# Do big bucks go to bait piles?



## Kingcrapp (Jan 6, 2009)

Do big bucks go to bait piles?
Suggestions?


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## rexcramer (Mar 16, 2008)

Not usually but bait attracts does which attracts bucks. Many times the buck will be within visual range of the bait but not come right in. 

Learn to hunt the runways and not the bait itself


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## Pointerguy (May 22, 2006)

Years ago I had a dandy buck on the trail cam on a bait pile in the middle of the night.


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## HUBBHUNTER (Aug 8, 2007)

I agree with Rex. During the rut you may catch a buck at a bait pile but he isn't there to eat, he's after something else.

A mature buck will pick up the scent of bait being brought in and notice that it wasn't put there naturally. IMO


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## nmutroy (Jul 30, 2007)

Kingcrapp said:


> Do big bucks go to bait piles?
> Suggestions?


 
Not sure what kind of answer your looking for here. Of course "some" big bucks will go to bait piles. Other big bucks may not. I know of a lot of nice bucks that were shot of bait piles. Your going to get a different answer from most people. Bait works, but it doesnt always work for the big ones.


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## Skibum (Oct 3, 2000)

Big bucks can be killed on bait piles but if that is what you are after your odds are better hunting staging areas or travel corridors.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## davidshane (Feb 29, 2004)

rexcramer said:


> Not usually but bait attracts does which attracts bucks. Many times the buck will be within visual range of the bait but not come right in.
> 
> Learn to hunt the runways and not the bait itself


Wrong!!!

Big bucks will absolutely go to bait. However, there are more than one reasons more big bucks are not killed at bait. 

Number 1: a lack of big bucks. Its hard to kill big boys in most places in MI because, quite frankly, most place have very few. This is the single biggest reason why more trophies are not taken over bait. The areas that do have larger numbers of older male deer are typically ag areas and baiting is less effective because food is everywhere.

Number 2: simply throwing out bait is not highly effective. To work well, bait stations need to be maintaned so that deer know it is there. Thats why guys that live near their baited stands can keep them fresh and keep deer visiting their stand location. Also, you must do your very best to minimize scent left behind despite repeated visits. I know many many hunters that are serious about their hunting and are very sucessful with killing mature bucks while they feed at a bait station. They wear rubber and spray down before making a trip in. They walk through water to minimize scent. They do not walk around in the area looking for the sign that deer are leaving behind. If food is available to them in a manner that doesnt spoke them, "they will come". Walk out in your tennis shoes after working all day and you will be in for a lot of slow nights.

Long story short, hunters kill big bucks in KY, OH, Ont and Sas all the time while hunted baited stands. It can work just as well here if you hunt smart and are in an area with big boys.


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## marksman72 (Dec 20, 2003)

Yes, you can kill a big buck at a bait pile...I did. He was eating carrots early in the morning on Nov. 7, 2003. Note, it was early morning during the Pre-Rut. My idea for the bait pile was to attract Does to the area which in turn would attract Bucks. I sprayed a lot of Doe Urine around the area to get the Bucks interested. I guess it worked.


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## rexcramer (Mar 16, 2008)

davidshane said:


> Wrong!!!
> 
> Big bucks will absolutely go to bait. However, there are more than one reasons more big bucks are not killed at bait.
> 
> ...


WRONG!!

I said big bucks do not usually go into bait, not that they NEVER go to bait. This is not KY, ONT, or OH, its Michigan where the hunter density is much greater and most big bucks have had a close call or ten in their younger years. Usually in my experience in MICHIGAN bucks will circle a bait pile close enough to see if a hot doe is there, then leave. During the night they will hit bait.

Your logic makes no sense. If the poster "hunts smart and is in an area" with a nice buck, why use bait at all? Just hunt corridors if he is hunting "an area with big boys"


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## charcoal300zxtt (Sep 8, 2011)

Yes monster bucks will and do feed at bait piles.....at night! I've got multiple pics on my trail camera of a monster 10 point on the bait pile, but only at night, in 3 years of pictures of large bucks on my bait piles i have yet to get one in the daylight. I'm not saying it doesnt happen at all just not for me, now scrub bucks is a different story.


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## jimmyo17 (Jun 7, 2011)

charcoal300zxtt said:


> Yes monster bucks will and do feed at bait piles.....at night! I've got multiple pics on my trail camera of a monster 10 point on the bait pile, but only at night, in 3 years of pictures of large bucks on my bait piles i have yet to get one in the daylight. I'm not saying it doesnt happen at all just not for me, now scrub bucks is a different story.


 Agreed 100% Seen a big ten and twelve point kille of the same bait pile.They were both killed within a 2 day period.It happens but not often and has never happene to me


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## bersh (Dec 9, 2003)

Never.


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## HUBBHUNTER (Aug 8, 2007)

bersh said:


> Never.


