tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post4863392667760167312..comments2023-10-29T15:32:19.571-04:00Comments on The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: Feeders, Feeding, Food Plots: Are they Fair?Albert A Raschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11431765456546701021noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-82230634040560724252011-07-01T23:07:43.312-04:002011-07-01T23:07:43.312-04:00It's funny - I grew up in southern Virginia, w...It's funny - I grew up in southern Virginia, where feeders = poaching, but "hunting" means sitting on the gate of your truck, waiting for a pack of dogs (as in 30 or 40 dogs) to run a scared ass, mangey atypical 6-point buck out of the woods, right in your face, to be shot repeatedly with buckshot (slugs illegal), and located by the dogs the next day.<br /><br />But I've lived in Maryland for the last 14 years, where the culture and laws are the opposite. Almost everybody who CAN feed DOES feed, and no one would ever admit to chasing deer with dogs. <br /><br />And that's just two states with a shared border! <br /><br />Me personally? It depends on why I am hunting. I couldn't live with myself for hanging a B&C in the house that was taken (legally) over a dumptruck load of corn (yes, that happens). However, my hunting scenarios are more often "kill those damn deer off my farm!" in which case I will definitely bait, because I want to shoot two does and get on with my day, and so another hunter can have the same opportunity, until the popuation is set back a bit. <br /><br />I also don't think I would call still-hunting over bait "hunting" at all. It's deer sharp shooting. In my opinion anyway.Kirk Mantayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06556560258304201823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-56606047121948999382010-08-06T12:22:32.959-04:002010-08-06T12:22:32.959-04:00From a biological standpoint, food plots and feede...From a biological standpoint, food plots and feeders are not necessarily habitat. They are food, but food is only a part of the habitat. For wildlife to be healthy and abundant in a specific area, it needs all the components of a healthy habitat... food, water, cover, travel corridors, edge, bedding areas, nesting areas, just to name a few. <br />Food plots provide a more natural way of supplementing the available food and nutrients in an ecosystem than do feeders and mineral licks. Food plots are also spread over a larger area, consequently lessening the concentration of animals in one specific spot. And thus, helping to prevent disease.<br />Feeders and mineral licks are useful as a management tool and as supplemental feed during the latter stages of a hot, dry summer or during a long, cold winter. But their primary use is simply to make animals more visible.<br />Hunting ethics in the matter is definitely an individual thing, as long as state laws are not infringed. We already have too many people in this country who want to tell everyone else how to live. <br />Personally, I choose to hunt without the use of feeders or licks, and because of the reasons listed above(especially the propagation of disease)I am not their biggest fan. <br />But, back to my original point, to think that feeders and food plots are the same is flawed. They are both food, and more and better food helps the habitat. But, without the other habitat components, they simply concentrate the available game in specific areas. They don't necessarily increase the carrying capacity. THAT goal requires a comprehensive habitat management plan.Bio Bohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02725895182053120090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-2262287945950945582009-10-14T21:16:32.445-04:002009-10-14T21:16:32.445-04:00Great comment Debait, amd welcome to TROC.
