Just watched a man on tv get so excited he was trembling that he killed a buck with the deer's mouth in a corn pile. I wonder how he would react if he actually killed one sportsmanlike?

Well... I wouldn't ever do that myself, but sportsmanlike can mean different things to different people...

I wonder how many guys on this forum have killed a deer with a spear or an atlatl or even an old fashioned long bow?

I have no problem with killing one in a freshly picked corn field.
If its legal where the guy killed it Reb whats your problem ? Some guys couldnt go into the woods due to health or skill but still want to hunt.Some consider a green field the same as a pile of corn. We all need to just do our own thing and let others do the best they can, as long as they arent a healthy guy calling an xbow archery ! LOL Seriously I dont see the need to revert to a savage and use a spear or axe. I hunt for pleasure , do what you prefer
and as long as Im not breaking the law leave me alone.

If he was truly so excited he was "trembling", then what more do you want from the guy? As long as you're legal, shoot what makes you happy. Clearly thatdeermade that guy happy.

Folks can do what they want but don't call it hunting. It's not. Call it shooting. If someone wants to shoot a deer in a corn pile and its legal, fine. But don't lump shooting something in with the sport of hunting. Two different things.

I agree with 3toe.

Bingo.

I don't necessarily have a problem with it other than I don't think it is healthy for the sport. But I cant imagine how one would not be more excited the traditional way. I rifle hunt but can promise you I get more excited when I get one with my bow.

Yep, and if I ever get off my ass and start practicing with my old recurve I may lose my chit if I ever kill one with it. Doe, button, 293-point ... won't matter.

I do not consider deer hunting a sport for me. It is a way of life that runs deep in my veins. Way more than a sport to me.

I'll take it a step further and say what fun is it to sit in a tree trying to hide from them? The only fair way to hunt them is one on one on the ground and slippin. My grandmother can sit in a tree and shoot one with a rifle.

My preferred style of hunting.

I bet the Indians would say they same stuff about us if they saw us sitting in a steel ladder stand with a padded seat and tapping on an I phone while looking over a lushly expensive greenfield.

Im with Rebel, I love climbing a tree and have no desire to kill one sitting in a house. Its just that hunting is different to each of us, it is a way of life. Some could never find a good tree and climb, they never learned how. The point is do what you enjoy and live the outdoors life. For me being up a tree and killing one with my bow is the ultimate.I do gun hunt too, but by far prefer my Mathews in my hand. To me getting a deer within 20 yds is the
true nature of hunting.

It's all in the personal experience. I get what the OP is saying though. I personally get more shook up from taking a doe on public land than I have from killing bucks in MO over ag fields. Doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the hunt, it just wasn't as rewarding as when you out smart the deer and other hunters on public ground, to me. Heck my personal experience is predicated more on the individual season most times. Years I havent had the time to hunt as much as I'd like, the reward is just getting to go out in the woods, killing one is icing on the cake at that point.

Killing one in front of dogs has been one of the most exciting ways of hunting I've ever experienced, but some would say it isn't sporting. I enjoyed the heck out of it and hope that one day I can do it again. But if some have their way no one would be able to dog hunt. We as hunters need to look at the big picture and work to preserve all aspects of the sport, less we find ourselves slowly losing all hunting because the anti-hunters have one agenda and they don't differentiate the nuances of our sport.

Corn field, green field, bag of corn, mineral lick, acorns, it is all the same an attractant to bring the deer close enough for a shot. Congrats to the hunter on his kill!!!!!

I still get tore up setting in a tree and a doe walks out. Get to breathing hard and heart rate jumps. If I every quit doing that I think I'll quit hunting.

Could you please define the difference between "shooting" and "hunting"?

Some say its unethical to hunt over corn, some say its unethical to hunt from a shooting house, some say its unethical to run deer with dogs, some say its unethical to shoot a deer with a rifle, but when it comes to the taking of game, the only things that are unethical are those methods that are illegal. Period.

Indians hunted both over corn and at night.

Unethical bastards.

