Attention Illegal MN Deer Baiters…

If you bait deer in MN, I hate you, I hope you get caught and all your guns taken away, and never get to hunt again….

There, I said it.

Baiting is for people who can’t hunt… Be a real hunter and put out 4 Mock scrapes, hang several doe urine wicks, Drag some doe scent, put out a fake doe decoy, hit your buck grunt, rattles some antlers and hit the doe bleat ever know and then. If all that fails, launch a dozen buck bombs!

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ClownColor wrote:

Baiting is for people who can’t hunt… Be a real hunter and put out 4 Mock scrapes, hang several doe urine wicks, Drag some doe scent, put out a fake doe decoy, hit your buck grunt, rattles some antlers and hit the doe bleat ever know and then. If all that fails, launch a dozen buck bombs!

Now that’s funny!

Coletrain27 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>ClownColor wrote:</div>
Baiting is for people who can’t hunt… Be a real hunter and put out 4 Mock scrapes, hang several doe urine wicks, Drag some doe scent, put out a fake doe decoy, hit your buck grunt, rattles some antlers and hit the doe bleat ever know and then. If all that fails, launch a dozen buck bombs!

Now that’s funny!

100 percent agree. Thats a real hunter

Which reminds me ,was warned not to bring deer scent across the border into Manitoba , illegal ! Stopped at Glenns in Grand Rapids was about to buy some Minnesota deer pee. Until i found out a big no,no , Manitoba not risking it because of CWD

When legal, I having nothing against it, but baiting deer does show a lack of woodsmanship.

20+ years ago I walked up to the counter of a small local gas station with a 50lb bag of corn over my shoulder. I had killed a few does and small bucks over corn, so I know it worked….

An old timer sitting on the bench (who I knew very well), said to me…”You don’t need corn to kill a deer…..just follow the deer sign and sit in the woods.”

Of all of the hunting advice I’ve ever heard, read, or watched, it was and still is the most important thing any hunter can do.

Learn to read the woods, when to be in the stand (don’t skip mid-day during the seek/chase phase) and have confidence.

I have my share of bucks on the wall, and not a single one of them was shot over bait, even though legally I could have had it out for most of them.

So if a farmer in MN has a crop of vegetables planted and he also wants to bow hunt for deer on his farm, would it be a crime for him to hunt next to his planted field? or how about his cattle feed piles?
Answer NO it is not illegal for a farmer to hunt on his own land while doing normal agriculture practices. So the question is, would a DNR officer be dumb enough to arrest a farmer for deer hunting next to his planted crops the deer are already eating???? If a DNR officer did that all of MN farm land would instantly become illegal for non-landowners to hunt. As farmers would be really F’N pissed if they have to watch their crops being eaten by massive deer herds but not allowed to hunt on their own farm!!!!!… Watch for this legal case to come soon!!!!! DNR is nasty! Someone please tell me under what MN constitutional statute did WE the People give our wild animals to be under total control by the DNR??????? NOT FOUND!! WAKE UP DUMMIES THEY DONT HAVE THAT LEGAL RIGHT!

Guaranteed you didn’t get arrested for hunting next to crop land. Go wine about it somewhere else.
DT

Try again

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Any crops that are present as the result of “normal agricultural practices” are legal to hunt. A pile of corn or apples in the woods is not a result of normal ag practice. An archery hunter who has placed a stand near a crop of vegetables is not in violation as long as the vegetables have been planted and are present as a result of normal agricultural practices.

There is a zero tolerance policy on bait now because it has become so prolific. You can lose your hunting privileges, gun, etc with the first offense.

Alton konig wrote:

So if a farmer in MN has a crop of vegetables planted and he also wants to bow hunt for deer on his farm, would it be a crime for him to hunt next to his planted field? …

Go trolling in the fishing forums.

gimruis wrote:

Also, claiming to not know a pile of bait was in proximity to your stand is not a good enough excuse. Make sure there is nothing nearby.

You are correct. Not knowing about baiting activities that are going on on the same property that you hunt is not an excuse. DNR will confiscate your firearm, fine you, and then plaster it all over outdoor news.

basseyes wrote:

If you were a non deer hunter or hunted elsewhere and had a major problem with a neighbor who hunted, all you’d have to do is bait/feed your whole property border and they wouldn’t be allowed to hunt anywhere near your shared property line? Seems like someone could really screw with neighbors they didn’t like.