Albert...Great comment Debait, amd welcome to TROC.<br /><br />AlbertAlbert A Raschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11431765456546701021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-90398339891991724332009-10-13T02:20:10.025-04:002009-10-13T02:20:10.025-04:00The only 'fact' (conjecture) mentioned abo...The only 'fact' (conjecture) mentioned above that is likely to be true is that the bait debate will endure for a long time. More often than not when terms like ‘facts’ or 'the fact of the matter is' get mentioned it is usually simply no more than a rationalization to defend an opinion, position or behavior.<br />The refusal or inability to distinguish the difference between naturally occurring food and water sources or circumstantial crop fields and mechanized devices that distribute manufactured pellets into a barren patch of gravel or a pile of apples, acorns, grain or bag of attractant that is intentionally located in an area that they would not exist otherwise is just another rationalization and perhaps a bit disingenuous.<br />Fingers are often pointed to other types of equipment and technology, but this is at best just a diversion and weak attempt at yet another justification and should be reserved for a separate discussion.<br />It would seem that the small number of individuals that have the financial resources to provide supplemental food for deer year round do not have much of an impact on the amount of forage required of the total deer population, let alone the minuscule amount set out by baiters for 5 to 7 days more or less of the 365 days that 30 million deer are fending for themselves in their own domain and apparently doing quite well on their own. A little more research may reveal some actual numbers to determine what those requirements are compared to what humans might possibly be able to contribute. <br />Here are a few known truths:<br />White-tailed deer are generalists and can adapt to a wide variety of habitats.<br /> A deer's diet changes depending on its habitat and the season. It eats green plants in the spring and summer. In the fall, it eats corn, acorns and other nuts. In the winter, it eats the buds and twigs of woody plants.<br />The Whitetail stomach hosts a complex set of bacteria that change as the deer's diet changes through the seasons. If the bacteria necessary for digestion of a particular food (e.g. hay) are absent it will not be digested. <br />So it would stand to reason that if you think you are doing the deer a favor by ‘supplementing’ them, you may actually be doing more harm than good.<br />Is baiting right or wrong? Yet to be determined, the debate continues.<br />Does baiting shorten the wait, make ’havesting’ more convenient, improve the odds, attract and retain bigger antlers in a preset range, increase the advantage and create controversy, and division absolutely.<br />If these are aspects that are important to you then by all means, load up the bags, buckets and fill the feeder to the brim.<br />If individuals are allowed to “hunt by their own dictates” and all methods are acceptable where is the line and where does it end? Remember the attempt at ‘laptop hunting’ a few years ago, just press enter to kill by means of a remote mounted rifle. Accepted at first, but thankfully even the supporters realized it went too far.Debaitnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-5274205654131385982009-09-18T07:25:12.424-04:002009-09-18T07:25:12.424-04:00I think what angry white man says goes back to wha...I think what angry white man says goes back to what Albert always says "hunt by your own dictates" lets not judge each other so quickly and realize that it is ok to dissagree on specifics as long as we agree that PETA and its kind are dangerous and must be defeated.R. Gabe Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18044107159186060882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-14932766002340976782009-09-17T18:08:06.966-04:002009-09-17T18:08:06.966-04:00I guess it would really boil down to your purpose ...I guess it would really boil down to your purpose for being out there. Are you out there to harvest game for the freezer? Or to hunt? Hunting can be done anytime by anyone, just ask a good photographer. <br /><br />Game harvest is regulated by the state to a given period of time and requires a payment of fees for those wishing to harvest a game animal. The tags are not the hunting license, they are purchased separately for each individual animal you wish to harvest. <br /><br />Hunting and harvesting can be combined, but they are in no way the same thing, and the line can be blurred by many to suit their particular taste. No matter how you choose to define the issue, hunt or harvest, the hunt is over when the harvest hits the ground with exes in their eyes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-43543879678831996872009-09-17T15:06:50.861-04:002009-09-17T15:06:50.861-04:00Ed,
