what is the law about keeping deer troughs filled with corn during turkey season?
Legal not legal?
This is the first year we had troughs out 100 yards and out of sight from any stand location and need to know if we need to clean them out until after turkey season.

no NO nada neyt

Yes. Must be gone 10 days before you plan on hunting.

Do they use the same qualifiers to determine whether or not you are "hunting the area" (100yds/out of sight) like they do during deer season? If not, how far do you have to be from them before you are "hunting over bait"?

Gomer
I called Montgomery and talked to law enforcement and asked the same thing.
His reply " as long as you are planning to hunt you cannot have any corn in the area"
I said so, it's not the same as deer hunting 100 yards and out of sight deal.
He said "No!, if you are planning to hunt do not have any in the area you are hunting."

So, not gonna take any chances and leave it to some guy's opinion whether I am in "the area" or not

.

Due to the mobile nature of turkey hunting any corn/seed on the property will get you a baiting ticket according to the GW's around here

I would've asked what, legally, constitutes "the area". Is it the entire property? If it's a 10 acre farm, I could see that.....what if it's 1000 acres? "In the area" is far too vague.

I understand "area" as the particular property you have hunting rights to. Our GW just told us not to have it on any property we hunt so that's what I think he means by area.

Guy in a club put some out a few days before the opener. GW was there with him when he arrived, closed down 160 acres for two weeks, club was 2400 acres. Member expelled.

/\ /\ /\
what they all said!

I am gonna keep my feeders just like they are now. I have thousands of pictures every year and have never had a picture of a turkey at any of our feeders. I can't be hunting over bait of the turkeys don't eat the bait or come to it imo

Game warden's discretion. The regulation just says "area." A GW could deem it 100 acres, or 10,000 acres. The ones I've talked to said if it's on the property you're hunting, they have the right to give you a citation

Why 2 weeks?

How could a GW close private land? They have that authority?

I'm assuming he means that the GW told him it couldn't be hunted legally, essentially shutting it down.

What if you have protein pellets in the feeders but not corn? Same thing?

I'll try again ....HELL NO!!!! DID THAT ONE CHANGE TO SOME STRANGE CHINESE DIALECT BETWEEN MY FINGERS AND YA'LLS EYES?????

Fred what if you are not baiting? How can they prove my bunk protein feeder is keeping the turkeys on the property when the turkeys do not use the feeders? I would not be sitting there looking at em regardless cause I am not going if they ain't gobbling but still.

Dang you guys are stubborn lol. If there is any form of feed on the property, a GW can say it's baiting, and in my experience that's a ticket they'll write every time.

The fact that it is so vague, just saying "area", with apparently no definition of what constitutes an "area" is the problem, and that's the point everyone is trying to make. If you're going to make it illegal, you [should] have to define what the "area" is. The entire point of allowing "supplemental feeding of deer" is to be able to keep something out for them all year. Someone even said recently (I thought it was Fred, but maybe not) that if you stop putting corn/feed out as soon as deer season ends, you're not really supplemental-feeding, you're basically just baiting. So if you keep feed out year-round, it would be helpful to know just how far you have to stay away from said feed while turkey hunting. But nobody knows the answer to that question because it's "GW's discretion"....and that is asinine.

Here is my .02. The "area" is any ground within sight of where you are hunting. And by hunting I mean the spot you are standing/sitting on when the gw approaches you

Ben, turkeys will eat protein pellets if they can reach them. I personally wouldn't hunt turkey on a place I was feeding deer UNLESS you can get yer local warden to come out and walk the area with you and ok certain areas as ok to hunt. Prolly won't happen though.

I predict powpow65 will get arrested IF he feeds deer and hunts that piece of property. The reality of the situation is that it is almost impossible to feed deer and turkey hunt on the same property legally UNDER THE CURRENT LAWS/REGS. And the GW dosen't give a crap what yer interpretation of the word "area" is. The area definition does not apply to turkey under current rules.

Fred you are probably right, but I'm just using common sense. I can't hunt what I can't see and shoot, no one can. So why would anywhere besides that be considered baiting? If that is the case then all the gw would need to do is find bait if you are there or still in bed asleep, either way would be a violation.

A little generator and a vaccuum seems like a nice thing to have for these situations. Vaccuum in the woods would sound funny.

Haha i said wood would..

For the most part, I determine where I am deer hunting.
But the turkeys usually determine where I'm turkey hunting.
So if there's bait anywhere on the property, that's likely where the turkeys will be.

You have to throw out black oil sunflower seeds. A lot harder to see.

Our turkeys don't eat at the feeders, never have I seriously do not have a picture of one ever eating in, at or around any of my feeders so how can it be baiting if the turkeys do not seed the feed as bait?

in reality it dosen't matter if you, me, or the turkeys see the pellets as feed or ever feed there...the GW will see the pellets as feed.

Bah humbug.

Wish we had enough turkeys to where it mattered but we hardly have any now days unfortunately.

So what if I just turn my feeders off during turkey season, but there is still corn inside the hopper but none on the ground

You just aren't getting this are you? You're still getting a ticket.

Ok well I guess I'll just leave them on. Don't know why anyone would turkey hunt over bait anyway, kind of takes all the fun out of it

Common sense and ala game laws are not and never will be in the same universe. No corn on property you're turkey hunting is only safe way to go. If the gw draws a bead on you, it's a gift that keeps on giving. Just avoid it

For what it ain't baiting? Baiting or hunting by the side of bait would indicate one using bait to attract animals so they could be harvested. If the animal is not attracted to the bait it can't be baiting.

I didn't say you were baiting. I said you were getting a ticket. If there is bait on the property, regardless of whether the feeder is on or off, the GW is writing a ticket. I've been told my multiple GW's that the feeders have to be completely cleaned out, 10 days prior to season.

Tractor Supply has them. Just sayin..............

Aren’t green fields the same a baiting?

That’s what the deer hunters say

What if I have bags of corn in a barn that's on the property? That sounds like bull to me, if no feed is on the ground they don't have a case

Hunters know if they are hunting over bait or not. I'm not gonna worry about a feeder a few hundred yards away on another ridge.

You will be after greenjeans writes you up and then stalks you in the future like a serial killer

Experience.