In this months issue of north American Whitetail there is a story of a guy who shot a 208 inch whitetail in maryland. His strategy that finally got him the buck was to ride in on the quad, got in the treestand while his friend put the bait out, and then the buck came in after the quad left and he shot his big buck. I was actually surprised that the magazine made him out to be this great hunter. I thought it was a little anti-climactic. I wouldn't want to take my big buck that way. That being said, I have hunted over baits when I was in school out in Saskatchewan, but we never had a big buck come in during the 4 years I was out there. Just pictures at night. I think it brings the bucks into the area, but not necassarily to the bait. I shot one decent buck on a game trail leading to the bait. We have actually not baited the last few years, because we haven't seen any success from it. They do however put some food out for the deer to help them survive the hard winters. Baiting seems to work when it is in the forest and the snow is heavy, and the deer have to chose between eating or death. I saw four guys take 4 pretty nice buck in two days out of the same stand in the forest. They even said they shot two of the bucks an hour apart. The areas I hunt, have lots of farming and bush, which gives the big bucks lots of other options for food sources.
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