I'm glad this chit's over with for at least a year and I can begin breaking ground and hitting my knees daily praying hard for a successful food plot. God bless lush legal wholesome Holy Food Plots, Nick Sabens, spikes, Natty Lite and Doreeeetos.

Since you guys both saw this as an inevitability then help me understand, if you don't mind - what is the reason that this can't stay on the rails?




Hogwild, I don't intend this to be in any way asking if it is fair to hunt public land, though again I see that as an interesting discussion in its own right. We saw that come up some with the early discussions about what should become of federally owned public lands. I am thankful regularly that this option is available because I LOVE to hunt and do not own land currently in AL or GA, so public land it is! I certainly see it as a choice I am glad that choice exists!

Now the choice to bait wouldn't be quite the same, as I do not see any way that it would be allowed on public lands. This is not a huge issue to me, as there are other things I can't do on the public lands I hunt (use buckshot, shoot does early with a bow or outside of doe days with a gun), so I am perhaps most interested in what the likely impact would be to the public land I hunt if baiting were legalized. As a result of this interest I am also interested in determining the overall feeling of public land hunters to this possible change.

To this question, which is the root of your OP, I believe legalized baiting even with a permit fee could have the potential to draw-attract deer (and turkeys) away from some parts of public lands if the adjacent landowners really got after it with the corn. Whether it would severely impact interior portions to the detriment of hunters, I don't know. I couldn't see how a guy with land on the edge of the Talladega National Forest or Bankhead or even Wheeler NWR could put out enough corn to impact those lands many miles away.

IMO it's in human nature to argue ,beech,moan and groan man has been doing this as long as we've been around. And this bunch is a tough crowd .It's kinda like tomato-tomtoe some say it one way and some another. Some of its in good nature and some are just plain nasty. I've learned to just bite down on the bit as some should do. There's good in all but every now and then THE DEVIL in us comes out.

wouldnt the neighbors foodplot draw deer too? I think what you gotta look at, is they might pull some deer, but they aint gonna hold all the deer. I would think all the folks tromping around on public land would push more deer than what could be pulled.

Outside of specific hunts - like the Black Warrior early gun hunt, for example - how many folks are on public land other than Friday-Sunday?

Good points made by both...ill try to stay on path and say I wish it were legal. We hardly take any does off our property..we have a decent lease in a decent area....do I feel bad about shooting a deer eating corn? No more than I do for shooting one eating grass out of food plot. The part that I don't understand is people talking about the hard work that goes into a good plot etc.....it is more difficult than throwing a 50 pound sack of corn out I agree.....but what about the guy who can't afford a tractor? I don't own a tractor. Can't afford it simply put............my club now has one....my former club didn't.....so we had to pay someone to plant what little area of our pine plantation that we had....did I mention we didn't own the land lol......now could I throw corn in the rows of pines and attract deer? Possibly so.....see where I'm going with this? I know the argument will come up all the time with people saying different things.....some will say man I just love to plant food plots.....well to that guy volunteer and plant peoples who don't have access to a tractor...and since you love it so much do it for free! They buy seed you do the plowing and planting etc......the same guy who says that also says this......oh man I just like to go sit in the stand and watch deer.....oh really? Well how many in here can say that they have went and sat in a stand during a cold front in March just to watch deer? I'm saying not many.......i will be that the ones who are opposed to the bill have very good property in a good area with good deer numbers. I am by no means saying corn is king but I would like to see for myself if it's beneficial to seeing more deer.

It's been mentioned that the reason it wouldn't pass was money, specifically the loss of "bait tickets". I wonder how many tickets per year are written for baiting.
I also wonder how many deer hunters there are in the state and what percentage of them would buy the $15 bait license.

Sounds like an easy survey that could be done, like what FWC does via email.

I am for either making it Legal or Illegal.
The actual LAW has not changed.
And, the DCNR Ruling really will not hold water in Court. It is simply a guideline for their officers.
I am 50 yrs old and I have seen both ends of this spectrum.
From entire Clubs being closed to ALL hunting from the time catching and fining an individual hunter over bait until 10 days after ALL the bait was gone on the property......
To the current 100yds & out of sight ruling of late.

I will give credit to the current DCNR for at least TRYING to clarify it!!

But, until the actual LAW is changed......it is still a grey area that can be abused by either side.

I am for making it legal because it's less restrictive and hasn't been shown to hurt the wildlife, not because I think more deer will get shot. That said, illegal is better than the garbage ruling we have now and I don't think the holdup is money made off baiting tickets.

That said, public land restrictions should be more restrictive as needed by the location, number of hunters, amount of wildlife, etc. They currently restrict the seasons, size of animals, etc. on public land differently that the state as a whole. I see no reason why they would treat a new law any differently.

I hunt public land a lot and I hunt private land too. I couldn't care less one way or the other about baiting but I do care if the state wants to place a fee on baiting if its made legal in the near future. They should make it legal or leave it illegal and quit trying to find a way to make more money from the hunters.

I'm a public land hunter and if anything private land legal baiting would improve public land hunting. Since it won't be allowed on public land it won't affect the public land deer herd whatsoever, but it would probably make it less crowded with hunters since some would prefer to hunt private land where they can bait.

I think bad corn full of aflatoxin has killed millions of turkeys in AL. Every grain should be tested before it's allowed to be put out.

Chicken liter on feilds dont help...

Don’t care one way or tother. Just want less laws as a general principle.

My place is small.
I prefer 50 yards and almost out of sight.

Chicken litter will actually neutraluze aflatoxin in corn. Besides, if there was aflatoxin in litter, there would be a house full of dead chickens from aflatoxin poisoning somewhere.

Ill take your word for it since u signed up on aldeer to correct me with your 1st post

Deer eat korn ???