My county in Georgia has a one day bear hunt this year and I can't wait. I used to live in Maine and enjoyed hunting bear each year fair chase in a state that has a huge economy for hunting bear over bait. No baiting in Georgia for bears!
Hmmmmmm I agree with the no baiting and applaud Georgia for taking that stance.
Yet they go and approve baiting of Deer. WHAT THE HECK! Yeah all that stuff they promote on TV and in stores people are now buying gallon pals of it. They'll be dumping it on the ground like giant ant hills waiting for deer to come in to feed. One main reason I switched clubs this year was because of baiting practices on the club I used to belong too when it was illegal.
Anyone can shoot an animal over a bait site but can you really call it hunting?
Once you made that call then you can move to food plots. Agriculture for the sole purpose of attracting, feeding and hunting wildlife, is it the same as baiting? Sounds the same to me and more expensive. Last year I hand broad cast rye grass in the road where one of my stands was set up. It took very nicely for late deer season. I didn't think anything of it. Yet later I pondered the question was I a hypercritic.
Now with those two controversial issues you might as well look at trapping too. Do you salt water fish? You do! Do you chum the waters to bring in the fish? Works great and its ok right! It’s baiting game fish. Back in the day I used that argument with another outdoorsman that hated baiting of bears but thought chumming waters for game fish is ok. It certainly got heated. Apples compared to oranges kind of stuff.
Here's the problem. There are too many activists out there that would like to take away all rights to hunt. Sometimes we hunters can be our own worst enemies for advocating or voting yes to this and no to that. If it’s legal then support you fellow hunter.
I don’t like hunting over bait. But where do we draw the line? When do we become activists to preserve our right to enjoy the outdoors via hunting? Do we do nothing until it’s gone of course not! But should we be activists against our fellow hunter that enjoys hunting over bait? We should all take an active role to ensure the preservation of wildlife and the traditions of hunting. What have you done to take on an active role? This question was for me too. Can I honestly say I have done enough? Have I left it all in the ring, field or court? Not hardly but I plan to do better not hope to do better. Hope is not a plan.