Ok, I'll play.

My definition which is not the definition of everyone, and that's fine.

Hunting: to give effort and participate in the active pursuit of a game animal with the intent to harvest said animal.

Shooting: to not participate and/or give nothing in the pursuit of a game animal, other than being the one to pull the trigger.

Thats right Beer Belly, and they hunted white men from trees, I bet they would have loved climbers LOL Wouldn't it be fun to chase deer down on horseback and shoot them ? Yep those indians were very ethical. Not to mention driving buffalo over a cliff to kill them.

I think we found a shooter.

X2

I see no problem with it. But I've always hunted in Texas.

So any type of guided hunt would be "shooting"?
I am just trying to understand how people think; I am one of the if it is "legal", have at it crowd.
I have killed deer that I stumbled across while walking to a treestand, killed em' on corn piles, green fields, stalked em', dog hunts, treestands, ground blinds, natural ground blinds, even shot them sitting on a golf cart and in trucks in a state where its legal and I would call it all hunting.
I guess to me its like the turkey hunting crowd who say it isn't an ethical kill if a turkey doesn't gobble on the way in, I just don't understand it.

Quote much?

X2
Just because you put that stuff out doesn't mean you will see or kill deer. I spent many years hunting in Louisiana, over corn, and didn't see a thing.

BINGO!!!!

Damn skippy. Some folks want to split hairs to make themselves feel better about it what they have accomplished or haven't accomplished...I do not.

It is never going to be "fair". Not when we have guns, scopes, binoculars, treestands, insulated clothing, insulated footwear, handwarmers, calls, scents, etc. I could go on and on and on. We as hunters are constantly looking for the slightest advantage or technological improvement to help us be even better hunters. All the while we hunt a creature that has what it is born with and that is all.

Are the things any animal are born with enough to give them a fighting chance against us as hunters? Of course. And then some. But it ain't "fair".

This is hunting. Which equals killing. We are the ones with opposing thumbs; not the other way around.

To get right down to it, everyone is always gonna have an opinion one way or the other. That is just life. If it is legal, I ain't got an issue with it.

I'm just glad that whoever the OP was posting about watching got excited enough to be trembling.

Well of course. That's the purpose of a guided hunt. The guide has done the work and the client is there to pull the trigger. Personally, I say people should do whatever is legal and makes them happy.

Yep..To many people worried bout what other people are doing.

Yep.

Another thing to keep in mind is how different the habitat/terrain is in other parts of the country. I have seen ranches in S Tx that get so little rain you couldn't grow a green field w/ 3 years worth. I've also seen places in Kansas where there is not a tree to climb for miles. You can't hunt everywhere the way we do here, and I don't begrudge anyone enjoying the outdoor opportunities available to them and hunting legally however they want to increase their chances of getting an animal that they are proud of.

I'm afraid we in the hunting community can be pretty quick to judge. Got bow hunterfriends who make fun of gun hunters, treestand hunters make fun of baiters etc etc. I don't put a lot of restrictions on folks. If it makes you happy and its legal do it. I guess purest form of hunting would be to go to a wilderness area, find the sign and then hunt him on your 2 feet with a bow you had made. There's a few who do it. Thank god we don't have to do that all the time. Them TV hunters is another business altogether. I've about tuned them out unless they're elk hunting. I'm still intrigued by that because I've only been once and my hunt lasted 15 seconds. Got drawn for a cow tag in Kentucky a few years ago.

What's the difference between a corn pile and a green field except a green field requires more work. Deer hit a green field with more predictable regularity than they do a bait plie or a feeder

I guess I have to confess. I'm only a hunter sometimes. Other times I'm just shooting. In Alabama I "hunt". In Kansas I hunt some days, other days I'm just a shooter. It's not a guided hunt by any means, but I have poured out corn a few times. I've shot a buck or two over it when a hot doe brought them to me. I've also killed my biggest two out there hunting trails between bedding areas, but sometimes that just doesn't work, so I throw "hunting" out the window and just go "shooting".

