I bow hunt more than gun hunt but I kill most of my bucks gun hunting. If you can hunt over bait how many more people buy bows or crossbows so they can get the early start thinking the bait will put them in range of a trophy? Will there be more trophy bucks killed early in the season and what will that mean in late season during the rut?

i doubt it changes much, everyone already has bait pile everywhere i hunt. now they can just do it legally

All seasons/weapons should come in at the same time.

I think so, assuming everyone isn’t already hunting over a pile of corn. The deer are already less skittish and more likely to come out during daylight hours during bow season.

I believe you will see more big deer killed during bow season no doubt. If people buy bows/crossbows and start feeding I believe some of the bucks who are hitting corn piles prior to acorns dropping heavily will be killed. Some folks say deer will quit using feed once acorns start dropping good but my observation from running several cameras on trough feeders that I fill up weekly is that if the deer are trained to them they continue to use them. As a general rule I dont normally see new bucks show up on camera at these feeders in Oct and early Nov but by the end of Nov i start really noticing bucks moving from feeder to feeder and new bucks showing up.

I think the entire season should be bow only.

Fugg that. Ain't using a damn pointy stick for deer hunting when I got a safe full of guns. 😀😀

I think the entire season should be shoot whatever weapon you want. No youth season or bow or muzzle loader or gun season. It's just deer season.

I can see it now. Some one will post a dead spike with a crossbow laid across it and a corn pile visible in the back ground. Heads will explode

Yep.

The way it's been done in other states, though, is you have an archery season. Then you have a muzzleloader season. Then a rifle season. Then one more muzzleloader. Then bow again. And to use a muzzleloader or rifle (or maybe crossbow), you have to have a "permit" to hunt in that season. So you buy a hunting license and then a weapon-specific and/or season-specific permit. It's how they get hunters accustomed to having "their special muzzleloader season" and then add the permit later on, or they just do it from the start.



And it will all be legal. Still, though, he will be regarded as an unethical, unsporting, cheating, horrible, terrible person, although the guy who shoots a rifle at a buck 80 yards away under a feeder will be "just hunting."

There should be just hunting season if conservationist actually cared about game animals. Allowing someone to use what they normally use instead of forcing a weapon choice on them cuts down on lost animals.

Getting outside and taking an animal cleanly should be the goal.

Even worse..theyll be lying next to it in their underwear.....

FIFY

Who is forcing anyone?

No one is being "forced" to do anything. That's silly to even say that.

I expect all the bucks that don’t die from some mysterious corn-initiated disease to be killed at feeders before Thanksgiving.

At least then everybody will have to find something else to bitch and moan about, though!!

Then it will be:

— Waaaaa, all the "new bowhunters and crossbow hunters" have ruined things because I ain't seen any deer
— Waaaaa, it's too hot but everyone's in the woods leaving scent all around
— Waaaaa, why did "they" do this with the corn because it's phucking up everything before it gets cold
— Waaaaa, MY NABOR killed my "hit list" bucks because he has corn but no permit
("How do you know he doesn't have a permit?" I JUST KNOW IT BECAUSE HE'S LIKE THAT.)
— Waaaaa, no deer are moving around and we can't see anything
— Waaaaa, "the state" shouldn't open the season until December

And the best one, which should be on t-shirts:

— "ALL THE GOOD BUCKS HAVE GONE NOCTURNAL BECAUSE OF CORN!"

My all time favorite is that "you've got to kill all the does to 'stir up' the bucks for a more intense rut".....then complains when he doesn't see any deer all season.

Don't even begin to act naive and think that everyone wasn't baiting already so things really shouldn't change a great deal!

Not EVERYONE because I wasnt. But I agree it was a large percentage. I could see feeders or people carrying corn in everywhere I hunt. I didn't care last year and I still won't care or join in next year. I rarely concern myself with what the neighbors are doing and never if it's on their side of the line.

Whatchu talking bout Willis?? Before Thanksgiving?? With corn now completely legal, everyone will hit that "magical, uncheckable, unenforceable" three buck limit by Thanksgiving and since everyone always fully complies with all state regulations, the woods will be empty all December and January. Knowing that, I'll probably just wait until January to go to the woods and start hunting then.