# New Baiting scandel to report.



## Wiggler (Dec 23, 2000)

*ok here is the senario.. this guy down the road from me owns 40 acres of land (Ravenna area). he had 20 acres planted in soybeans, next to that he had 10 acres of pumpkins, and on the other 10 he had corn. so right before season open they harvested to soybeans and corn and left the pumpkins out.. he had a flat bed trailor up bye the road selling the pumpkins. so after halloween, he drove the trailor back out in the field and dumped what he didnt sell back where they came from. Come opening morning he and his son are in their blinds watching the pumpkin field and the DNR comes out and writes him a ticket for hunting over bait.!!  he told the dnr its was a pumpkin field... they said he was hunting over bait . he told them those were the pumpkins that didnt sell. they said if they were still attached to the vine it would have been ok.. you gotta be kidding me!!!!!! :rant: i cant believe they are going that far with this baiting crap. i kind of think this is way over the line... any other thoughts on this? *


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## LSSUfishmaster (Aug 4, 2008)

Its for sure way over the line. Its like my dads buddy has a couple apple trees on his property and he raked the apples that fell off into a pile and got a ticket for it. The CO said that if he had let them stay where they fell it would have been okay. Ive heard a similar story with acorns.


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## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

This is getting out of hand. I have a garden 10x10 in my yard and deer sometime get in there. I had a major bumper crop and pulled a lot of stuff up and raked it into a pile in the middle to rot. I guess I better spread it out or I might be considered baiting. Unreal


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## fisherjam (Oct 8, 2009)

So what is everyone supposed to do with their left over pumpkins? Send them out with the trash? I know hunting over disposed pumpkins is a little different story but I still don't think they should have gotton a ticket.

Just curious, Do you know if they were all smashed up?


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## ih772 (Jan 28, 2003)

They were hunting over bait and got a ticket, its not hard to understand.


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## loweboats (Apr 1, 2007)

ih772 said:


> They were hunting over bait and got a ticket, its not hard to understand.


ding ding ding!


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## MOTOMAN91 (Oct 26, 2010)

I think the dnr were spot on with this one, he dumped the pumkins back in the field and hunted over them, that is baiting. Can you dump a load of corn in a corn field and hunt over it? Nope. Dump apples under a apple tree and hunt it? Nope. Not even a question in my book.


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## tnt1960 (Apr 6, 2009)

MOTOMAN91 said:


> I think the dnr were spot on with this one, he dumped the pumkins back in the field and hunted over them, that is baiting. Can you dump a load of corn in a corn field and hunt over it? Nope. Dump apples under a apple tree and hunt it? Nope. Not even a question in my book.


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## Rasputin (Jan 13, 2009)

MOTOMAN91 said:


> I think the dnr were spot on with this one, he dumped the pumkins back in the field and hunted over them, that is baiting. Can you dump a load of corn in a corn field and hunt over it? Nope. Dump apples under a apple tree and hunt it? Nope. Not even a question in my book.


 
I think that is a "normal agricultural practice", so it is specifically exempted in the law. 

Besides that, I didn't think the issue was whether you hunted over bait or not, just the act of putting the feed out is the violation. Seems like the DNRE should have ticketed him even before they hunted over it if they considered it "baiting". 

Good example of why it is so difficult to make a law. There will always be unique, unanticipated circumstances. Does it matter if he would have dumped the excess pumpkins in the field regardless of if he intended to hunt their? I don't recall that "intent" was ever an issue in the law.


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## duckhunter382 (Feb 13, 2005)

Sounds like the intention was to bait and he thought he had a loophole. While I think the bait ban has no merit at all, It is still law and he was obviously hunting over the pumpkins.


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## Sam22 (Jan 22, 2003)

I don't know enough about pumpkin farming to answer this, I assume all of the rest of you do? Is it regular farming practice to return pumpkins to the field? As fertilizer ? No, people don't put corn back on the field, or beans. 
I am not pro or anti DNR, I am willing to question them. I think it is dangerous for people to trust authority as if it were some deity, or even some group of extra intelligent individuals.


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## malainse (Sep 2, 2002)

A big thing is how were they placed into the field. Were they in a pile, 35 yards from the blinds where a person would place "Bait" ? Or were they spread over the entire field "Where they came from" ? 

It is not "Normal Ag practice" to hunt. It is "normal ag practice" to farm. Thus odds are if he was not hunting over the pumpkins it would not be an issue. 