I don't think anyone is disputing that big bucks come to bait pile occasionally, but not with any consistency. Trail cam pics of bucks at night during oct. and nov. doesn't prove much. Would you like to see pics of monster bucks hitting my bird feeder? 

sent from my rotory dial phone


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## bersh (Dec 9, 2003)

HUBBHUNTER said:


> I don't think anyone is disputing that big bucks come to bait pile occasionally, but not with any consistency. Trail cam pics of bucks at night during oct. and nov. doesn't prove much. Would you like to see pics of monster bucks hitting my bird feeder?
> 
> sent from my rotory dial phone


Relax. This was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek.


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## anon12192013aazz (Dec 10, 2010)

charcoal300zxtt said:


> Yes monster bucks will and do feed at bait piles.....at night! I've got multiple pics on my trail camera of a monster 10 point on the bait pile, but only at night, in 3 years of pictures of large bucks on my bait piles i have yet to get one in the daylight. I'm not saying it doesnt happen at all just not for me, now scrub bucks is a different story.




In 6 or 7 years of hunting near bait piles in Wisconsin (similar hunter pressure) the 5 or 6 hunters in our party saw plenty of does and small bucks hit the bait, but the bigger bucks were never there during daylight. The big bucks were killed in transitional areas between a swamp and the doe bedding areas. When you did see bucks in the general area of a bait pile it was always at some distance, never within 50 yards of the bait. I'm not saying it couldn't happen but IME, the bucks who have lived through a few seasons seem to understand that bad things happen at bait piles and avoid them, at least during the day.


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## Uncle Boopoo (Sep 15, 2008)

I think there are 2 BIG factors that come in to play here.

1) Are you hunting right over the bait pile? Most hunters do. This increases the chance you will bump a buck/deer off the pile in the early morning or after dark on your way out.

2) Is the bait pile in an open area, without much screening cover? If you put a bait pile in a place where mature bucks wont want to show themselves in the day time, they wont.


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## Kingcrapp (Jan 6, 2009)

Thanks, some good ideas on the posts. I'm hunting a transition area between beans and bedding. It's thick cover. I have picks of the 5 shooter bucks. Coming in at all different times. Yes some are at night. Not sure how to uplaod on a reply.

[ame]http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j409/kingcrapp/bigdeer.jpg[/ame]


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## BigSteve (Sep 7, 2009)

Here's an iron county buck killed last year in the first couple of days of the up muzzleloader season. Came right in to the pile with no intentions other than eating and was shot with an apple in his mouth.:lol:


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## Tom (mich) (Jan 17, 2003)

No, never.


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## thunder river outfitters (Aug 21, 2007)

i would say in the early season, your chances are very very slim. there are other methods that will produce better results.
just to answer your question, yes i think they do, but mostly at night if at all.
late season in the snow, it can be very effective if done the right way.
in all my years of guiding, the guys that harvest the most mature and bigger bucks are not hunting over bait. pinch point, travel routes to and from bedding areas, staging areas..ect have a bigger success rate and harvest bigger bucks.
i also do believe that with all the bait pile hitting the ground, this will make them more nocturnal,....... if your fridge was stocked every day by your naighbor, do you feel the need to leave your house to hit the grocery store?
yes big bucks do hit bait, but most of the time its at night i believe.
i dont know about other states, but in michigan its really tuff to harvest a big buck over bait.


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## bersh (Dec 9, 2003)

Michigan_Angler said:


> Not too legal


It was legal in the U.P.


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## hypox (Jan 23, 2000)

Don't know. I've shot a ton of big bucks without bait, and 0 with bait (never tried).


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## johnhunter247 (Mar 12, 2011)

I think it depends on the situation. If your hunting a large tract, a couple hundred acres or more with very minimal hunting pressure and you can put a large auto timed feeder so you can keep human presence down then yes. If you have to hunt like most and there is umpteen hunters every square mile then no. Read Bill Vales book. He has a whole chapter on baiting and some very good points on the matter.


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## big lobes dean (Oct 8, 2011)

Kingcrapp said:


> Do big bucks go to bait piles?
> Suggestions?


The 1st Deer I ever shot was with a bow during the rut.a real nice 7 Point eating carrrorts off. My bait pile.


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## anonymous7242016 (Aug 16, 2008)

Tom (mich) said:


> I'm not debating the differences between Michigan and any other state.
> 
> What I'm attempting to do is provide evidence (albeit anecdotal) contrary to the common opinion that "big bucks don't come to bait during the day....."


