Baiting

[azhuntnut]

Rolando, You know how to get them fired up. I suggest sitting on the back porch of your parents house, and just wait for them to come in. This way your clients can get authentic mexican food made by your dad and shoot a pig at the same time.

Guys, I would have to say that Rolando was joking about the feeders. I have hunted with him several times, and we always walk our asses off. He has never mentioned once about hunting over salt or any other bait. Take it easy. David

[Kilimanjaro]

I can't say that I have seen any brush here in AZ that comes remotely close to the South Texas brush country. Sure, I've hiked into thick patches of oak and manzanita, and mesquite thickets that are tough to go through, cholla patches that were big, and so on, but nothing here in AZ compares to the 10 ft. wall of thorns growing so thick you can't find a hole to get into the brush, much less go all the way through it. And, even if all of you macho dudes out there could get into it, you damned sure couldn't go all the way through it cuz it goes for miles and miles...not just in isolated patches. Thats why its called the brush COUNTRY, and not the brush patches..

Ya know, I get sick and tired of everyone saying that this and that is wrong and unethical and unsporting and such and blah, blah, blah.... How the heck would you even know if you have never even tried it? Seems to me that if it doesn't involve a 12 mile hike through the thickest brush, climbing the highest peaks, travesing the deepest canyons, then by Golly, you ain't gonna do it and you're gonna make sure to bash and put down anyone who is going to hunt in a manner not approved by you, the Almighty hunter...

Get a grip guys.. there are people stating their opinions on here who have no basis to in which to compare it to. Seems to me that most people who deem a certain type of hunting as wrong and unethical and such are the same types who will never in their lives stop hunting the same little areas that they have always hunted, in the same state they grew up in, hunting the same species they always hunt. They are set in their " one track mindset" that was passed down from their father, or whoever it was that introduced them to hunting. That is just absurd to pass judgement on something you know absolutely NOTHING about! And if you have tried something and just didn't like it, HEY, don't set there and tell someone else it is wrong just because you didn't like it. Let them make up their own minds on what they think consitutes an enjoyable hunt.

 

I for one enjoy it all.. From glassing from the highest peaks in New Zealand for Tahr and Chamois to hunting the dry arid mountains with my eyes for the little coues bucks out here in AZ with my Swarovski 15's..... to sitting on a tripod in Nuevo Leon Mexico over 10 thousand acres of impenatrable brush during the rut, waiting for that 170 class whitetail buck to come back into the only shooting lane I have within my shooting comfort zone..... From watching bear after bear come to my bait in northern Manitoba and being able to select the biggest, baddest dude in the woods for a close 20 yrd shot with my bow, to sweating my butt off in Greenlee county in late August watching one lone bruin eat pear fruit in the FOV in my 15's out there at 2000 yards and planning a stalk that might put me within spitting distance of him..... From glassing a B&C class Pronghorn out on the high desert from the comfort of my truck and then figuring out a good stalk to get with poking distance with that bean field rifle, to sitting in a pit blind near a water hole all day in the middle of the Mopane thickets of South Africa waiting on that big warthog I happened to see there the day before... From chasing sharptails on the prairies of Montana in 2 degree weather to stepping into an exploding covey of Bobwhites on the Coastal grasslands on south TX in a t shirt with sweat dripping down my brow....Thats the fun in it!!!! There is so much diversity in hunting... And almost all of it is a great thing to try to expirence at least once..

I never understood why hunters are always the first ones to jump on each other's asses just on the way someone hunts. Aren't there enough people out there already who don't give a dang HOW or WHAT you hunt. They hate you just because you hunt period..

I for one go into every hunt with an open mind and the understanding that each hunt is unique and no two are the same.... And I enjoy them all.....

[DotShot]

Amen! i wish i could have said it myself instead of getting pissed at all the closed minds.

[Rembrant]

Me too Scottyboy!!!

But I sure missed Arizona when I hunted deer over corn in Texas once.

Mike

[BRYCE CANYON]

...I just wish they would put big screen TV's in those hunting blinds!

