https://www.qdma.com/6-ways-food-plots-not-baiting/

Thought I'd share.
I apologize if this has already been posted.

Pretty good article but your never going to convince the corn crowd of anything.

Those are benefits of plots, but they are still designed to draw and hold deer on the property.

It is a bait.

I just don’t see how any rational person would argue that point.

We can all agree that plots offer benefits over corn.

Yep. You can say a food plot is more than JUST a bait, but it's dang sure a bait. And we've got a wall of deer heads to prove it.

Yes, food plots are a attractant and therefore bait but they offer nutritional value to deer and other wildlife. What nutritional value does corn offer?

Baiting doesn't have to be just corn. There are several supplemental feeds out there that offer much higher nutrition than corn

We plant corn. We pick it, eat it, and grind our own grits.
Of course we share it with the deer.
We also share turnip greens, peas and butter beans.
But I never have tried to eat a bag of shelled corn.

Low on protein , high on carbs. Carbs are good for packing on fat in winter.

I plant acres of corn, soybeans, clover and other things to bait deer. But I also have some areas that I really can't plant and would love to be able to feed them and not worry about the law. As for any good for the deer, I guess we could ask the guys that hunt the Midwest, those deer seem to be healthy from eating mostly corn.

bait
bāt/Submit
noun
1.
food used to entice fish or other animals as prey.
Argue with mr webster
I plant greenfields, corn, and anything else to draw deer in and keep them there. I have and will again have a feeder up during season, within the law of course. I have a mineral site. If it got dry enough, id keep a water bucket full so they could get a drink.
By definition all of this is baiting.

To me the method of distribution is the difference. A food plot is planted once and grows on its own somewhat naturally. Bait is distributed by hand numerous times in an unnatural manner. My experiences with both have been that the constant dumping of bait tends to make deer and especially big bucks nocturnal because of the human scent being repeatedly introduced to the area every time it is baited. Also, a food plot is limited to what will grow in that area versus bait or attractants of any alien variety can simply be dumped and be effective. Baiting is legal here in Michigan where i now live and oddly enough most of the mature bucks I have taken had little or no bait in their stomachs even though they were taken on public land that is heavily baited...........so I have unscientifically deduced that the mature bucks are less likely to hit bait piles due to constant human scent maybe?

10 pages at least....Lemme grab a beer....

Well said Bigfoot. Corn sucks.
But when the nieghbors pour it to em youve got to keep some out. I could do without it,
food plots are not the same. Most of those that disagree are sitting over a pile.

Poor assumption on your part! Putting out corn or planting food plots produce the same effect, To draw the deer to a desired location. Both are a form of baiting, like it or not!

You goobers that don't think a plot with a quality mix surrounded by hundreds of acres of thick, hardwood cutover isn't bait are delusional.

If baiting doesn't attract bucks, why worry about the neighbor baiting. With that logic, seems it would push 'em your way.

There you go bringing logic into this.

Oh boy this should be good.

2dogs hit the nail on the head. Everything we do as hunters and habitat managers has one sole purpose in mind. To attract and hold game on our property. Many ways to do it, plots,bait,clear cutting,hinging,planting hardwood and soft mast tree's, and also fertilizing native browse. To me, it's all the same. The elitist's out there want to believe that what their doing is more ethical. I had one guy tell me that his plots weren't bait because they were 5 acres in size and the deer could come out anywhere and not just at one place.