There is no difference in scattering it on the ground than bush hogging standing corn at the end of the day. But the idiots in Montgomery say there is. IMO anything , that is not natural and is hunted over is bait. That includes rye grass or the highest end plot mix. Some folks just can't handle the truth!

Corn = carbs. Mammals need carbs in the winter.

I think it’s just natural of people. I think people like to feel good about them selves so they make up things in their head.

They think they are better than people because they don’t shoot deer over bagged corn.

Then they even go a step further to say that they are tremendously helping the deer herd by planting 1/4 acre of winter wheat.

People naturally just like to feel good about themselves and usually put other people down to do so.

Well I mean let's be intellectually honest..... there are differences..... corn just provides carbs...... no other nutritional value while you can pretty much pick and choose what nutritional value you want your food plots to provide. Also food plots continually reproduce that value while corn is just eaten up and then needs to be replenished. Finally I think the one no one likes talking about is that its a lot more work to plant and maintain food plots than it is to just walk a 50lb bag of corn out to the woods and dump it. Those are pretty big differences and doesn't make one better than the other across the board but each better in certain situations. That's why when I encounter a situation which is better for a food plot i'm going to plant a food plot.... when I encounter a place for a feeder i'm going to use a feeder. I usually just do protein through the hot months and corn once they've shed velvet.

I believe the real point is that food plots, feeders, corn piles, fertilized briers and honeysuckle, apple orchards, mineral licks, etc. are ALL attractants, and if you are hunting over them, as I personally do, then your brand/style of attractant is NOT morally superior to someone else's brand/style as has been inferred in this thread and other threads on this forum.

Neither the amount of work that a hunter's particular type of attractant requires, nor the dollar cost of said attractant, gives that hunter any moral "high ground" to stand on when talking bad about the other types.

That is exactly the point that I and many others have been trying to make, but some folks just can't see the logic. What the state of Alabama says is irrelevant for anything other than a potential fine/license fee. If you are hunting over a food source or attractant that you or someone else planted/scattered/altered, then it is still bait.

And I am OK with that.

All that's true, if you completely ignore the benefit to wildlife aspect.

Really? I see squirrels, doves, songbirds, deer, turkeys, and all manner of other wildlife at my corn and protein feeders, which happen to sit in the middle of a large food plot, with a variety of grains, brassicas, and legumes planted annually and fertilized regularly, right next to the mineral lick. I even mix birdseed with the corn, to expand the benefit to more critters.

And the benefit to wildlife, deer anyway, for most of us, is killing a few of them so there is more food remaining for the survivors.

Still no moral high ground to criticize others for their particular method of baiting.

Respectfully, the "benefit to wildlife" attitude is exactly what I was referring to in my previous post. Maybe not directly to you, but to the others who talk about cornslingers as if they are worthless scum with no hunting skills, and how their kill plots are so much more sporting and better for the deer.

Except the ones that they shoot, of course. Those are still hammer dead.

UncleHuck, I agree and concur with every single point you made.

But let's be honest...this thread is about CORN FEEDERS vs food plots. You can attempt to make it something else, but that's what it is. If you're mixing other stuff that's actually beneficial to deer and other wildlife, then good for you. But, you're in the VAST minority. I would wager that 99+% of feeders will be filled with corn...and only corn.

I know absolutely no one who only plants rye grass as their food plots...and if there are some who do, they're not killing many/any deer off them. Even if someone planted only wheat on their plots, they've provided the deer with something that's highly digestible with 20+% crude protein, and a forage yield of better than 4000 lbs per acre from October to March. Corn only is somewhere in the 8% crude protein range. The "sporting" part of it aside, I'm not sure how anyone can argue that a corn feeder is better for deer/wildlife than a "killing" plot.