Now, it's been a long time since I killed a deer with a gun, but that doesn't make me look down on gun hunters one bit. Not sure why someone doing something allowed by law would make them less of a sportsman than another guy.

I think hunters should be limited to 1 bag of corn per day! Anyone caught with anything over 1 bag should be charged with "Contributing to the Obesity of Wildlife"!
We've got to draw the line somewhere!

Fat deer offend me.

The only fair & ethical way to hunt is to run through the woods naked like a deer & duke it out hand to hoof. Take one using that method & you can say you've accomplished something. Everything else is unethical & cheating. I prefer sitting in a shooting house watching my killing field staying warm by my buddy heater listening to F'baum on the radio. You guys have been watching too much of that bone collecter bs on tv.

I don't give a hoot what anyone else does hunting wise, just worried about what I'm doing. All that worrying is just distracting me from what I'm doing. Stopped worrying about others and enjoy what I'm doing much more.

Yea Cmon

I had nooooo problem killing my 12 point in Texas over corn where it's legal. He was a fine mature buck and I was really excited and thankful. He ate good too.

^^^This.....

I consider shooting a deer over a pile of corn and a green field the same. None of them are natural habitat that was there, but it is all placed there by man with the intent of baiting in the deer or whatever it is. That is my opinion, but id shoot one off a corn pile any day. That is just me.

Unless you are chasing deer down on foot with a spear you are cheating. It's all just a matter of to what degree you are cheating.

45,000 thousand dollar 4 wheel drive; 10,000 dollar bad boy buggy; 300 dollar climbing stand; 800 to 1500 dollar rifle; 800 to 1500 dollar scope; 600 dollar pair of binoculars; camo clothing; scent killer sprays; and a string of game cameras to determine which trail the deer are using to enter your green patches.

But don't get near corn because that would be cheating. LOL!

You are correct. But way too many people have BS'ed themselves into thinking there is a difference.

x 1000. To many people love to puff out their chests and declare = Im more sportsmen like than you!!!! I don't care if you hunt over corn or not. Make it legal and IF you don't like it , don't hunt over it!

This also applies when people dog someone for killing a "small" buck. Not everyone is a trophy hunter and a rack doesn't make a trophy to everyone.

one time i read that indians used to kill a deer and gut it clean it take everything out, the eyes. everything. and they would get in the deer and walk up to other deer by looking out the eye holes and get close to one and jump on it and stab it. wouldn't that be fun today. i bet some of us on here wished we still lived like indians today. i know it would be fun, but scary and dangerous knowing we may not have food for the next day. what if this guy was getting low on food and didn't have the money to feed his family? then you would feel bad if that was the case wouldn't you? i know if i had this post i would feel bad. maybe that was his first deer ever.

People have to find something to blame their own inadequacies on....

No different than a greenfield

Exactly

Agreed

x2 as long as it is legal where he or she is hunting more power to him.

Every time we have one of these threads it gets silly. We get so caught up in our traditions that we say things are are hypocritical. The purpose of a corn pile, or food plot, or acorn tree, or salt lick, or Acorn Rage, or (insert attractant here), is to bring the deer to a specific spot in order to shoot him/her. The argument that baiting (with corn or artificial attractant) is unsportsmanlike can't stand on it's own feet. A food plot IS AN ATTRACTANT for the purpose of bringing a deer into a specified spot. Oh, the plot is "supplemental feeding"?....well so is corn and all the other 50 dozen mineral products. Now if your argument is it could introduce disease to the herd, well that can be made I suppose (it's a huge stretch, but it can be made).

I hear this argument A LOT and it couldn't be any further from the truth.

Agreed. That is like saying a gun is no different than a f150. Both will kill a deer if you hit them just right.

Why not?? So you can plant New Zealand Brassic in a hay feild BUT to put out corn in the same greenfeild is different???

You simply cannot, with a straight face, make ANY argument that a food plot is different from a corn pile. That's not a valid comparison about a gun and an F150. The better example would be A .300 Remington rifle vs a .270 Browning rifle. They are the SAME thing, accomplish the SAME thing.