Like a lot of things we do not know the entire story/situation.

Such as, why did he not hunt the corn or bean field ?


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## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

Baiting is alot like speeding it is all in the eye of the officer writing the ticket. But if you think that the baiting laws are stupid. A guy can shoot a deer gut it skin it & bone it and leave the gut pile on public land and it is not illegal. Now let the same guy catch a 12 inch brook trout and gut it and leave the gut pile on public land and he can get a ticket.


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## MOTOMAN91 (Oct 26, 2010)

The issue here isn't what you dump in the fields. If he wasn't hunting it, he wouldn't have gotten a ticket. If a farmer accidently spills a pile of corn in the field, it's not illegal until you are caught hunting on or near it. The law has lots of loopholes and isn't real clear cut, but i think this one is simple imo. Maybe he didn't know it was considered baiting, but to the dnr it's illegal. Last year people were buying sugar beets with the tops still on (they cost more too) and were sticking them in the ground so it looks like they planted them. Silly, but people do it. I'm not bashing people that bait legally (u.p) but trying to outsmart deer is much more rewarding imo.


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## Rasputin (Jan 13, 2009)

MOTOMAN91 said:


> The issue here isn't what you dump in the fields. If he wasn't hunting it, he wouldn't have gotten a ticket. If a farmer accidently spills a pile of corn in the field, it's not illegal until you are caught hunting on or near it. The law has lots of loopholes and isn't real clear cut, but i think this one is simple imo. Maybe he didn't know it was considered baiting, but to the dnr it's illegal. Last year people were buying sugar beets with the tops still on (they cost more too) and were sticking them in the ground so it looks like they planted them. Silly, but people do it. I'm not bashing people that bait legally (u.p) but trying to outsmart deer is much more rewarding imo.


That's not how I understand the law. People are getting in trouble for bird feeders, obvioulsy not a deer hunting activity. The act of putting the stuff on the ground is the violation, whether you hunt over it or not. The question for this farmer is whether he was performing a normal ag practice. I suppose if he piled the pumpkins up all nice and pretty, that would not be normal.


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## Mister ED (Apr 3, 2006)

It would be normal (at least around here) to leave plenty of pumpkins in the field and the unsold ones are dumped back as well. I do think most guys do end up chisel plowing them. This really only brakes them up ... doesn't really turn them under. (still see big ole blotches of orange all over the field).

The big question for me Were they in a pile (like I am picturing in my mind)? And were they hunting over the pile?


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## 2PawsRiver (Aug 4, 2002)

I think you got it right, it is a baiting scandal .
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## kozal01 (Oct 11, 2010)

it got somewhat carried away around here back when the ban first went into effect. a co worker was ticketed for a compost pile in his back yard next to his garden and they tried to gig him on the bird feeders too. the guy doesnt even hunt, not a gun in the house anywhere. i heard alot of similar stories like that around that time. its kind of a grey area i suppose and in cases like that its up to the officer to decide if its being used as a bait pile or not. clearly some officers are not as good at determining that as some are.


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## Wiggler (Dec 23, 2000)

my understanding was when halloween was done.. he pulled the trailor out in the field and "dumped" them.. dont know if they were 5' a part or 1' apart. and im not sure how far away from them he was.. but he did have a huntin shack on the 10 acres. heck.. alot of guys hunt there 2-5 acre clover fields. i guess now you cant hunt your own deer plots?? the neighbor said the DNR was flying a helicopter over this area openind day to find people who where hunting over bait. from what i hear.. they got alot of guys for hunting over apples.. corn.. ( i live in a giant apple orchard around here) this is getting kind of re-dick-ulas if you ask me. i could care less either way you want to hunt. this is a huge mess.. i guess this is the year they have meetings and all to talk about the 3 years since the ban was imposed. it has really hurt the farmers who sell all their extras and the mom and pop gas stations that sell it ( btw they still sell it). should we ban bait for fishing??? its a joke!


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Sam22 said:


> I don't know enough about pumpkin farming to answer this, I assume all of the rest of you do? Is it regular farming practice to return pumpkins to the field? As fertilizer ? No, people don't put corn back on the field, or beans.
> 
> 
> > It is regular practice to dump spoils in the field for "green manure", like mulching grass in your yard. Old silage, hay and straw are commonly disposed of in that matter.
> ...


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