Baiting In Alberta
 

I am fairly new to reading all these threads, so I am sure that this topic has been discussed before.

I am wondering what everyone's thoughts/comments are if Alberta legalized baiting deer?

I am not saying that I want this to happen or that I would agree with it, just wanted to know where everyone else stands on this topic.

Unfortunately, it seems to be an all too common pratice in Alberta already but as for legalizing, with all the CWD issues we have, I can't see it being a good idea.

Not to open a can of worms here, but baiting has not been proven to contribute to the issues of CWD. Look at the numbers from Sask vs. Alberta in documented cases of CWD, there certainly is not an "trend" that would indicate what most have assumed.

I don't believe for a second, that cwd has anything to do with why hunting over bait is illegal. If esrd, was that concerned about it, they wouldn't allow baiting for pictures.

We need clarification, and some re wording in our regulations. We need to prohibit baiting for ungulates, period. We need to prohibit the sale of baits and attractants in stores.

Depending on what's used, and where. Some grains could be an agricultural disaster, with invasive species being introduced and unregulated.

im no biologist and never played one on TV but, i think that introducing a bait station, either to be hunted over or as a novelty (for trailcams or simply veiwing) cannot be good for the animal.
It creates a dependency on the human input so if things change, the third or fourth or 10th generation will be at a loss on how to forage naturally.

i also agree with sheephunter, it is going on now...

extremely valid point...

need to prohibit the sale of baits and attractants in stores.

This has had me thinking for a while now. Why do they allow the sale of these attractants? If something is illeagal to use why should it be legal to sell?:thinking-006:
PG

Why?
 

[/B][/B]need to prohibit the sale of baits and attractants in stores.

This has had me thinking for a while now. Why do they allow the sale of these attractants? If something is illeagal to use why should it be legal to sell?:thinking-006:
PG

Dependng on what is offered at the bait station, certain chemicals and nutrients can artifically alter the antler size of a buck, which is contrary to what many consider a "naturally grown " deer.
Cat

I agree with you sled head
If the spread of cwd is possibly caused by baiting then why were the srd using baiting techniques to cull deer in the hot zone in alberta?
I would bet 99% of the posters here if had the opp to bait for deer would
JMHO

If it was that big of concern , then Farmers should have to fence bale stacks and grain piles.......

Baits and attractants are only illegal to hunt over, like potty says the use for viewing is not...

Funny that Alberta sells more artificial attractants than Sask does :)

Hunting over bait in Alberta seems to be reserved only for a select few that shoot out of a chopper. Meanwhile hunting over bait for the rest of us would get more guys off the roads and more deer in peoples freezers instead of a big hole in the ground.

Does anyone honestly belive they would feel good about there selves after shooting a animal that had been baited for months prior and felt no danger when coming in for lunch? More like shooting a domestic animal...Would get alot of guys out of their trucks though i bet and probably alot more ethical kills. IMO

I guess I have more faith in my fellow hunters than you.

ANYTHING that unnaturally increases deer density and deer/deer contact is bad for deer. CWD is not the only concern, but is the most serious.

There is also a concern about some of the "growth supplements" available; some are made from bone meal and / or ground antler - obtained from farmed deer... *If you don't see the issue with this, you need to educate yourself.

It has been proven that crowding deer in one area and having them eat where they urinate and deficate can speed up the spread of CWD....it's not a big leap to apply it to baiting.

Bang on Potty. I wish you ran srd.

pikeslayer
Don't make this a ethics issue, i bet you never hunted bears either over bait
Just saying, and you would drive away if a big buck was standing on near a farmers grain pile after he'd been feeding there for months tooo, or turn the other way after a big buck stepped out opening day in an alfalfa field that he had fed in all summer
I doubt it honestly

Hey sheep
Then why were srd baiting in the hot zone?

If baiting is so bad for deer why is it that as soon as a person crosses the border into sask you'll see way more deer? I think it would help deer through the tough winters.
If it was legal it would be a huge advantage to the hunters baiting and a huge disadvantage to any not baiting. So I would call it fairer for everyone to not bait but don't believe the cwd bs

thousands of guys do it every year with bears. im sure they feel just fine about it. :rolleye2:
besides...maybe you could explain the difference between that and sitting the edge of a hay field?


as for deer....ive never done it and never would. i already could every year in sask, but besides not being my style of hunting....guys i know that do it tell me it isnt the best way to kill giant bucks. it may bring a lot of little guys in, but the kind of deer im interested in is smarter than that.

1/4 of the population, and in the case of mule deer, much better management are the biggest reasons.

I supect so they could cull a whole lot of deer in a very short period of time.

Baiting = allowing bad hunters the opertunity to harvest trophy animals too.


JMO.

I don't know about the validity of the CWD theory or the creation of dependency on humans for food, but it sure would cut down on my scouting/hunting/stand location set up time if I could dump a pile of food infront of my box blind year after year and shoot the big one. That I know is a fact.

You suspect but you really don't know do you

Nikon

Their objective was to kill max deer. The baiting was a short term tool to achieve that objective. Makes sense to me.

To each their own just my opinion...a little story from a client i guided once he had just came out of northern sask from a hunt. He said that whenever the deer stopped moving into the bait pile he would radio the guide and he would come in with the quad. Just the sound of the quad would bring all the deer back in, he said that you wouldnt even see the tailights disappear over the hill and the deer would all be coming back for more! That reminds me of when i start my tractor to feed cows they all come on the dead run! If you call that hunting "have at her"

, I wished it was that easy...lol .. Really!!!
From my experience during the rut the mature bucks mainly come by a bait to scent check for does and alot of the activity is at night , just like any other form of hunting........

Actually if you look at all the data that is already out there, it is a very big leap and a gross assumption made be many..

As we all can attest, wintering habits find these deer crowding around hay stacks, leaking grain bins, ext. In all reality these are artificial man made buffets in a natural setting.. Even trying to eliminate these, deer feed in general areas depending on time of year and contact with the prion that causes CWD is inevitable..

If artificial "baiting" was a large contributor to the spread of disease, well the numbers from one side of the wheat boarder to the other would obviously be greater proving this theory.. It's not, almost identical patterns in Alberta vs. Sask along the boarder providing us all with data the proves our personal assumptions are not valid.

Makes sense to me to spread a disease possibly while trying to achieve a goal
Yah makes perfect sense, and when that didn't work what the heck fire up a helicopter...Yah they made perfect sense
I don't buy it!!! short term , how long does it take to spread the disease? I guess a month or 2 of baiting in the hot zone wasn't long enough....

Nikon

No I was not part of the decision making process but it seems a fair assumption.