibble some grass, go to the corn, get a couple of mouth fulls and go back to the grass. They will not stand there and fill up on corn. By the way, a deer will walk across clover, grass, corn and about anything else to get to peanuts.

Ol' Ron rules the land with a rod of iron.

if you havent had problems in several years you are about to if the club is funding a couple feeders with everyones money get ready for some fussing and fighting when someone decides other members have been hunting a little too much over the corn they helped buy

Shooo

Just a thought since i have bears too and they will actually take over any preferred food source even a well fertilized and limed food plot. I wonder if it would be possible to bait a few places on a lease and keep the bears in those general locations to keep them from messing up the food plots and fresh acorns .....

What kind of timer you putting on it, a spin broadcaster? I got a 55gal drum with a funnel in it to let all the corn come out. Thinking of just having it gravity fed.

This is the spinner kit I'm going to use on 60 gallon plastic drums, I've bought two thus far to test out and thus far they are working well:

https://moultrie.factoryoutletstore...tegory_id=78119&catalogitemid=445064

Just cut a 3" hole in the bottom and bolt it in. I'm going to put a short piece of 5" or 6" diameter PVC around the spinner area to try and keep the coons from tearing it up, I think it will work.

I think it would be easy to mount one of these 3 or 4 way feeder heads to a plastic drum and make a gravity fed feeder instead of the spinner route:

https://www.bossbuck.com/bb_feeders/

Timber, are you adding legs to the drums?

I built some 2' x 6' troughs with a 6'x9' metal top on them, I stood the drums up in the middle with a hole cut in the bottom and used them as a supplemental feeder. Worked real well, except for the coons. I'm just going to convert them to a timed feeder. You could take the bossbuck feeder heads and make a hanging feeder or strap it to a power pole or a tree. I just found a supplier of the 60 gallon drums and I'm trying to figure out the best way to feed without a lot of waste. If a timed spinner dropping directly into the trough works then that might be my best bet.

yes ill take a picture to post when i get home it work great is easy to set up and you can just strap in on a 4wheeler to haul it in only thing is i have to stash a step ladder somewhere in the woods near it to fill it