That's a great anecdote. I can imagine sit...Ed,<br />That's a great anecdote. I can imagine sitting in that blind and wondering who else sat there, hopeful that a deer or javalina would happen by.<br /><br />I have used feeders in pursuit of hogs, but I always figure out how they came in and ambush them elsewhere. I've mentioned this before, I won't hunt bear over donuts and bacon grease, just not my cup of tea. But I would hunt them over a carcass. Not much of a difference really, but there is one for me. And as I am fond of saying, a hunt is what I make of it.<br /><br />This is a great topic, and I want to thank Paul again for allowing me to reprint it here. Don't forget to visit his Blog, <a href="http://xtremeflyfish.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Extreme Outdoors</a>.<br /><br />Best regards,<br />AlbertAlbert A Raschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11431765456546701021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-20424796382307161372009-09-17T14:18:27.786-04:002009-09-17T14:18:27.786-04:00On the top of Elephant mountain in the Texas Big B...On the top of Elephant mountain in the Texas Big Bend Country is a small spring and a mineral lick where Bighorn sheep, Mule deer and Javelina have gone to lick the hard rock minerals from the ground and drink water for hundreds of years. About 10 yards from this is a stacked rock blind with just enough window left in the rock for an Apache to pull his bow and shoot and arrow through the window into the heart of a sheep or deer standing at the spring or licking minerals. <br />I pay for supplemental feed and food plots so we will have more game. Without it the habitat will not support the numbers of game animals we have in Texas. I will hunt how I please as long as it is legal and defend your right to hunt as you please as long as it is legal wherever you hunt. Have a fun and safe season whatever your weapon and whatever your method.Wild Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04616707944931436546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-2272027366845109212009-09-17T12:23:05.090-04:002009-09-17T12:23:05.090-04:00Great piece by Paul here! It's a logical disa...Great piece by Paul here! It's a logical disassembly of the argument that avoids the quagmire of "ethics" and "morals" and simply suggests that maybe feeders aren't quite the evil they're made out to be.<br /><br />There's a lot more to the discussion, of course, but this is a great start! <br /><br />Personally, I never cared much for hunting bait or feeders, and still don't if I have the option of wandering the land and discovering my own natural "feeders". But in many cases, it's a good way to go... especially if it helps meet management goals (increased harvest, selective harvest, etc.).Philliphttp://www.hog-blog.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-75248346667677875052009-09-17T10:28:07.394-04:002009-09-17T10:28:07.394-04:00Feeding, or better said supplemental feeding, is a...Feeding, or better said supplemental feeding, is an established management tool from the days of the Mongols and before.<br /><br />The perceived objection to it is the simplification of the hunting process. When it is taken advantage of people object to it. As Native pointed out, a feeder isn't that much different from a watering hole, and finding their access route is what hunting is about.<br /><br />In the end as Albert and others have mentioned, anything to do with hunting is what you make of it.<br /><br />GunSlingerGun Slingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01023846777699697952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-11609166611418326042009-09-17T09:38:58.364-04:002009-09-17T09:38:58.364-04:00This has been to some extent the cause for some ar...This has been to some extent the cause for some arguments in the past of what people think is ethical and what they think is not.<br /><br />I agree with native when he said (The trick (and skill) is to track the animal's movements to and from the feeder, and then ambush them about 300 yards "away" from the feeder itself).<br /><br />This way you are helping to feed the deer and hunt them from a distance without scaring them and making it seem like your baiting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-78235973149411433972009-09-17T08:58:00.807-04:002009-09-17T08:58:00.807-04:00Also,
The trick (and skill) is to track the animal...Also,<br />The trick (and skill) is to track the animal's movements to and from the feeder, and then ambush them about 300 yards "away" from the feeder itself.<br /><br />Because if you go shooting them under the feeder, this will turn them nocturnal, and then in order to harvest your animals you will have to resort to spotlighting.<br /> And at that point it is not called hunting anymore but just simply killing!nativehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04428958610230219051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1999508328036467805.post-33140820446315290082009-09-17T08:45:51.928-04:002009-09-17T08:45:51.928-04:00Very good and timely post Albert,
As we converse h...Very good and timely post Albert,<br />As we converse here, hundreds of thousands of individuals are sitting in a stand overlooking a grain field, and awaiting that perfect opportunity to harvest an animal.<br /><br />Whether it be for a Trophy animal or simply meat, the fact of the matter is that be it a grain field or planted food plot, it is still nothing more than an oversized feeder.<br /><br />And also the other fact which everyone seems to be overlooking these days is that, there just simply is not enough open land to support (by the mast alone) a large population of hunt-able animals anymore.<br /><br />By this I mean that if we humans do not feed the animals out, and especially during the winter months, that they will surely die off until sustainable numbers are reached in the areas where they subsist entirely off of the mast crops (naturally occurring food source)<br /><br />And until this equation is fully understood by everyone, Hunters and Non- hunters alike, this FEEDER controversy will continue on and into eternity.<br /><br />As you have stated yourself Albert, very much like the High Fence issue.nativehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04428958610230219051noreply@blogger.com