MDWFP About To Allow Deer Hunting Over Feeders

[1010]

Other states have allowed this and they havn't wiped out the deer. As for the disease argument deer eat out of the same food plots, and same acorn trees and use the same trails, complete BS IMO.
I've seen anthrax kill a lot of deer in the early 90s, feeders had nothing to do with it.
Folks have had feeders for years. People that try to manage deer will continue, folks that shoot everything will continue as well.

I can remember when cutovers were ruining deer habitat, LOL now look! LMAO
Any kid that really loves to hunt will learn on his own or from a family member anyway. Food plots have been spoiling kids for a long time.

Anybody that really wants to save hunting take a kid (any kid) shooting and hunting! Real fathers are on the short side in some houses.
JMO.

[DUCK-HUNT]

Absolutely against this, this is going to be the downfall of deer hunting in the state. Why in the world would you need to bait deer in Mississippi to kill one?? They are everywhere! The commission ought to be drug out in the street and beaten with a rubber hose!! The days of actually going out and hunting for a deer are over with, the kids coming up will never know the true meaning of hunting because of this law. All they will ever know is sitting over a feeder and wait. The MDWFP has lost all my respect, what little they had anyway!

A-Flockin-Men. Had this discussion today. Kids won't know how to "hunt". Gone are the days of learning how to pattern, finding sign, and reading the woods to know what a good spot looks like. I used to be in a tree every second I could. I deer hunted 6 days last year...6. It's not what it used to be and this is a nail in the coffin. Im surprised they aren't pushing for incentives to bush hog in early summer and kick pregnant does in the gut. Kill em all till they are gone.

Agree on both points other than the downfall started years ago when they started pushing for more "opportunity" (gun days) to recruit new hunter


You don't recruit and keep new hunters by sticking them in a box 100 yds away and let them watch a feeder. You do it the way delta described here, you teach them to hunt (read sign, identify mast trees, find deer sign, and learn when to hunt certain areas.


Another note, they said they sent out a survey months ago about this and 62% were in favor:
1. I hold a lifetime license and never saw/heard anything
2. Everyone talking about this is not in favor so where did they find the majority that is in favor of it??

[REBEL DUCK]

I am totally against it but now I can compete with my neighbors who have been doing it for years. I see it as just spending more money on hunting. What's gonna suck is when my feeder gets flooded late season and the ducks start to funnel. He he

[rjohnson]

If you're chasing big bucks you are not going to kill one over a feeder unless you're damn lucky. The young and dumb bucks and does will be the victims most of the time. Big deer are smart and you still have to actually hunt them. This won't change that. It will however like others said turn it more into a shoot than hunt for most people now. If that's how you like to "hunt" knock yourself with all the feeders you want.

[Wildfowler]

I guess I am the dissenting vote here, mainly because the hog hunting baiting laws were so messed up until just recently I've always been a proponent of baiting.

I don't wish to impose my morality on someone else in any aspect of life including hunting.

I don't necessarily think children should be brought up to learn that game is to merely be killed under any means necessary rather than learning the skills of being a hunter. But as an adult who might not otherwise have much of an opportunity to hunt regulary during the season and wants to put a deer in the freezer, if he thinks this is a good way for him to do so why should I care how he goes about harvesting an animal?

Bottom line is that I personally don't feel it's my duty to tell someone else how they have to hunt. Unless of course they're sky blasting right beside me and messing up my hunt, then I'm going to tell them exactly how I feel about what they're doing. And I probably won't be friendly about it.

[country_20boy]

..... you think ya deer are nocturnal now start putting out feeders specially ones ya don't program and see what happens..

Agree 1000%. I'll bet my monthly paycheck that the state yearly harvest doesn't go up significantly after these changes.

[ScottBrown]

This law does not force anyone to feed corn and sit over it until a deer walks out. It legalizes a person’s right to feed corn in sight of a deer stand. I think it is good that it will allow kids to see more deer and hopefully get them interested in the sport. If they enjoy deer hunting they will naturally progress away from the feeders to kill bigger deer.

[Deltamud77]

All they did was make it legal.. folks been doing it for yrs.. do I condone it hell naw.. you think ya deer are nocturnal now start putting out feeders specially ones ya don't program and see what happens..

Folks are transporting cocaine up and down I-55, I-20 and I-10 every hour of every day in Mississippi...some of it ends up on the streets in our state...and in frat houses and sorority houses and NE Jackson homes. That does not justify making it legal.