A " high octane" plot surrounded by a mountainous , hardwood clear cut IS legal bait. Ya'll carry on.

MmmmmHmmmmm...Wished I knew a spot like that... I might could see a deer every now and then...

Then why has the State differentiated the two since the inception of Regulations?

If you order a steak at a restaurant and they bring you a can of Vienna sausages, is that the same thing?

A food plot and pile of corn are used for the same thing, to bait deer in. Just because law makers put something in place doesn't mean that green fields aren't baiting and corn is, they both are.

And just to make sure that everyone is on the same page here, it ain't like you can go put up a feeder and kill a 4.5 year old deer in the state of AL year in and year out. If it was then there would be a hell of a lot more mature deer killed each year.

It.
Ain't.
That.
Simple.

I got 8 like that to spray this week.

Yes. Both are FOOD, both exist for the purpose of human consumption and nourishment. Albeit wiener-shaped bologna isn't very nourishing!

A majority vote does not establish truth, it simply creates legalities. The proper way to frame this argument would be to say that the USDA has declared hamburger meat legal to eat, but baked beans are illegal to eat. Now, we all know that baked beans can be eaten just as well as hamburger meat, except one just isn't legal to consume. There's no friggin logic to the illegality of beans, just as there's no friggin logic to the illegality of hunting over corn. We are NOT debating the legality of food plots vs corn, we ARE saying they are the exact same thing for the same purpose. They are both food for deer, used for the purpose of bringing the deer to a desired spot. A kernel of corn, an acorn, a blade of grass, a granule of salt/mineral, are all FOOD for deer. And they are all used by hunters to know precisely where the deer will come to. I cannot believe someone actually disagrees with this...are we actually debating this??
Now corn or other fabricated attractants (like Acorn Rage) might pose some sort of threat (like mold) to deer health, that can be debated I suppose. But the intent of this whole thread was about the sportsmanship of someone hunting over corn. As if someone hunting over a food plot had some moral high ground over the guy hunting over corn.

Unless somebody is using a spotlight to shoot deer at night I dont have a problem. If its legal with the state game laws then its ok. I hope this discussion doesnt get sidetracked to crossbows vs compound.

Those little corn fed butter ball spikes sure do eat good.

I personally don't think a pile of corn and a foodplot are the same.

I used to hunt hogs over corn in Fl every year. A deer would come in to the corn and would smell me...then proceed to sloooowly ease in to the corn pile, even though it had gotten my scent. The corn is only there for a while and then it's gone, forcing the deer that wants corn to compromise its safety to get the corn. I've never seen a deer scent me and continue by to the foodplot I was sitting on, they would just go elsewhere or come back after dark. The foodplot would still be there.

I've hunted over corn a good bit and never witnessed this behavior (legal in the southern half of Georgia and also in several other states). Even tried to encourage this behavior by making feeders go off in the mornings to try to get the deer to come out during the day. Not disputing that you saw the behavior, just saying I can't get my deer to do that.
Seems to me that corn piles (feeders, troughs, thrown on the ground) make deer more nocturnal than anything. I pretty well went away from using it even though its legal where I hunt.

Because like most politicians and government employed bureaucrats they are very often complete dumbasses that would struggle to find their own ass even with two mirrors, a magnifying glass and a book on human anatomy to help them.

Are you saying a law or regulation can't be stupid or wrong?

I had a neighbor who shot deer over corn in his front yard.

My mother's daddy used to have a window looking out of his farmhouse bedroom that was a ground level. It was right next to his bed. He kept a 12 gauge loaded with buckshot right between his bed and the window. He would plant a small little garden right outside the window and had some aluminum foil pans hanging on string around it. He kept the window slightly open. He would hear the deer munching on greens in the garden rattling the tinfoil pans and he would slip out of bed grab the shot gun and shoot them out the window.

