Fun4all, maybe I completely misinterpreted what you were saying. I thought you were suggesting the state shouldn't allow baiting with corn poured out of a sack because it would give private landowners an unfair advantage over public land hunters. It sounds like maybe you agree with me? Public land should be viewed as a hunting club with its own rules imposed by the state, feds, or whoever owns/manages it. If you want to hunt there, have at it. If you don't like the rules, find a club where you do. There's no reason that private landowners should have to play by the same rules as public land hunters. I have spent far more days hunting public land than private and always felt fortunate to have it. I've never felt entitled to hunt public land.

I don't get where you feel allowing hunting over "bait" is asking the state for a handout. Quite the contrary, asking the state to limit what private landowners do based on what the state choses to do on public land _ THAT would be the epitomy of socialism. I've said several times, that I have never hunted over bait, and don't intend to. But, I don't feel the need to impose my way of hunting on everyone else. The strongest argument I've heard on why bait should be illegal is that is isn't sportsmanlike. Well, I don't want to shoot a bear over a garbage can, but I don't care if someone else does. I don't shoot ducks on the water, but I don't care if someone else does. I wouldn't shoot a turkey that I just happened up on by mistake, but I don't care if someone else does. I rarely shoot does, but I don't care if someone else does. The state doesn't need to impose regulations just because that's the way we've always done it.

As hunters, most of us go through a progression as we get older. As kids, many of us just wanted to shoot something just to look at it. Later many of us wanted to kill a buck. Then, for some, it became a numbers thing (I skipped that one). Then it's a racked buck. Then, maybe a bow. Followed by the desire to kill a monster, which seems to mean slaughtering as many does as you can. Eventually, we just want to be out there and it's no longer about pulling the trigger. Maybe not all of you, but most have gone through some of these phases. It seems to me that many of you forgot the way you used to feel and what used to excite you about hunting. Now that we are "enlightened", we seem to know exactly what hunting is all about. Unfortunately, we are compelled to force everyone else into hunting the way we like to - at this particular moment. Unless the deer herd is in jeopardy, the state needs to give hunters as many liberties as is reasonable when it comes to hunting, instead of tailoring the laws to fit personal preferences.