Correct. This is actually defined as hunter harrassment and it’s in the handbook however in my experience if it happens to you MN DNR will simply call you a liar. Even when the other party admits fully to placing bait.

All I can say is if you hunt family property or areas where other people might be hunting or have access to, you should conduct a thorough investigation of the entire property prior to hunting it on opening day or you risk losing privileges, fine, and forfeiture of firearms.

FWIW I got my gun back, but only after being coerced into making a guilty statement. “Your firearm will never go to auction unless you plead guilty to placing bait” were the exact words. Yes I’m still pissed about this, I know most CO’s are good folks but the ones involved in my situation were rude, overstepping, and ignoring evidence. Total cost was 3 trips to Virginia, MN for court, $700 fine, $500 to buy my own gun back, and then being labelled as an illegal baiter.

What % of illegal baiters are prosecuted, fined, etc?

I’m going to put the over/under at 2.5%

I appreciate the message of the original post, but the MNDNR doesn’t have 1/10th of the resources it needs with COs to enforce these laws adequately.

Well have no worries, fellas. I can confirm that baiting is going on at a typical pace again this year. I have seen several trucks at the gas station recently loaded with wheelers/shack gear that also had several bags of corn packed….. I assume these guys are not filling squirrel feeders with a couple hundred pounds of corn near their shacks? The amounts of corn in guys carts at the local fleet supply supports this trend.

I personally know of a few guys within a couple miles of me that have feeders out on their properties. I won’t be calling the authorities on it, because living in a rural, small community, it is too easy to make enemies and it just isn’t worth it.

I have a hard time understanding how hunting over a food plot planted specifically for deer is not considering “feeding/baiting”.

Pete

Pete – that brings me to a question I’ve always struggled with:

Hunting baited deer is unethical or deemed illegal by MN law (I’m supportive of this).

Bears can be baited to an area for hunting (I’m confused by this).

No, I don’t currently hunt bears and no I don’t mind that they’re harvested. I hope to have the time to hunt them someday. The discrepancy in regulations between species is what gets me.

I believe the reason deer baiting is illegal is because of disease transmission, not whether or not it is ethical. Cervids are very social animals and also susceptible to many more proximity-based diseases where baiting puts all the animals at one confined food source.

Timmy wrote:

Well have no worries, fellas. I can confirm that baiting is going on at a typical pace again this year. I have seen several trucks at the gas station recently loaded with wheelers/shack gear that also had several bags of corn packed….. I assume these guys are not filling squirrel feeders with a couple hundred pounds of corn near their shacks? The amounts of corn in guys carts at the local fleet supply supports this trend.

I personally know of a few guys within a couple miles of me that have feeders out on their properties. I won’t be calling the authorities on it, because living in a rural, small community, it is too easy to make enemies and it just isn’t worth it.

Are you sure they aren’t making moonshine?

Baiting can be a very gray area and some wardens will take advantage of that. I’ve heard of cases with duck/goose hunters where corn or oat fields were unable to be harvested (to wet). The farmers then disked the crops down to get ready for the next season. When it was hunted guys were nailed for baiting. If a farmer disking his crops down to get ready for the next crop isn’t a farming practice I don’t know what is? Also heard of the same thing happening if there was a grain spill in the field. Kinda dirty.

KPE wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
Also, claiming to not know a pile of bait was in proximity to your stand is not a good enough excuse. Make sure there is nothing nearby.

You are correct. Not knowing about baiting activities that are going on on the same property that you hunt is not an excuse. DNR will confiscate your firearm, fine you, and then plaster it all over outdoor news.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>basseyes wrote:</div>
If you were a non deer hunter or hunted elsewhere and had a major problem with a neighbor who hunted, all you’d have to do is bait/feed your whole property border and they wouldn’t be allowed to hunt anywhere near your shared property line? Seems like someone could really screw with neighbors they didn’t like.

Correct. This is actually defined as hunter harrassment and it’s in the handbook however in my experience if it happens to you MN DNR will simply call you a liar. Even when the other party admits fully to placing bait.