Probably not very ethical, but he had 10 kids to feed and I guess needed all the extra meat he could get.

as far as corn is concerned, its LEGAL to plant corn, cut it down and hunt over it, place a feeder or a pile that weighs a ton in the woods and hunt 101 yards away and out of sight, and thats legal, so its hard to argue the merits of corn being bad for them, or wrong to shoot them over. Now I prefer a foodplot, cause its better, long term for the deer, doesnt attract as many predators, and in some ways is cheaper and healthier. But I dont own a tractor or 4 wheeler or alot of land or much of anything. So why is it so terrible for me to spice up a spot, that I might want to hunt. Sometimes peo0ple need to remember everyone aint as fortunate as yourselves, and dont have the same options. Sometimes a mans gotta do what he gotta do.

Totally agree!!

I like to do all kinds of hunting and shooting. Here is my take.

Hunting: Pursuit, skill sets, woodsmanship, stealth, challenge.
Shooting: Right place, right time, can happen to most anyone with basic shooting skills.

Dove hunting is really dove shooting. You sit and wait on one to fly by and then shoot it or at it. Takes skills to be a good shot but not a lot of "hunting" required. You don't have to be quiet, you can move around, even listen to a ballgame and talk. Love a good dove shoot.

Continental pheasant events are shooting events, not actual hunting. Stand in a big circle, shoot at bird as it flies by.

Quail/upland bird hunting is actual hunting though...walking, working the dogs, positioning, covey rise and wingshot often through thick stuff. There is pursuit involved which takes it to a different level.

Turkey: This is hunting. Period.

Deer Hunting: To me there is hunting and then shooting activities when it comes to deer hunting. I enjoy stalking, playing the wind, working a thicket or hillside shelf, working draws, etc... anything where there is active participation, pursuit, required skills and knowlede and effort into getting a deer in my sights. This can often happen in a blind or stand too....setting up at the right tree/fence row/terrain feature in the right place at the right time...anticipating the deer movement and playing chess with ole mossy horns. There is pursuit, game of wits, skill sets to be used. To me this is real and actual hunting.

Deer Shooting: The opposite of hunting is more like "finding". Using a artifacts analogy: One can go hunt for them by working a creek or piece of land. One can also be strolling and happen to look down and find one. Picking a green field, setting up in the shooting house and waiting with gun out the window, and then shooting what walks out to me is more finding than hunting. By chance, you find yourself in the right spot at the right moment. Any hunter with basic skills could have done the same thing, but you signed out for this particular field this day. Got lucky. (Some exceptions might be trail cam scouting told you to expect a buck at a certain time of day.) Typically this to me is mostly shooting, not hunting. And I enjoy this too, especially with my kids. 10 year olds aren't really hunters yet, but we all have seen kids with dead deer and huge smiles taken from a shooting house. It is awesome! Yet, there isn't much pursuit and the only skill set is some basic quietness and good bench type shooting. Having a big pile of bait isn't too far removed in my mind. I have no desire, but to each his own. But let's be intellectually honest about it at least: Sitting over bait or a green field isn't really hunting in its truest sense.

Game Animal Ambushing (Deer, Elk, Moose, Bear, Antelope, etc...) : If you are specifically setting up on a travel corridor, bedding area, watering hole or some terrain feature where wind, time of day, scent, weather and movement make significant impacts....then this leans more to the hunting side of the spectrum in my mind. There is some luck involved (animals decide to move), but there are multiple skill sets being used that move it to a more difficult challenge in my mind. Perhaps not yours.

Just my opinion.

Good greif. Now folks are arguing that baiting should be legalized to equalize people's fortunes. I never thought I'd hear that one.

I'm done with the discussion. I'm against hunting over bait. I hope it is never legalized. For love of the game.



Speaking of games, it is football season. If yall want to argue head to the sports forum. There is plenty to go around.

Corn Huskers gonna win it all.

I don't care how a man kills a deer as long as it's legal. That being said:

-Don't tell me shooting a deer in a high fence is "Hunting" or "Fair Chase". It's just killing and that is fine, it is legal.

