[ArkArcher]

Ok, I know the rules say, Deer may not be hunted over bait from Feb. 1-29 if the hunter knows, or should reasonably know, the area is baited. An area is considered baited for 10 days following complete removal of the bait but here is my question. If I wanted to scout for turks with my trail camera starting now, and wasn't going to bow hunt anymore this season, could I put corn out for the camera to see what turkeys are in the area? Per the rules, it doesn’t say this is illegal. I know I would have to stop baiting the turkeys before the season, but was asking about the time between now and then. :thumb:

 

[dunnhead]

Like you said, as long as you stop baiting 10 days before you start hunting there you should be fine.

 

[reggie-2-guns]

Or you can keep baiting...just don't hunt "in the area".

Reggie is curious. How big is an area? Is 50 square feet an area? Is one square mile an area?

 

[ArkArcher]

Or you can keep baiting...just don't hunt "in the area".

Reggie is curious. How big is an area? Is 50 square feet an area? Is one square mile an area?

Good question.

all it says is "Wild turkeys cannot be hunted over bait. An area is considered baited when shelled, shucked or unshucked corn, chops, wheat or other feed is present. An area is considered baited for 10 days following complete removal of the bait."

Guess it's up to the GWs discretion. :smack:

 

[big buck down]

that is what the deer book says and I have not seen the 2008 turkey reg book BUT last season the book said "an area is considered baited even following complete removal of bait if area was known to have been baited" or something along those lines...last spring I kept my feeders going all the way through memorial weekend, I just didn't hunt by them....I have called the AG&FC office and asked for a specific distance and they said it was up to the officers discretion

 

[Manybeards]

Anytime turkeys are coming or going to the feed regardless if it is 10 yards or 1000 yards the area is considered baited, if the game warden wants to give you a ticket.

This came directly from a game warden.

 

[Tony Harris]

Thats what I was told as well and it is BS. If a turkey is roosting 1/2 mile away from bait and is going to that bait every day if you are under his tree and shoot him when he hits the ground you can be considered hunting over bait. Set a freaking distance so the turkey hunters on a lease can hunt. Our deer hunters would not stop feeding all year and this cut off a large chunk of lease from hunting. We took a vote and they won. Finally I pleaded with them after the AGFC flew over in a copter a few times and ran up and down the roads for a few weeks and finally got them to stop feeding during turkey season. Either stop all feeding during turkey season or set a distance.

And it is 10 days after complete removal of bait. As long as one kernel remains it is still baited. If one kernel can fall from a feeder by wind action, coons prying or whatever it is still dispensing bait.

 

[reggie-2-guns]

Anytime turkeys are coming or going to the feed regardless if it is 10 yards or 1000 yards the area is considered baited, if the game warden wants to give you a ticket.

This came directly from a game warden.

Reggie cannot believe that a ticket written to someone hunting 45 chains from a feeder (who will most likely tell the Judge that he/she had no idea there was any corn left in said feeder) would ever hold up in the courtroom.

Reggie likes TH's idea...set a distance.

 

[Midnight Rider]

Reggie cannot believe that a ticket written to someone hunting 45 chains from a feeder (who will most likely tell the Judge that he/she had no idea there was any corn left in said feeder) would ever hold up in the courtroom.

Reggie likes TH's idea...set a distance.

I cannot believe it either Reggie. 45 chains is about a half a mile. Turkeys could be baited on property adjacent to property being hunted at that distance.

 

[Buba Garrett]

That is a tough one for sure and one that leads to allot of iritation- I know 1 year I was asked to not hunt in a area by a wildlife officer because he knew it had been baited and was still being baited and I had no clue?? The WO knew who was baiting and they were on him I found another place but it is a issue that needs some work!

 

[Tony Harris]

Granted turkeys can be lead anywhere you want them pretty much with grain. The will travel a 1/2 mile from roost to feed on a daily basis. I asked several WO's this same question and got several answers from the 1/2 to 'if you aren't in direct sight of the bait I don't care'. I would not want baiting for turkey to be legal. Last year I fed up to 12 days of season at which point I removed or stopped up 8 feeders on our lease that belonged to several persons. Three others who had said they would not cleaned theirs out after my pleading. Then the AGFC said they found at least 3 places where baiting was still happening on the lease and they pursued that. I have no problem with them doing their job but when you drive a truck or fly a copter around and around you are harassing not only hunters but wildlife to the point both give up and leave. The birds had just started back gobbling when season ended. I will never make the mistake of telling a WO we have deer hunters feeding year round again, not if it means them pulling that again. I stayed in that lease because of the turkey hunting and now I have left it since last years BS. Set a freaking distance, end all feeding so theres no mistaking what is happening or leave it as it is so you say how detremental feeding is to turkey populations. Which I suspect is where they are heading anyway to end all feeding.

The real slap in the face is this. You can clear a one acre food plot four weeks before season and plant 1/4 of it at a time for the next 4 weeks using normal planting practices and have a baited area LEGALLY. Go freaking figure. :smack:

 

[Manybeards]

I have seen camps that were 3000 acres shut completly down for the season because they were baiting.

 

[Midnight Rider]

I have seen camps that were 3000 acres shut completly down for the season because they were baiting.

What is meant by camps were shut down? 3000 acres, that is over 4 square miles. These stories of baiting are getting far fetched.

 

[Tony Harris]

I know of a club in Monticello that had several guys baiting and one caught on opening morning in a blind hunting over a feeder. The whole 3000 acre club was shut down for the season due to the number of feeders running on the lease. And that is fact.

 

[Midnight Rider]

I know of a club in Monticello that had several guys baiting and one caught on opening morning in a blind hunting over a feeder. The whole 3000 acre club was shut down for the season due to the number of feeders running on the lease. And that is fact.

I have a hard time making since of that. If the property was baited, and they removed it, shouldn't they have the rights to hunt ten days later? What right did the warden have for shutting the camp down for the whole season if they followed the law?

 

[Buba Garrett]

Sounds to me that the Wildlife officers were making a point!!!

 

[Tony Harris]

From what I was told they had issues with them before and the blantantness of the act could not have been done without numerous members knowledge. So I guess it was a sort of punishment short of writing the club a ticket.

 

[reggie-2-guns]

How were the wardens able to enforce this? Did they have a guard watching the 3000 acres every day during the season?

In Reggie's experience, if someone's going to run their feeders during the season and put up a blind in full view of a mound of corn on opening morning, they're not going to stop hunting when the warden "shuts down" their club.

Furthermore, did the AG&FC shut down the other adjacent clubs "in the area"?

 

[Tony Harris]

Couldn't answer that one. I would guess it has to do 'knowing or reasonably knowing' for adjacent clubs. I was told by a WO that if I killed a bird near a property line on our lease that had been 100 yards away at a feeder all morning since I could not legally trespass I didn't have knowledge that the area was baited. I know it would not make deer hunters happy but I wish they would end all feeding a month before turkey season till the day after turkey season. That would be two months during Spring greenup that you wouldn't be feeding, thats all.

 

[Selfbow]

How were the wardens able to enforce this? Did they have a guard watching the 3000 acres every day during the season?

In Reggie's experience, if someone's going to run their feeders during the season and put up a blind in full view of a mound of corn on opening morning, they're not going to stop hunting when the warden "shuts down" their club.

Furthermore, did the AG&FC shut down the other adjacent clubs "in the area"?

Reggie has a point.
I love it when Reggie posts in third person.
It reminds Selfbow of a Seinfeld episode. (Jimmy likes Elaine)