Hunterbuck, I've yet to read where anybody said a corn feeder was better than a food plot. What I've read is that you can use both and shouldn't be considered a low down, scum sucking, corn baiter!. Deer don't gorge on anything. They are browsers who eat a little of this and a little of that. In Kentucky,Iowa,Nebraska, or anywhere there are 1000 of acres of corn, you don't think the deer stand in that corn field all day long gorging on corn, do you? It's another tool in the tool box, simple as that.

wow...11 pages. In before the lockdown!


Just go hunt guys...dont worry about what others do...just do what you want. And oh yea...try to have fun.

Its hunting. It is supposed to be fun..so..go have fun.

Hunt greenfields, over corn, in the woods, over acorns, persimmons (all are attractants...youve got to find something to hunt and food works best) or from a shooting house, the ground or a dang treestand ( no one style is BETTER or more macho then the other...sorry to tell you), use a bow, a gun, a crossbow...heck even a fancy air gun and kill yourself a deer. It isnt any different no matter which way you do it in my opinion.

The key is it is supposed to be fun.

Actually, the original post insinuated that there is a difference in hunting over bait vs hunting over a food plot, and asked who would change to "bait". Food plots are bait.

I never said that corn feeders were more beneficial to deer than food plots. What I said was, that all planted or manipulated vegetation is bait, same as corn, salt licks, apples, sweet taters, jello, or any other food placed to attract animals.

If you hunt near a created, altered or placed food source, then you are hunting over bait. If you hunt over food or any other attractant, including doe pee, then you don't have any moral high ground to criticize others who may not own a tractor or have the ability to plant a food plot, or even own property where a food plot could be planted.

If you are stalking around in the piney woods with a flintlock or traditional bow, not using modern camouflage or attractant, then you can disparage folks who hunt over bait.

Amen.

yeah but a 1/8 or even 1/4 acre of winter wheat isn't making that much of difference to your deer herd. Neither is a corn feeder. Id say in most areas of Alabama there is plenty of natural browse for deer all year round. So yes, a food plot is more beneficial than a corn feeder.

But lets say you have that corn feeder on a ridge or some where a food plot is not an option I would then argue the corn feeder is more beneficial because having a corn feeder there is better than having nothing.

You are correct, Sir.

I was about to make a post about "what idot started this thread to begin with?". I went and looked at the first page and it was me, hahaha.

I think back and my original question was I was curious how many people were going to stop planting their plots and just start baiting. I guess in the course of all these comments we got a little off track.

If you have plots and hunt over them , you're already baiting.

To answer your original question we have 5 small food plots on our lease we will continue to plant them and hunt them. We will probably add a spin feeder to the 2 bigger ones. We also have plans to put a feeder on the back of our property where we can’t get a food plot to grow.

I bet some of you guys cry watching cartoons. No one is claiming higher or lower morals. It's just a question that I was curious about. If you can't see the forest for the trees then I can't help you.

If you're talking habitat management , high end food plots, basically growing whitetails in the mountains of Northeast Bama , I'd bet you can't .

Yeah, cause climbing into a shooting house over a green patch is some hard ass work. Whew, man I'm breaking a sweat just thinking about all the effort that takes. And good lord the skill level involved as well. I mean you have to work them plexiglass windows and learn how to use that little latch that holds the shooting house door closed. Don't even get me started on pointing the gun out the window to shoot. Hell that takes at least 5 years to truly master. Man that is some Daniel Boone level s#$t right there. Surely any man who has the stamina to sit motionless on his ass in a shooting house plus the knowledge to work the windows and door is a superior being compared to those who would hunt over corn. LOL!



This is like the Dracula of outdoor bull$^%t. No matter how many times someone kills it, it just keeps coming back fom the dead. What about corn makes a deer more nocturnal? What could a corn feeder do to make a deer nocturnal that a green patch doesn't do?

I heard someone say that by providing plentiful food that deer don't have to move around as much. Not sure there is any truth to that but doesn't a green patch provide just as much food? And a green patch is available all night long where as a feeder can be programed to only go off in daylight hours. So how does the feeder make them nocturnal but not the green field?