Yea what he said ^

Has anyone said yet that hunting under or near any existing mast tree - nuts, fruit, whatever - is baiting?

If not, someone will. So you can't hunt around artificial sources and you shouldn't hunt around natural ones, either.

Danged pesky oak and persimmon trees.

I did not write it but I understand it. It is an easy solution. Don't push the envelope and you will be fine. If a person is hung up on the wording of this reg., they are looking for a way to bait not supplemental feed in my opinion.

Nobody said this^^^

It is a simple point of view if you are going to cherry pick, then lets cherry pick.

You didn't define the two. Let's hear your definition...

Nighthunter did u read the articles on comm guy saying u can shoot deer on trails leading to feed stations did this change that's all I want to know?

I agree.

this dead horse has been beaten bad enough, but my favorite logic from the pro-baiters is that hunting over a feeder or corn pile really doesn't help with killing mature bucks. However, for some strange reason they are super adamant about getting bait legalized...I guess they just want to put a hurtin on a bunch of yearling bucks and kill some does. LOL

I would venture to say most people don't have enough money or land to supplemental feed to make a difference in deer health.

The one published March 18, 2013? Yes I did. I also have had personal conversations with multiple officers on how they will be enforcing the reg. as late as July 27, 2013. I am not trying to insinuate the reg. is different than what it says. All I am saying is it is not that hard to understand. The rebuttable presumption is the key part and what will get you in trouble.

Below is an example I think pushes the envelope.

Also, he said on trails going to. That is two different things than walking across a powerline to get to feeder on the other side 5 yards inside the woodline. You are drawing the deer across the powerline out in the open with the aid of bait at that point. IMHO. I am not a GW but with my reasonable understanding of the reg., that seems like a pretty easy assumption.

I would love to hear a GW tell me otherwise if I am incorrect on that assumption.

I would agree. Which is why the new reg. is a joke being that the CAB's excuse for the new law is to help those that supplemental feed. If you aren't using supplemental feed to improve health and size of your bucks then your using it for bait, IMO, which is probably the intent of most that claim to supplemental feed.

Ripping a bag of corn and a food plot are not the same thing.

That bag of corn on the ground will be gone in a day or two. That food plot will be there all year if planted properly with the right seeds. It will be there 24/7 for all the animals.

Those bags of corn/feed carry a fixed amount of food and other beneficial ingredients. That food plot will provide tons of food.

Trying to say they are the same is like saying Phyllis Diller and Jennifer Lawrence are the same because they are both female. I will take food plots and Jennifer Lawrence every time.

This is just one guys opinion but here is what I think all this stems from and the reason all this has even gotten started in the first place. The problem is that the original law, the one we have used up until now, was in itself poorly written and very grey. That was fine though for awhile because it was written like that on purpose so that some people who were in the position to do so, could take advantage of the clause by running feeders on their property year round and it be “ok” while for the rest of the hunting public it was still called baiting.

The problem is that the guy’s who were doing this had buddies who saw what was happening and started doing it and then they had buddies start doing it……. and before long you had people all over thinking that all you had to do was walk over the hill from the feeder and you were all good. You then started getting more and more guys asking….”Can I do this too?” At this point people who were running feeders were either doing one of a few things…..either they were: 1) setting feeders up, winking twice and taking advantage of the clause 2) setting up feeders and just hoping it was legal from what they had heard…..never really knowing for sure….or 3) People who set up feeders and out of ignorance of the law just think they are all good. This has become so widespread that people all over the state were asking questions and just wanted to know what was legal and what wasn’t.

That brings us to our current situation. The situation has gotten to such a point with people setting up feeders and the drumbeat of questions so loud that it has forced the powers that be to make a move and “redefine” the law to appease those asking questions while still keeping its original intent of only allowing some to do it, in place. In doing so they have created a colossal cluster$#$% which they are now scrambling to try and clean up. Special interests run a muck. Make it completely legal or make it completely illegal. How confusing would that be?

I completely agree with your point here just like I agree with 2Dogs above but how many food plots were there before you put them there? A simple question. Yes I would take food plots over feeding/bait any day. I dual crop on my leases and always have. The argument is everything we do is to give us an advantage. True or false? Science tells us baiting actually is not an advantage, or at lease the studies I have seen show that. It shows that it takes more man hours per harvest in areas where baiting is legal vs. areas where it is not. Now Texas is a different story for some reason. It seems everything in Texas is different...

Everyone's definition of bait or feed is probably different. In most cases we are going to define it in a way that benefits us the most. I could sit here and turn everything around and make it a valid argument if I wanted kinda like 9er but I wont. There were enough people going to the CAB meetings asking for something to be done on this topic and this is what we got. My guess is it may evolve as time goes but to get it changed, you the hunters have to go to the CAB meeting and be heard. Our commissioner and director are good people and want what is best for our state and it's wildlife.

As hunters we cherry pick to make things as we want them. Even easily understandable language. We pick parts out of a law or reg. and and forget what the rest says when it in its entirety is what we have to go by.

I was making the point that, in previous discussions about this, more than one person on this site has said, paraphrasing, that "hunting near trees dropping acorns or persimmons is basically using bait" like corn. I disagree with that, of course.

I agree with there being a difference in baiting (dumping corn, using a feeder to draw to a specific spot) and planting-managing-enhancing, although putting a food plot in the middle of a hardwood tract is little more than legalized baiting, just like top-sewn wheat for doves.

And, gotta add, CORN!

Food plots are an advantage if you hunt them. I haven't killed anything on a fool plot in years but hogs. I believe in food plots and their benefits. I don't blame folks for hunting them, I just disagree that they are the same as baiting. The benefits of a food plot are tremendous compared to a bag or 3 of corn.

Gotcha.

We are on the same page.

Makes 3 of us on that page, plots are not the same as a pile of corn but one could see where they could be viewed as a form of bait.
Then there's the standing corn thing, and some GWs even say you can bush hog it and hunt over it....can you say BAIT!

If this had anything to do with what’s best for out state’s deer herd then we would be taking a much more conservative approach toward feeding deer and make it completely illegal until more is found out about its links with disease spread. With the risk of disease spread from feeding still very much unknown and the risk for CWD moving into the south looming….the health of the herd is just along for the ride with this decision. Feeding deer out of feeders and troughs is not a necessity and is only truly done for the luxury of the land owner. It poses great potential for long term problems and offers few long term benefits.

I know some will be happy. but has any one thought about what this is gonna do to the hog population. Another 20years of this chit & the deers gonna be on my back porch looking for a handout! Cause I forgot to fill my troughs. how did they ever make it with out us. Not mention every gw i know seems to think the way I do were fixing to see our deer population go even more nocturnal.