Retired Guy

Dar-
Thanks for the reply-much appreciated.
   I am pretty much in the same boat as you with the manner I now hunt deer- I hunt a wooded ridge 2 with no agriculture save an old hay field that sometimes is harvested and sometimes not nearby. Unfortunately it is a VERY small place. The poachers on the other acres keep the deer moving my way on regular occasion though and they dont dare come over to my side. Mine is a great day bedding area if ya keep quiet and move easy.
    In order to get larger I must go to State property or to an Uncles small farm across the State. Used to have properties all over and some quite large - Urban sprawl killed all that.
A Cousins large farm ( now all houses) had an acre of beets each year along a hedgerow in an old pasture that I NEVER knew about for years hunting that place- just by chance I never took a deer near that spot. Went nuts thinking bout the legalities when I found out bout it though. He never harvested it and said it was there just so he could see the deer now and again from the house. He was a closed mouth old Yankee and didnt want his SPOT known to anyone.
     What a difference in my place upstate NY -can walk all day- no issues. (cept for the OLD GUY drag) , but then they let ya cut up in the woods too.
    Hunted a farm near my home for a long time and the owner put in MILO as a cash crop one year. The Deer wouldnt even leave that field when it was being cut- it was only a 5 acre field and it brought in a ton of deer.. Even after the harvest enough grew back  to have Deer in it most anytime you looked-It was comical cause it had houses on 3 sides and a road passing by but those Deer LOVED that stuff. They never planted it again cause it didnt pay off but it was neat to see. Took 2 bow Deer there and never even considered it baiting- normal agriculture.
  Thanks again for the considerate response.
  

ESOX_
  That is a reasonable common sense law that in all probability could or should be in place wherever we hunt.
    Also a great way to approach the condition if the laws where ya go aren't specific enough. The only exceptions of course are where baiting IS permitted and often encouraged due to local conditions- I haven't done it but can uderstand it in some cases. 

   Agree in concept- ya will NEVER find a cleverly  placed bait-heck they even got that corn holder that looks like a tree stump.
As past L/E can understand the why of the law- everyone caught would say IIIIII didnt Knooooow and then hide the corn bags in their pickup.
  There is still the need for somebody to say ya were negligent or somehow had knowledge- Simply NOT a reaonable thing for a guy to have had to peek behind each bush, swamp and deadfall on a square mile of forest. Or to have walked each and every spot in a series of fields  to Search his area.
Any reasonable common sense L/E would know that stuff and in all likelihood use common sense. ( have worked with an exception or two but even the courts get to know those guys very quickly)

The stories about baiting that I have heard from the WCOs are just about 90% of the time a story of a guy sitting in a tree stand or sitting within 100 yards of a baited area or especially a bait pile....

The reason for that is you only hear about the cases that are successfully prosecuted. The PGC doesn't advertise the cases they lose or the cases where they don't have enough evidence to file charges.

One potential problem with the baiting regs is that an anti-hunter can use them to shut down hunting on adjoining properties. For example, if an anti-hunter owned 10 acres and placed piles of corn on all for sides of his property, he would in effect make 300 or more yds of the adjoining properties off limits to all hunting. The solution to this problem would be for the legislature to make all feeding of wildlife,except elevated bird feeders, illegal during hunting season.

If you read my Anti post you will know how I feel bout them. They do some seriously bothersome stuff.
  Around here they used to bid on State Land Trapping areas regularly-and they bid high enough to buy the annual rights to trap- which they of course never did. State finally said it was only legal for real trappers to bid and anyone NOT trapping would immediatley loose their standing.
     Recall that TV ( the hard way) bow hunter who shot a great Griz  up in Alaska and later reported the Antis had purchased the Hunting rights to the place.
    They and their kind are NOT to be trusted. They are trying to STOP our way of life.