[gps4]

If you're chasing big bucks you are not going to kill one over a feeder unless you're damn lucky. The young and dumb bucks and does will be the victims most of the time. Big deer are smart and you still have to actually hunt them. This won't change that. It will however like others said turn it more into a shoot than hunt for most people now. If that's how you like to "hunt" knock yourself with all the feeders you want.

[Greenhead22]

Cute pics ........ too bad that's not during a deer season. As soon as deer season starts, you'll never see them.

[LODI QUACKER]

that could very well be in deer season. even in MS its only 11 days out. You think they know the difference in Sept 30 and Oct 1?

[rjohnson]

Cute pics ........ too bad that's not during a deer season. As soon as deer season starts, you'll never see them.

Exactly. Wasn't saying it can't be done or isn't done especially in places like Texas where they have been allowed to hunt over feeders for a long time. I'm just saying that most big deer around here are too smart to do that (with the obvious exception of the rut where they get a little dumb).

And like said above if you don't have a ton of time to scout and spend in the woods and just want deer for your freezer shoot them over a feeder. Make the most of what time you can get in the woods these days. The speed of today's life isn't what it was even 10 years ago. More and more obligations and things to get done and hunting sometimes gets put on the back burner.

And second the point about kids. I grew up hunting with my granddad who would never hunt over a feeder. We spent sunrise to sunset in the woods and sometimes wouldn't see a deer. Without Internet and smartphones and up to date constant news I didn't know how boring that was at the time and could tolerate it. Now days kids getting into hunting aren't going to sit for long hours deep in the woods and stay interested without seeing some deer. The attention span just isn't there any more. If you want those kids interested they need to see something pretty often. Feeders and food plots are the thing to get them interested. Once interested they can be taught the correct way to go after big deer after they mature a little more and really get into it. This certainly can help grow the sport for today's kids. I know my 5yo wants to go deer hunting this year and he will go somewhere we can sit in a shooting house over a food plot and hopefully a feeder so he can see deer and get pumped up about it. I want him to bug the crap out of me to go to the woods or duck hole. He can and will learn how to hunt proper before he goes at it alone but he has to be really into before that teaching can really take place. So I see this as a good thing for the upcoming hunters.

[Deltamud77]

To quote Steven Rinella in referencing this issue, and other controversial topics like game fences....it is a limp dick style of hunting.

[Greenhead22]

that could very well be in deer season. even in MS its only 11 days out. You think they know the difference in Sept 30 and Oct 1?

All I know is this. I know several accomplished deer hunters that know their stuff. They'll find a couple of big bucks and pattern them daily with cameras for a month, two months. Opening day of bow season rolls around, and those bucks are not to be seen again during daylight hours. Makes you wonder. And don't think for a second that a deer doesn't know what an atv sounds like and what's associated with it. That's why I've never used cameras. I like to be surprised when a good buck walks by. More times than not, it's luck of the draw vs "knowing" what that buck is going to do.

[cwink]

Growing up in South Texas we hunted over feeders just about my whole life.. I have never seen a mature buck stand under a feeder and eat while I was in the stand.. Mature bucks don't get to be mature by doing stupid things... Now place a doe under that feeder during the rut and then big boy gets stupid.. In many places in South Texas you have no choice but to hunt openings like gas lines, fence lines and power lines.. The brush is just too thick to move.. Deer travel easily through the thick stuff and usually the feeders just stop them for a few minutes..

When I moved to MS in 1996 I found a hunting camp and went out to tour the place with the camp manager (who was also the head honcho at my office).. He drove me down to the place and took me through a huge set of mature hardwoods and I thought this place is so beautiful. I had never hunted where the trees were over 20 foot high.. Just on the other side of the trees was a big food plot and we stopped right in the middle of it and he looked at me and said "Now boy, we don't hunt over corn like they do in Texas.. This here is real hunting" I said ok, what is planted in this field.. He said "Oats" I about fell over. I said we can hunt over oats out here? He said "Yep"

First thing I did when I got back home was to call my uncle and dad and tell them.. Man you will never believe it, but we can hunt over Oats out here.. They were in shock and couldn't wait to come hunt in a place where you could actually grow something for deer to eat..

The place I hunt at now, there are not many deer sightings.. The hardwoods are in deep draws that are almost impossible to get into withing rolling down a 45 degree hill for about 50 feet.. The other spots are cutovers with a few plots in the middle.. If you kill a mature buck in a food plot, it is either early bow season or the rut. It will be the same if you hunt over food plots or feeders..

I don't care either way.. But they either need to make it 100% legal to hunt over corn, or 100% illegal..