Vine Activity

[Mitch914]

I got a very late okay from my wife to do some hunting this evening...so I took it.

It sounded the opening day of 1st shotgun season in Iowa out there tonight. If you have never been to Iowa for the 1st shotgun season for deer it sounds something similar to this..........BOOM..BOOM...BOOM...BOOM....BOOM.... BOOM....BOOM...BOOM...well you get the idea. Thats what it sounded like at Grapevine tonight.

I did actually get a chance to speak to a Game Warden as I was leaving...he was checking licenses. I thanked him for being out there and I told him about the 3 ladder stands and the feeder I found...he was going to check it out and remove them.

I asked him about hand feeding....and he said it was fine. Obviously you can't have electronic feeders but he said hand feeding was okay. Now this conflicts with what others have said. Just wanted to throw this out there. I can count on two fingers how many deer I saw out there this year. I didn't see them until tonight...lol. Oh well.

[BowTechAssassin]

Cool. I didn't go this morning,I got up with a sore throat. I was supposed to take our Christmas lights down today as well, that didn't happen either.

[ttujason02]

Nice. I have yet to see a game warden out there. So this should get interesting who over-rules who on the hand feeding?

[Mitch914]

lol...yeah that's what I thought...I have this guys card and if anyone says anything...he told me to have them call him. Kind of confusing. I think hand feeding is entirely different than setting up a permanent.

I'm okay with the hand feeding personally...the Corp does need to iron out some of their policies to make them less conflicting. I'm just thankful I have a place to hunt that is fairly close. I would lose my mind if I couldn't hunt.
Granted it's not like hunting back home (Iowa) but I'm not complaining. It is what it is.

[Razorback01]

Warden on COE land

I've ran into this at Whitney. What I've experianced, the Warden in looking at TXPW rules, not COE rules. The warden wanted to see license and boat registration, fire ext etc, but didn't care about my permit. So don't read much into it.

[bulletpusher]

The Game Warden's answer reflects that no state laws against baiting for deer. HOWEVER the Corps of Engineers clearly state in the hand book that there is NO BAITING of any type at Grapevine. PERIOD. Corp rules are in addition to state laws.

Why does this keep coming up?

There is no difference between putting up a feeder and hand baiting. Either way there is food on the ground. Bait is bait regardless of how it got there. Anyone caught hunting over it is in VIOLATION of the Corps rules.

People that KNOW this and do it anyway, are selfish, a deer at any cost poachers in my book.

[buzzcut]

what if i'm eating a peanut butter sandwich on my way to my stand and some crumbs hit the ground all the way to my stand,would that be legal? hehe

[bulletpusher]

Is that with jelly or not?

[Mitch914]

It came up because I spoke to an actual Warden and that's what he told me.

[Larry]

This is as good a place as any to discuss baiting. What is the reason for not allowing it on public land? I've always wondered that. I've hunted Cooper (no baiting), LBJ (no baiting), Matador (during the hog season when baiting was allowed), Aquilla (before baiting was allowed) and Grapevine (when the word baiting wasn't even in the book and now that it's in the book) and Ray Roberts (no baiting)...so I'm familiar hunting a variety of areas. I don't know why some allow it and some don't. Does anyone have any ideas why some allow and some don't?

Deer at Matador are going to get some of that corn that the hog hunters use. Deer that cross onto private land bordering public areas can get to corn. So what's the hang-up with allowing hand baiting on public land? I'm not stating my opinion on it. I just want to know why it's not allowed here, allowed there, etc. I agree with not wanting eyesores like feeders hanging around, but hand corning is fairly low-impact.

Just curious.

[BowTechAssassin]

Not only low impact, but dang near a necessity if you ever want to see a deer on public land. Like I posted on the other thread, they have different rules for every lake. Maybe we could find out when they meet and be there to discuss the issue.

If they really cared that much about not baiting, you'd think they would get off their butts and put a stop to baiting, un-lawful gun hunters, permanent stands, target practicing, etc. With all the other issues, hand baiting should be at the bottom of the list, for things to look into.
There are safety issues with some of the above mentioned regulation violations, but no one cares enough to change it.

I'm sure as with the Warden situation, they are grossly under staffed, and over worked. There are bigger fish to fry, so to speak. They also don't have enough access points as far as I'm concerned, but that would create even more work that no one cares about except us hunters. Maybe we could form some sort of group, that would help the Corps , maintain, build, oversee the land out there. I doubt anyone would be interested, even if they would accept the help, which I doubt they would.

[ShockValue]

This is as good a place as any to discuss baiting. What is the reason for not allowing it on public land? I've always wondered that. I've hunted Cooper (no baiting), LBJ (no baiting), Matador (during the hog season when baiting was allowed), Aquilla (before baiting was allowed) and Grapevine (when the word baiting wasn't even in the book and now that it's in the book) and Ray Roberts (no baiting)...so I'm familiar hunting a variety of areas. I don't know why some allow it and some don't. Does anyone have any ideas why some allow and some don't?

Deer at Matador are going to get some of that corn that the hog hunters use. Deer that cross onto private land bordering public areas can get to corn. So what's the hang-up with allowing hand baiting on public land? I'm not stating my opinion on it. I just want to know why it's not allowed here, allowed there, etc. I agree with not wanting eyesores like feeders hanging around, but hand corning is fairly low-impact.

Just curious.

I was a hunt at Chapparal last year and the NO baiting was explained to me this way. They have quail and dove season (migratory bird) that overlaps with deer season. I believe there is a certain time (not sure what it is) that has to pass after baiting deer that migratory birds can be hunted in that same area.

Perhaps the same applies to the WMA that you guys listed above, because they all have duck hunting (migratory bird) that overlaps the deer season.

Just a thought.

[Barn]

Uneaten bait piles

The way I understand it, is that 2 foot mounds of corn (bait) that are not quickly consumed by the critters will set up a situation of the corn going bad. Normal evening moisture will get molds and bacteria going naturally as part of the decaying process, but when the deer eat the contaminated corn the next day or evening, the mold and bacteria in the corn then competes with and changes the deer's digestive bacteria in a negative way. They are then basically eating, but not absorbing the nutrients to sustain life and they sort of starve to death with full bellys.
That's why some states allow baiting but on a very limited basis. But then again, you will always have those 'hunters' who will break the law and over bait in ignorance or on purpose and the deer die horrible deaths and those 'hunters' wonder why.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[garza]

stupid question. if the game warden doesn't enforce the COE rules, then who does?

[Larry]

The way I understand it, is that 2 foot mounds of corn (bait) that are not quickly consumed by the critters will set up a situation of the corn going bad. Normal evening moisture will get molds and bacteria going naturally as part of the decaying process, but when the deer eat the contaminated corn the next day or evening, the mold and bacteria in the corn then competes with and changes the deer's digestive bacteria in a negative way. They are then basically eating, but not absorbing the nutrients to sustain life and they sort of starve to death with full bellys.
That's why some states allow baiting but on a very limited basis. But then again, you will always have those 'hunters' who will break the law and over bait in ignorance or on purpose and the deer die horrible deaths and those 'hunters' wonder why.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Hmmm. So this process only happens on public land and not on private land. If it was that big an issue, then it would be a bad thing on private land, as well.

Garza, supposedly the USACE rangers enforce the rules/regs on USACE land. Of course, they don't have near the resources they need to police it all or regularly...or in some cases, they only make their rounds once or twice a season.