[Idahocoueshunter]

I won't beat a dead horse. Scottyboy was right, we all have an opinion and we're each sure its the right one. We all know in our hearts what is right and wrong, legal or illegal, moral or not, but its us that have to deal with that on a personal basis. Hunters of all types sould stick together to fight the anti hunters, who are just looking forus to drop our guard, fighting among ourselves, and find some fault manipulate. To each his own.

 

 

 

Craig.

[peloncillo]

Very well said Scottyboy. I also have hunted bears over bait in Canada and spot and stalked them here in Arizona. I have hunted the brush country of Texas overlooking senderos and the high desert in Idaho. Its all Hunting and its all Good. I personally prefer to hunt coues deer buts thats because I am crazy. I killed a bear over bait in Alberta and it was on the fourth day of a five day hunt and it was the first bear I saw. Tha patience to sit in the stand with a billion huge hungry mosquitos swarming around you is hard to find. I also have been on coues deer hunts that were relatively easy and some that almost killed me. I think as long as you know in your heart that the animal has a sporting chance then its all right.

 

Keven

 

Heres a pic of my Alberta bear

 

Heres a pic of an Alberta whitetail that I shot during a blizzard while sitting on top of a windmill. I was pretty sure heck almost froze that day. It was cooooold.

[Kilimanjaro]

peloncillo, freakin awesome.....

[bullwidgeon]

Having killed my first 5 or so deer directly over bait in Texas and Louisiana, I am here to say it sucks and doesn't compare to spot and stalk or stand hunting anything. The deer alot of times look up at you and then continue eating especially if there is no mast crop that year or time of year and they have been relying on corn for most of their diet. Also, bears over bait looks pretty weak on T.V. and from what I have heard from buddies who have killed bears over bait. Almost always the bear looks directly up at the stand right before he puts his head in the barrel trying to get to the last donut at the bottom. I have been told by guys who run bear baiting operations back East that sweets are like drugs to bears and alot of them especially younger ones will do anything to get them especially if they are used to getting the same thing at the same time every day in the same place, regardless if a marching band is playing or not in the nearby woods. Accordingly, 80% percent of the bears killed in most of those operations are less than 5 year old weeners. Bears are like a cash crop to them to be raised on bait and shot by someone willing to pay for it. I have never been on a spot and stalk or stand hunt where the animal let me walk right up to him or let me shoot at him after they were aware of my presence and knew what I was. I mean even collared peccaries beat a track out of the country when they figure out exactly where and what you are. I am not sure about Ethics but I do know that baiting is Legal and I guess that's really all that matters because as long as something is legal and makes it easier, then some people are going to do it. I just don't want to hear that hunting with bait is just like chasing something around on foot or scouting out a well used trail or scrape and stand hunting it. Lots of people down South and back East don't bait, they stand hunt in areas and over trails that they scouted out and figure will give them the best opportunity to kill a deer, apparently some of these people have thoughts about Ethics and alot of them, amazingly, kill deer without bait.

 

Bret M.

[.270]

quit using the word ethics. ya can't legislate. if it's legal, it's ethical. but i don't now, or ever will buy it, that you "have" to hunt over corn. it's a lazy way to do things. if you wanna hunt that way, fine. it's legal, therefore 'ethical', but don't tell me you 'can't' do it any other way. when you bait an animal in, you're using it's absolute weakest instinct against it. hunger. chunk out some corn on a fairly regular basis in the same place, and herbivors are gonna collect there. heck, punk some corn back into this impenetrable brush you talk about and then sneak in on it. make some kind of a hunt out of it. but get out on the ground and hunt. take a machete if you have too. but hunt. i guess them deer just live in the "senderos" because it's too thick for them too. don't shoot bears with their head in a garbage can. don't shoot high fence anything. and dang sure don't sit in a heated stand over a pile o' corn. at least don't do it and tell me you're hunting and that there is no other way. at least not if you're in any reasonable health. my ol' man is crowding 80. has to walk with a cane. sometimes 2 canes. he wouldn't be caught dead in a stand over corn. he hobbles off into a likely place and glasses. putts around in his pickup and glasses from all the places he knows he can see from. looks for tracks here and there. and usually always gets a deer. ya don't "have" to hunt over corn. somebody said Az. doesn't have any brush to compare with texas? that's funny. i could take you places that'd make you cry in 5 minutes. heck, they make me cry thinkin' about em, but i still go. every state has tough country. get in it and hunt it. look around. see what lives there. get the wind in your face and hunt. Lark.