Big bucks coming to bait during the day. 
Using your pictures from Kansas shows that yes big bucks come to bait. In parts of Canada this is how many big bucks are killed. Now that we are a Michigan Sportsman forum I guess the assumption is that the op might be talking about big Michigan bucks. Because of our highly pressured hunting in this state the question "Do big bucks come to bait piles?" has to be looked at in a much different way.
Yes they do, but mostly at night, and very unlikely during the day. The thought that they may check a bait pile from down wind during the rut for does, has truth, but more than likely the hunter will also be down wind of the bait pile, which puts the hunter between the buck and the pile. Guess what? He smells the hunter too. So most of the time the hunter won't even know. Besides that unless there is heavy cover a pressured mature buck probably isn't going to spend much time in the area if any at all.
If Michigan had less hunters, we would have more big bucks, less hunting pressure and more than likely better success with big bucks and bait. 
So the answer is yes, but the better question would be, "Is hunting over bait a productive method to kill big bucks?" Then the answer would start off with "Depends on where you are hunting........In Michigan, no, not normally"


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## Outdoorsman17 (Dec 28, 2005)

I think of bait as another tool. No different than grunt calls,scents,mock scrapes or food plots. I can't understand why it has to be everything or nothing. And yes mature bucks sometimes come to bait.


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## boomer_x7 (Dec 19, 2008)

ilook at mature bucks coming to bait piles, like crossing the road... When your young, you run arcoss the road without care. (untill mom starts screaming at you) But as you get older and learn "hey the flat black stuff means high speed cars could come flying at you" maybe even have a close call or 2 or 3 each november and you start to pay attention. You also learn that more roads popping up and stuff like rush hour means MORE cars and more chances that you might go splat. 

So my point is= why wouldnt a mature buck learn that a pile of apples in pine trees, or sugar beets in oaks ect. (surrounded by 20 white leaves that smell like a rotten whore house) mean PEOPLE!!!! look at how many people bait. How many people stop at the gas station on there way to the camp, and grab a bag of bait. Then they walk out to the woods letting every tree branch rub there sweaty head and drop it on the ground.Then set up the pop-up blind the dog has been sleeping on the whole way. Oh and dont forget that beer can you gotta hang on the tree... How much scent is on that bait and in the area now......

But, every now and then even the guy that looked "both ways before he crosses" his whole life, gets disstracted when that new issue of sports illistrated swim suit edition shows up and.... SPLAT


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## Joe Archer (Mar 29, 2000)

Kingcrapp said:


> Do big bucks go to bait piles?
> Suggestions?


Without reading all the debate that I am sure will resulty here - YES big bucks WILL go to bait piles. However, it is hard to kill a big buck at a bait pile. Along that same line of reasoning, it is hard to kill a big buck period. 
Calling, scent, mock scrapes, and the rut are important considerations when targetting bicg bucks whether using bait or not. 
<----<<<


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## jacksonmideerhunter (Oct 9, 2011)

Since I started hunting, I have taken a 4 1/2, 4-3 1/2s, 4-2 1/2s and a pile of smaller bucks. Only 3 of them were not taken at or near bait. I have also seen my dad take quite a few mature bucks using the same tactics. The older bucks dont always come in and eat, (usually they do though if there is no hot doe nearby) but they usually come close enough for a shot in order to check out the does. 

Lorren


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## bucketmouthhauler (Sep 24, 2005)

boomer_x7 said:


> ilook at mature bucks coming to bait piles, like crossing the road... When your young, you run arcoss the road without care. (untill mom starts screaming at you) But as you get older and learn "hey the flat black stuff means high speed cars could come flying at you" maybe even have a close call or 2 or 3 each november and you start to pay attention. You also learn that more roads popping up and stuff like rush hour means MORE cars and more chances that you might go splat.
> 
> So my point is= why wouldnt a mature buck learn that a pile of apples in pine trees, or sugar beets in oaks ect. (surrounded by 20 white leaves that smell like a rotten whore house) mean PEOPLE!!!! look at how many people bait. How many people stop at the gas station on there way to the camp, and grab a bag of bait. Then they walk out to the woods letting every tree branch rub there sweaty head and drop it on the ground.Then set up the pop-up blind the dog has been sleeping on the whole way. Oh and dont forget that beer can you gotta hang on the tree... How much scent is on that bait and in the area now......
> 
> But, every now and then even the guy that looked "both ways before he crosses" his whole life, gets disstracted when that new issue of sports illistrated swim suit edition shows up and.... SPLAT


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## fishx65 (Aug 24, 2005)

According to my huntclub's trailcams over the last 8 years, nice bucks do come to bait but very rarely during shooting light. It also depends on how much natural food is available. If we get deep snow in December, the big boys will be at baitpiles during shooting hours. When it comes down to it, I would say that hunting over a bait pile during early bow decreases your odds of taking a nice buck by a good margin. The huge acorn supply this year has really hurt my huntclub's bait sitters this season. Not sure why, but they just keep staring at their bait piles even though their trailcams tell them not to!!!!!


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