-Don't tell me that corn is no different than a green field. (It is no matter how hard you try to make them equal)

Have a good season

Its like that old saying about duck hunting corn impoundments:
A rich man plants corn and a poor man pours corn.
A rich man brings water to corn and a poor man brings corn to water.

One is legal & the other isn't
One is bait and the other isn't.
Aren't your intentions the same, to shoot a duck over it?
If we are really concerned about the good of the resource, why the double standard? Why should "effort" - money, land, & equipment - have any bearing what so ever?
Some say its because the big landowners that influence the politicans the most don't want every Tom, Dick, & Harry taking "their ducks" at every little pothole and beaver pond on the way to their impoundment.

Is the co-op Big Buck Blend Plot Mix really that different than the Big Buck Corn they sell beside it?
Aren't your intentions the same either way, to shoot a deer over it?
Does the corn not benefit other wildlife as well? Lots of animals like corn!

I think all you Jackie Bushmans and Michael Waddels simply aren't being truthful with yourselves.
Do you really consider yourself hunting sitting on a green field?
That's funny.
You're just sitting for deer.
And there ain't nuthin' wrong with that as long as you are following the limits and HAVING FUN! Its just a deer! Never forget that!!

And the beautiful thing is - we get to choose our "hunt".
I can put my climbing stand on my back and bow in hand and hike through the woods to find that perfect hot acorn tree - A REAL HUNT
- or -
I can take it easy, sip a cold beer in a shooting house and watch a field or a cornpile. - SITTING FOR A DEER

I think the man is saying that a deer will walk around a plot of grass to get to a corn pile. They prefer the corn to the grass. Therefore the corn is a more powerful attractant than the grass. Both are bait but not equal.

Hell I put out stuff that'll make a deer walk over corn lol..I've seen just the opposite. I've watched deer nibble on corn then hit the greenfields..

I'm not saying I'm for it or against it. Buuuut when folks start dumping corn everywhere it does more harm than good imo..The damn deer will GO "NOCTURNAL"

Simply not true.

Deer aren't afraid of corn.

They are afraid of people.

I grew up hunting cornpiles in SC and still hunt them when I go back and they aren't *magic*. They are affected by pressure just like a green field.

I don't see how they ever kill a deer in Texas. It's a mortal sin for Texas hunters to hunt without at least 8 - 10 sacks of corn within 50 yards of them.

Period effing dot

I couldn't live with myself if I shot a deer eating corn.

Either they dont know, dont show, or just dont care whats going on in the woods.




doesn't really make me no never mind. I'll drop the tail gate and send a pack in there that'll snatch the bed sheets off one

I love how deer "go nocturnal" whenever CORN! is used.

If that were true there would be no deer killed in a lot of states where it's legal, and in some states where it's illegal.

I hate that Rebelman left this thread. I have a few questions for him.
I would like to know if I'll still be a hunter if I use my grunt call, rattling horns, hot doe scent, and most of all my decoy.

I wouldn't think they'd go nocturnal any more than over hunting a scrape, pinch point, plot or any other place. If you sit close to anything and hunt it more than 2 days in a row, you've worn yer welcome out IMO.

Save a few of yer best stands for the rut and stand hop, a great way to kill em. No need for corn, a few does will do fine.

It's really not that hard. I bet you could do it

Drives me nuts to hear people says "Makes deer go nocturnal". Deer are crepuscular by nature, they are naturally more nocturnal than diurnal. So you aren't making them do crap, corn is more apt to make them come out in the daytime than the reverse.

And the 2015 Thesaurus Award goes to......

IKILLBUX!



Congrats!

Okay, okay, you got me there!

I believe some folks just need to get laid!

Actually, that's a lure

Clem I was referring to continuous human intrusion forcing some deer to go nocturnal..I don't believe a "mature" buck is gonna tolerate it..

let me interpret, deer are crispy by nature if you over cook them, and the best time to eat them is at night with a side of corn.

This just gets better!