[DotShot]

Okay Okay, i made and error, i retract the "you have to" bit dont get so dang hung up on the smalll things.

[Kilimanjaro]

I think .270 has a bit of what I like to call " Napoleon Syndrome" or "little Man's syndrome" I'm pretty familiar with the complex, cuz I work with a bunch or dudes that have the EXACT same mentality ... The 'ol "I can out hike you, my state is thicker and rougher than your state, I don't hunt like this and either should you" always one-up you type of attitude... Its always a pissing match with people who have this type of attitude.. I see it everyday! If you think that because I have hunted deer over a feeder makes me less of a "man" and that your 80 year old dad could out walk me, sir, you are sorely wrong. I gaurantee that I could outwalk or outhike ANYBODY who is up to the challange.. Nobody ever said they didn't enjoy getting out into the rough stuff and having a good time hunting and glassing. heck, it's one of my all time favorite things to do!! But for God's Sake, open your ears... its just like you said.. if its legal, then its ethical.. And if someone wants to do it, then its none of your business to tell them otherwise.. If you don't, fine, but don't patronize someone else for doing it.

 

Oh yeah .270, food isn't the "weakest instinct" an animal has.. its water.. he can damned sure go ALOT longer without food than he can without water. But, thats perfectly fine to hunt over for you, isn't it??

[BRKNAROW]

Well I didnt mean to get evrybody all worked up, I just thought it was wrong for those guys I seen an the TVshow . But G&F said that it was legal to bait other than bears. I thought that it might be cool to hunt pigs out of a blind those piggies are getting harder and harder to find.

[firstcoueswas80]

i do not see anyone here being in the wrong. Scott is from texas, born and raised, but because he HUNTS or has HUNTED or (notice, HUNT is in caps, because it is HUNTING and we are suuposed ot have a certain brother hood, especially us coues hunters) does that make him wrong? heck NO!!!!! i have hunted many times and many species with scott and i can tell you, he loves hunting just as much as myself, or Lark, or Brett, or Amanda. and yes, he can hike anyone out of their boots, heck he did it to me when we were mearns hunting, but he cheated i was carrying a 12 guage and him a 20. hunting it hunting weather it be baiting or workin your butt off for the trophy.

 

with that being sad, i have never hunted over bait, but i have sat a water hole and killed an elk. would i sit at a bait for hours on end in texas? sure, i would try it, doesnt mean i would like it, doesnt mean i wouldnt love it. if its effective, and its what you want to do awesome! i love gettin out there and hiking as far as i can go just like everyone else can. theres just a sense of pride in it for me. am i more proud of the bull that i spoted and stalked when i was 12 years old or the cow i sat at the water tank for? equally proud! both of them were trophies for me and put meat on the table, i also made memories with my dad and grandpa on both hunts. if you want to hunt bait, thats fine. if you dont, thats fine also but ya aint gotta bash the people who do. we have enough enimies outside of the hunting world, ie PETA, antis all that, we dont need to fight amonsgt ourselves!

[SouthernCouesHunter]

firstcoueswas80 is absolutely correct. No matter how you hunt, it is all about putting meat in the freezer and building memories for the future. I myself hunt with a six year old and a nine year old and I usually sit the ground somewhere where we can see as many animals as possible because that is what keeps my boys entertained and I can't see myself trying to put a stalk on a nice buck with the boys behind me asking "Daddy are we getting close yet?"

 

Bottom line: Hunt the way you want, Where you want, and cherish the times you have in Gods great land.

 

Brian