That’s actually not true per page 60 of the regs (re. baiting).

“A person otherwise in compliance with this section who is hunting on private
or public property that is adjacent to the property where bait or food is present
is not in violation if the person has not participated in, been involved with, or
agreed to baiting or feeding wildlife on the adjacent property.”

For the record, in no way do I condone illegal baiting, but if a neighboring property is baiting you at least don’t need to forsake a portion of your own property because of it. You

Surprised they are they still using planes for this – I bet they could buy a pile of drones for less money.

blackbay wrote:

Are you sure they aren’t making moonshine?

Maybe if the bucks were drunk, I’d have a much better success rate!

trophy19 wrote:

I have a hard time understanding how hunting over a food plot planted specifically for deer is not considering “feeding/baiting”.

Food plots are not considered baiting for several reasons.

First, a food plot is not concentrated like a bait pile where the deer literally are attracted within yards of the hunter.

Secondly, unlike a bait pile, a food plot can’t be replenished. When the food is gone in a food plot, it’s gone. With baiting, it’s just pouring out a few more bags of corn on the bait pile.

Finally, a food plot offers wildlife benefits from the minute the crop germinates. A bait pile only benefits the person trying to kill the deer.

I know some people don’t like food plots and that’s fine, but there’s a major difference between food plots and bait piles. I also don’t think food plots work like many who consider them like baiting actually think they do. In my area, it takes about 4 shots for the deer to figure out something’s very, very different and head for cover. From then on, it’s a cat and mouse game and you aren’t going to find anything except maybe young does and fawns in a food plot during daylight hours.

buckybadger wrote:

Pete – that brings me to a question I’ve always struggled with:

Hunting baited deer is unethical or deemed illegal by MN law (I’m supportive of this).

Bears can be baited to an area for hunting (I’m confused by this).

No, I don’t currently hunt bears and no I don’t mind that they’re harvested. I hope to have the time to hunt them someday. The discrepancy in regulations between species is what gets me.

I’ve hunted bear since 1976. There a completely different creature than a deer. If you hunt in bear country, have you ever seen a bear, other than a rare occurrence?? Unless your Daniel Boone or Davey Crockett the chance of going out in a woods and actually seeing a bear are slim to none.

waldo9190 wrote:

That’s actually not true per page 60 of the regs (re. baiting).

“A person otherwise in compliance with this section who is hunting on private
or public property that is adjacent to the property where bait or food is present
is not in violation if the person has not participated in, been involved with, or
agreed to baiting or feeding wildlife on the adjacent property.”

For the record, in no way do I condone illegal baiting, but if a neighboring property is baiting you at least don’t need to forsake a portion of your own property because of it. You

I don’t condone it either. However MN DNR defines what constitutes a “baited area”. Bait they cited when it happened to me was on public land adjacent to family property. They deemed the entire 70 acres of property to be baited, confiscated 6 firearms, and 2 deer that were taken a half mile from any sort of bait.

The illegal baiter stood in front of all of us and DNR and admitted they did it the weeks leading up to hunting. Didn’t matter.

My point being you can cite the book all you want ultimately the CO can do whatever they want and the burden will be on you to try to prove otherwise. Guilty until proven innocent. Like I said most CO’s are good people. Some aren’t.

Red Eye wrote:

Baiting can be a very gray area and some wardens will take advantage of that. I’ve heard of cases with duck/goose hunters where corn or oat fields were unable to be harvested (to wet). The farmers then disked the crops down to get ready for the next season. When it was hunted guys were nailed for baiting. If a farmer disking his crops down to get ready for the next crop isn’t a farming practice I don’t know what is? Also heard of the same thing happening if there was a grain spill in the field. Kinda dirty.

Disking/plowing under unharvested crop isn’t a “normal agricultural practice” as determined by the feds, so therefore = baiting per the feds.

Spilled grain here and there during normal harvest isn’t baiting. excessive amounts of spilled grain, say from a gravity box or grain cart tipping over and not cleaned up, which then attracts waterfowl = baiting. Often times you’ll see the state conservation officers at odds with the USFWS wardens when it comes to baiting determinations, but when in doubt, when it comes to waterfowling, get the feds’ opinion first.