ALL I can relay here is what I have been told or what I was told is the answer to questions I have asked of the PGC or questions folks on my message board have asked over the past 8 years of doing this kind of stuff... if you do not like the answers that is up to you..
BAITING is one of the argument I myself have had with PGC folks.. too much of it is up to the individual WCO or person defining the law...
personally I wish they would just make baiting legal state wide and be done with it... too many horror stories about WCOs saying what they consider baiting..
Here's what I have been told by the three local ones.. this is their definition basically...
If it is growing or is natural to the area you are hunting its not baiting... ie. oak trees and acorns, apples trees and apples that fall from THAT tree... corn fields and other crop type field, food plots..
salt blocks or lose salt ... not natural ... it's baiting if salt or residue is not cleaned-up and you hunt near it.. a stump soak with salt from a salt block there most of the summer..baiting if you hunt near it..
corn.. same thing.. empty cobs... that's a split == two say no .. one says yes.. it's residue and still attracts deer... the others say it does not attract deer...
minerals and those deer foods you spread on the ground and the deer love it so much they even eat the ground and leave a giant hole..
.. baiting if the deer are still coming there ...so as I said baiting laws are pretty much up to the WCO is some cases...
scents... if it is on the person and being used to mask the human smell.. not baiting... spraying it on a tree or in the air ... baiting...
those deer attractants.. pees, estrus, urine etc.. they are legal..
now you tell me what's the difference== if I drag a rag soaked with apple juice or deer pee as I walk into the woods... pee = legal apple juice=baiting ??????????????
Here's a funny story...
archery season....
I have out a deer decoy soak in estrus (attractant) = legal
I climb an apple tree to watch decoy... legal
I knock down some apples as I climb ...legal
I have a few plastic apples (wax)with me and put them on the ground == nope Baiting..
a bring a few apples from home == Baiting
while in my stand I eat an apple hanging close by (legal) and throw the core on the ground ==baiting
the best thing to do in my opinion is talk to your local WCO or the one for where you will be hunting if you are worried about being cited for hunting over a baited area....
and I would suggest knowing the area around where you are set up, standing or posting to be sure someone else has not baited the area... not knowing there was bait there will NOT get you out of a citation in most cases..
As for how far away you must be... forget it...
every PGC person I have talk to has a different answer to that one
so that's my take on baiting ..
and call it or me what you want ... but I can't wait to get it solved once and for all ... by making baiting legal state wide.
post edited by Dr. Trout - 2009/10/12 13:18:37