Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Anyone else get the baiting email?

I just got an email from the AL DCNR that has an article from "Outdoor Alabama" trying to scare us all away from using corn. They show an aerial photo and mention they use little planes and ride around all day looking for corn piles. I thought they were hard up for money? I guess there's still room in the budget for jet fuel and joy rides

I got it. How did the find 50 "illegal" bait sights by plane? Did they know it was being hunted at the time? I could dump 1000 tons of corn in my green fields if I wanted as long as I didn't hunt it. What about them just seeing corn makes it illegal?

Yep got it ! And i believe they use helicopters also . I hunt in baldwin county and we have a helo the regularly flies over our club and he seems to slowdown when he gets to a food plot . We dont bait our plots so we dont have anything to worry about !

Here's the article:
Hunting Over Bait Still Illegal

Wildlife food plots in Alabama have suffered because of the recent drought and some hunters are trying to increase their chances of harvesting a deer by disregarding a long-standing law. Hunting game over bait is illegal in Alabama, but the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources continues to receive calls asking if the law has changed. �There is a rumor being passed around that we�re allowing hunting over bait because of the drought, and that is absolutely not true,� said Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Director Chuck Sykes.

What Alabama does have is an �area definition� regulation that allows for supplemental feeding, but not baiting of game. The area definition applies to hunting deer and feral swine on private land. It states that there shall be a rebuttable presumption that any bait or feed located beyond 100 yards and not within the line of sight of the hunter, is not a lure or attractant on the area where the hunter is attempting to or taking deer or feral swine. �Not within the line of sight� means hidden from view by natural vegetation or terrain features.

ADCNR regularly uses fixed-wing aircraft to conduct wildlife surveys and aid in law enforcement surveillance efforts. Recently, those flights have documented many illegal bait sites. �In just a two-hour period, we documented more than 50 illegal bait sites in one county,� Sykes said. �So we know that it�s a problem, and our officers will be writing tickets for this violation.

�I know that hunters are frustrated that their food plots greened up late − or not at all − because of the drought, but that doesn�t change our hunting laws,� Sykes said.

To read the full area definition regulation, visit http://www.outdooralabama.com/area-regulation.

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama�s natural resources through four divisions: Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. To learn more about ADCNR, visit www.outdooralabama.com.

you didnt know corn was actually a magical substance that attracted trophy bucks like a magnet to steel ?!?!?!

If they really use helicopters, their budget should be cut. That's insane. I bet it's $1,000/hr to operate a chopper.

Some state agencies have airplanes and helocopters, and pilots for them, within their purview and budgets. DCNR is one. Forestry has one/some. Agriculture probably has one/some.

they made sure to specify that they use "fixed-wing aircraft ". But then again it is the government ... they wouldnt lie to us !

...and the governor has a beach house. Government largesse at its finest.

The beach house has been around for decades and IMO should have been sold years ago. No doubt the number of shenanigans, friends who stayed there, illegal stuff and whatever else that went on would make for a good book or three.

At one time there was, I believe, a "governor's getaway" or something like that on Guntersville Lake. Nice house with about 6-7 acres on the lake, similar to the beachhouse but on the lake, I think. Probably other properties like that dotting the state that either were sold, shifted to other agencies/divisions, put into use in some other way or are dormant.

The aircraft can and is used primarily for legitimate work. Sadly, IMO, the lack of news media who can or would request, fight for, get access to and then report on the flight logs and who-why-where-when details is one problem in today's state media.

They're probably using drones.

If they can see a 200lb pile of corn in the middle of a green field and can see the top of the shooting house at the end of said field, I think they could easily conclude that illegal baiting is taking place. Of course they would still have to catch someone in the shooting house but come on.

We've had helicopters fly over our club pre season and hover or slow down over fields. It happened this year right before bow season came in.

Good thing we have a constitution and such to protect us from such assumptions that are frequently wrong.

I saw the email as well. My first thought is that there is no illegal baiting. Just illegal hunting over bait. Would have to be illegal to feed/bait to make the act of feeding/baiting illegal. Just my thoughts!

Oh yea I got one. My question is you can feed your property or whatever but as long as your not hunting over it or around it your good but like in that picture shown they say it was illegal. What if no body hunts that then how is that illegal?

Yes

It's not. Apparently no one that works at the DCNR would ever make it in law school. They are so full of contradictions, half truths, suppositions, assumptions, and down-right bad logic it's amazing.

I received the email as well, seems like a wonderful use of state resources flying around looking for bait piles. If they in fact fly one surveillance plane every day 8 hours a day think how many additional game wardens that would fund. I have no clue how many counties actually participate but lets assume that of the 67 counties at least one county is flying every day 8 hours a day. With the pilot, fuel, maintenance, for a 172 or similar plane you should hit $125/hr. 8hrs/day 365 days/year equals 365k/year. if the average starting salary for a game warden is 30k/year with a overhead and fringe benefit multiplier of 1.7 they could hire 7 full time game wardens for what it cost for those bait hunting flights which seems to me like a far better use of resources.

I don't hunt over bait and I know the argument rages on but I cant for the life of me understand the issue with it nor why DCNR spends so many resources enforcing it other than revenue from tickets. Most everyone around me does, I have a feeder in the middle of our property but its 400 acres of hardwood but we don't hunt close to the feeder. Besides I have not seen a deer from one of my stands since getting back from Nebraska in early November. Secondly what is the fine for hunting over bait? I understand the fine is punishment but tell me how in the hell is hunting over bait close to the same level of severity as a speeding? Those tickets are usually less than $200 so how can the state justify a baiting ticket being 5 times this?