bait piles....how do they work?

[buckslayer]

i hear all this stuff about hunter "stealing deer" from other hunters by using bait piles. how much bait is put out for deer to eat then bed down near the piles then eat again and get it fill??? also what is the chance of a deer coming to the pile in leagal shooting light?? the reason i'm asking is because i have 40 acres of land(THICK :shock: ) to hunt between 2 corn/bean fields. it seems the deer are coming ou in the fields after dark so i was thniking about some bait and a SMALL1/5 acre food plot about 80 yds inside the woods to give the deer somthing to feel ''safe'' while eating in shooting hours then go in the fields. would this work?? bait is illegal in virginia if you can see it from the stand so i'm thinkin' about setting up on a trail leading to the bait.......... how's it sound??? thanks for ALL info

[New Hampshire]

Well, baiting is one of those iffy things.  Sometimes it will work like magic, sometimes it wont do nuthin but bring in the flys (or if your luck yearlings.)  Most guys think they can dump 5 dozen apples in a pile and expect the deer to be beating each other up to get there.  The key to successful baiting requires a couple of things.  A good area to work with is one.  By that I mean you will probably have better luck setting up in a more dense area with good cover (for your stand) that will also provide a bit of comfort to the deer.  Next is that you have to get the site up and running as soon as legally possible.  This gives the deer time to get used to coming in.  A trail camera will help things, but is not necessary.  The choice of bait is a bit trick and wil probably require a few years of trial and error to see what the deer really like.  I would probably stick with one of the over the counter deer feeds available.  Apples and other fruits, while being like candy to deer, rot too easily and can not really guarentee the deer will find them.  You could try cutting up a handful or too to get the scent into the air, but again its just easier to go with bagged deer feed.  Keep the site tended as much as possible without getting too out of hand where the deer can detect you, which is when the game amera can be handy.  Find out what part of the day the deer are away longest and use that time to tend the bait.  Try and keep your scent down to a minimum, so wear gloves and anything else you might think help.

Last but most importantly.  Once the season is over, before the deer begin to yard up, STOP BAITING.  If you start feeding deer when they yard up you could create a situation where they become dependant on you for their food which is a BAD thing.  This is why, at least in my state, every year there is a warning about the hazards of feeding the deer in the winter.
Brian M.

[longwinters]

You really don't need to bait.  If you set up to watch areas where deer will enter the fields, but a 100 yds or so into your woods, you are accomplishing the same purpose.  Sounds like maybe you just need to do some trimming (in the off season) to give yourself some good shooting lanes.  Just stay away from the field edges well into your property.

Long

[huntsman]

First of all, don't "pile" the bait, because it will mold easily as soon as it gets wet. Spread it around in the grass and leaves so the deer have to forage for it, and it will hold them longer and they will eat less at one time.

Strange way to word a bait law. Let's see, this last year I could've baited to within about 20 yards or so of my stand and never seen a drop of bait for the weeds. Is it that you can't see the bait, or that you can't see the area that's baited?

Anyway, with your constraint I would try to bait some of the trails leading to the field from the thicker brush, and lie in wait either between the bait and the field if the trails go a good way back in the brush, or between a bedding area and the bait trails, if they are closer to the field. It might take a few days for the deer to catch on to what's going on.

[JPSaxMan]

Another thing is to watch your laws. In PA, you have to remove any 'bait' (not occuring in nature food source) within 30 days of your intended stand site. Game Warden catches you, you might as well rip up your own license and hand him your gun, b/c that's where it's all going.

Keep that in mind. I'm gonna try some food plots where my stand will be next season. They make a food plot that once planted it will hold deer to your area. I'd probably plant it a week or two before the season, then as the deer eventually eat it all, the season opens and, well....you fill in the rest :twisted: .  

[nico243]

I don't know if this tip is already known or used by you across the pond but I find here in the UK a couple of salt licks (thats what we commonly call em here, I don't know what they are called over there) mineral/salt blocks used for horses and other livestock, strategically place on rides/trail over which your tree-stands/high-seats over look, are quite successful here and it is a very common practice in the rest of Europe.
It has the obvious advantage of not really interfering with the deers natural diet as they treat it as a supplement (and when successful it pulls em in like a candy-store to a small child on pocket-money day!)
I stalk/manage deer 365 days of the year and I use my salt-licks near a couple of wild apple trees, and on this particular estate they are very effective.
Just a thought, hope it may be of some use to you guys :-)

[JPSaxMan]

Yep, we've been usin salt block since....oh God knows when.

