I was born and raised in Saskatchewan, guided professionally in both SK and Alberta, and have hunted extensively in both Provinces. I would like to give my opinions on baiting. Baiting for whitetails is just another tool hunters have at their disposal. Not everyone chooses to bait, in fact, (in SK) other than outfitters, I do not know of anyone that hunts over a bait pile. Please do not kid yourself, outfitters (and resident hunters) in Alberta are baiting as well. I think some of you have pictures in your heads of 20-30 deer jostling around a pile of oats/alfalfa. This is not the case. I have watched over many bait piles and can honestly say I have never seen more than 3 or 4 deer at one time. I am not condoning baiting, I am just trying to debunk some myths about the act of baiting.
A one (or 2) acre 'food plot' is a bait pile. It was planted with no intention of harvesting to attract deer. Would you hunt over a 'food plot'? Deer in Sask routinely gathered by the dozens in our hay yards in the winter, trashing some of the bales on purpose to bed down on, and trashing the rest to feed on. I've sat in the haystack some evenings and shot some very nice deer from my perch. Baiting? I think it fits the criteria.
It seems that everyone gets all fired up about the topic here. The word 'assumption' has been tossed around quite a bit, so lets make another one......ASSUME that the Gov't announces that CWD is cured. They have found no new cases. Or.....that they were wrong. That CWD has no affect on deer. It was actually some other disease. Or, lets just say they legalize it here. I highly doubt that it would affect very mant people. Would it change the way you hunt? Would you suddenly pack in a bag of oats and bag of alfalfa to your tree stand? I doubt it. I wish they would just come out and say BAITING IN ALBERTA FOR UNGULATES WILL NEVER BE LEGAL. Without pitting one group of hunters against another, one province vs another, outfitters vs outfitters, and so on. CWD is not the issue here, but it has become the scapegoat. I firmly believe there is no more CWD then there has ever been. Do you know what would happen if we suddenly made cancer testing mandatory in humans? We would have an outbreak and epidemic of cancer on our hands. I feel this is what happened with CWD. There was virtually no CWD until the 90's, WHEN TESTING BEGAN.
I am not pro baiting, nor am I con. I do not hunt over bait, but I have guided clients over bait to some success, so I am no hipocrite either. If you want to bait, and its legal, bait. If you're in Alberta, don't. Either way......hunt!!!
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