Depends on whether you're a bream fisherman or a bass fisherman.

If I have a coffee can full of red worms , but am not fishing are they bait?

That's kind of what I was thinking. I have a feeder on my lake and a feeder in the woods behind my house. If I put feed out for fish it's feed..if I put feed out for deer it's bait not food ??

If I throw my red worms in the pond , I'm feeding fish, if I throw them in on a hook they are bait. If you put out feed , plant plots , etc. but don't hunt on or near it, it's food (potential bait though), if you hunt over them they are being used as bait.

According to this logic, a commercial fisherman who pays thousands of dollars for a boat, hires a crew, and sails a hundred miles off shore.... Is absolutely no different than the guy throwing a cricket from the bank.

So what are you trying to say.....Your cricket makes more noise than mine.... your cricket is blacker.... maybe its larger.... Man if we could only go back to fishing with a cricket....

If you had 3 corn feeders you never hunted over or near would they still be bait?

Does a zoo bear shucks on concrete?

That all ya got? There is one difference , one uses waaaaay more bait than the other.

Unfortunately we have an epidemic of laziness in this country.

Yeah I don't get the point either. Is he saying that if you spend more money, go farther out from the shore and use more bait that you are no longer fishing? The scale is larger to be sure. But how that applies to what is or isn't bait eludes me.

Has nothing to do with laziness , whether you sit astraddle a pile of corn or wouldn't be caught dead near one, it's about being honest that ANYTHING put out or planted by a hunter IS BAIT WHEN HUNTED OVER.
And what the state says , or permits, or anything else has NOTHING to do with it either.

And a pretty widespread problem of people who can't understand basic facts and simple logic.

Saying someone who hunts over a pile of corn is lazy is a fair statement. That’s all in your opinion. Just like people on here calling you an ass hole is a fair statement that’s just their opinion . Saying that a food plot isn’t a form of bait just makes you sound like an idiot.

Totally agree. I got a boy all tore up on here saying the same thing. He sent me PM's and what not. That being said, I'm gonna do both. Plant several food plots with feeders in the middle of them. With some mineral spots as well.

Finally, you understand. Money, effort, distance, difficulty, heavy equipment, tractors, boats, planters, tillers, chainsaws, or time, have nothing to do with the debate.

A cricket for bream=hardtail for amberjack=longline dead bait for swordfish=chicken livers for catfish=peanuts for skwerls=clover/pea/ryegrass/chicory/sugar beet patch for deer=corn feeder for deer=donut pile for black bear=cheese on a mousetrap

All bait, all the same. Food is food, regardless. You may believe that they are different, but you need to recalibrate if you do.

What I disagree with is your last sentence; I believe that the legal definition by the state is the only thing that matters. Like it or not, if we wanna hunt legally we have to use the definitions put out by the state.

I've never had a supplemental feeding program for deer, and don't plan to start one, so it's no issue for me regarding deer hunting. Dove hunting is a different story. A pound of wheat in the wrong place can turn a planted wheat field that is legal to hunt over into a baited field that will get every hunter on it a ticket. I don't want a ticket myself, and I surely don't wanna be responsible for others getting one, so I plan to listen to whatever definition the state gives us in all types of hunting.

But honesty is a double edged sword..... one of those "baits" by your definition takes a lot more work than the other.... it also doesn't concentrate deer as much as the other hence why its been legal for so long..... if you're truly worried about honesty you would openly admit that.

So we should agree with the Guvment , anything they say legal is fine?

You don't have to think it's fine or even agree with it but you have to follow it, if not you're an outlaw and no better than a trespasser or poacher.