[nico243]

:oops: ok I' grab my hat 'n' coat on the way out! :oops:
another "dirty trick" that can be employed by some (not myself of course :wink: ) is a scent to actually drive deer away from a certain point of your shoot, a really cheap and effective trick is to use the cheap, budget house-hold soapbars, just bore a hole through them, attach string  and hang them where you DON'T want the deer, I occasionally use this method to keep deer away from new plantations of trees and new coppiced woods.
I don't know the legalities of this practice over there but it occasionally used here (albeit discreetly :wink: )

[JPSaxMan]

Nah Nico, no pun intended. Just lettin ya kno. My neighbor oddly has a salt block placed out in her front yard but I rarely see deer come to it anymore  :? . Used to, but now naturally that I'm hunting on the new land and got a gun  :-D  

[rockbilly]

:roll: Normally it does not make any difference how tall the weed/grass is in an area.  Bait it and the deer will find it, continue to put bait in that place and after a few weeks it will be all walked down by the deer.

If you can find it in your area, Paymaster (ACCO feeds) makes a deer and game block that is flavored with wild berrys.  It comes in a block about 10x10x12 inches.  Deer love them.

Another thought, rather than use just an old salt block, buy a mineral block.  It contains salt but also has several other minerals that encourage rack growth.  The Paymaster blocks also have several minerals to help growth.

I keep several 55 gal. drum timed feeders going year round.  I usually feed a mixture of corn, Purina Game and Deer feed and Rack Master.  The deer feed on this almost year round, but at times when they won't come to the timed feeders I put out several of the Paymaster blocks and back they come.  I keep the mineral blocks out year round too.

[JPSaxMan]

Billy, I'm thinking I might have to deploy your tactic. Can you find that stuff at Agway? How much does the feed(s) by themselves cost? When in the year do you put them out? That sounds like a great way to keep deer to an area.  

[freddogs]

They bait deer here in my state but the laws are constantly changing. I don't bother with it myself. Most guys use corn or apples but deer like sqaush and pumpkins and root vegtables too. If you toss 6-10 apples out each day the deer will find them. They are like candy to them. If you spread them around the deer will spend more time in the area looking for them. In our gun season the deer are too busy moving from hunters to stop and feed much. A lot depends on hunting pressure.

[rockbilly]

Fishman, I buy from a Purina dealer here in Texas, the blocks are about $9. each.  Depending on the number of deer eating on them, they last about a week.  The mineral block should be available from any feed store, it's the same thing ranchers use for cattle.

Freddogs made a comment about other feeds.  He is correct, deer will eat a lot of things some folks think they will never touch.  Early this year I had a 50lb bag of last years pecans that I had picked up intending to ship to my sister-in-law.  They set in the shed and got a little rancid over the summer so I took them out to the farm and spread them on the ground around the feeder.  The deer worked them over.  I have used peanuts (expensive), sweet pototes, watermellon, pears from my trees and apples.  They will come to all of them, it seems something diffrent works best until they kinda get use to it, but they ALWAYS come to the Paymaster feed.  I don't feed just to lure them within shooting range, I started feeding to supplement their natural source during the drought years.  Now it is a management program to produce larger racks and provide for a better overall herd.

[Buckfever]

I hunt in Canada and they can use bait piles in Saskatchewan.  Most people think that the deer just go to feed like cattle.  The young deer go in pretty direct however the big smart bucks aren,t looking to eat they did that at night.  They are 100 yds or so away looking and smelling for a hot doe.  So you have to concentrate at down wind locations.  Usually when they make their move it is fast and then they are back in the bush.  Very exciting but far from easy.  Even when you see one it is hard to make them in the bush as to size.  I am adsolutely beat when the day is done.  The level on concentration is high and always you never know when something will happen.    Thanks  Buckfever