is baiting deer smart when hunting off crop fields?

[bruiserbucksoutdoors]

I have been baiting my stand with corn for the past month now. I'm hunting on a corn field. But the main reason I started baiting was so that I could get some good pictures of deer. Should i keep baiting or should I stop and maybe just use attractants/lures to bring deer into shooting range? Right now I am baiting 3 different spots and it is really expensive. My other property i'm baiting is between a corn field and soy bean field. Again, I feel that I don't have to bait but it's just so that I can see what bucks are on the property. I would appreciate anyones opinion. Thanks

Edited August 30, 2016 by bruiserbucksoutdoors

[Rusty]

If the deer are coming by then continue what you are doing.  If they stop coming by, rethink your plan. 

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

[Buck154]

I'm with Rusty on this

[bruiserbucksoutdoors]

If the deer are coming by then continue what you are doing.  If they stop coming by, rethink your plan. 

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

Very true. I had a nice bachelor group of three 8 point bucks coming in two weeks ago during the day and at night. I haven't got one picture of them in the last week. Just a little worried with opening day coming up. Hopefully they will be on camera by this weekend. Last trail cam check before season starts. 

[Rusty]

Very true. I had a nice bachelor group of three 8 point bucks coming in two weeks ago during the day and at night. I haven't got one picture of them in the last week. Just a little worried with opening day coming up. Hopefully they will be on camera by this weekend. Last trail cam check before season starts. 

 

As the velvet comes off, testosterone levels increase.  This causes a major change in buck activity.  There is also a major change in the habitat as summer food sources are replaced by fall food sources.  Both of these factors can significantly alter when and where you see deer.   

[Silver Belly62]

If the property is holding deer and crops are planted just pattern the deer and hunt it according to what sign you have and where. Everyone wants to slap out a bait pile anymore and think that is required in order to hunt. I understand your reason for it to get pictures, etc but if anything save yourself some time and money and put out a mineral/grain block in certain areas that might last longer. IMO just keep it simple

Edited August 30, 2016 by Silver Belly62

[Rusty]

Standing corn fields can make an area harder to hunt, there is food and cover over the entire property.  But as soon as the corn comes down the amount of cover for the deer to hide in drops dramatically.  I have one farm that I don't bother to hunt until the corn comes down. 

[Buck154]

Standing corn in the Mid West is a sanctuary till they cut it. Hard hunting when there is miles and miles of corn out there.

[rgw]

yea but there is nothing better than a wet breezy day to stalk sleeping deer in a corn field

[Bucksnbows]

Figure out the trails that the deer will use over and over to enter the fields in the evenings or on overcast days and set up cameras there.  The deer have plenty of corn, you're just making it easier on them because yours is already picked off the cob.  Like others said, a good mineral lick near the field edge next to a trail should get you plenty of photos.  Pretty soon you can start a mock scrape and keep a camera there if it becomes a communal scrape over time.  Those things will save you some $$.  And as acorns begin to drop, things might change up again with food sources.    

[B B]

All great responses.  Sounds like you gotta great little honey hole.  I am no master baiter...      ... but here's how a similar situation worked out for me.  

 

A few years ago I was after one buck that was religiously back and forth between the woods and the corn field.  I would watch him every night go from one to the other on the same trail (granted it was easy to scout cause it was in my back yard).  I set up a stand on the edge of the field where I had a shot in the woods or on the field as he entered the corn.  I also set up a ground blind about 75 yards away and baited it with corn.  Me and the old lady went away for a few days and when we got home surprise surprise the corn field was gone!  I kinda figured this would change up his routine so I decided to hunt the ground blind with the bait.  Long story short I got lucky and he came into the bait where I was able to arrow him at 20 yards.  

 

I would say if your going to continue baiting then it may pay off later in the season.  These deer know that the nice green fields filled with food are short lived and won't be there forever.  Having the bait established well in advance will give them a level of security when the time comes for them to start feeding on them.  I definately wouldn't hunt them until it's absolutely necessary and nothing says you gotta hunt right over them either.  

 

So in my opinion go ahead and keep baiting, but for now concentrate on the natural food sources and everything in between.   

 

JMHO 

Edited August 30, 2016 by B B

[bruiserbucksoutdoors]

All great responses.  Sounds like you gotta great little honey hole.  I am no master baiter...      ... but here's how a similar situation worked out for me.  

 

A few years ago I was after one buck that was religiously back and forth between the woods and the corn field.  I would watch him every night go from one to the other on the same trail (granted it was easy to scout cause it was in my back yard).  I set up a stand on the edge of the field where I had a shot in the woods or on the field as he entered the corn.  I also set up a ground blind about 75 yards away and baited it with corn.  Me and the old lady went away for a few days and when we got home surprise surprise the corn field was gone!  I kinda figured this would change up his routine so I decided to hunt the ground blind with the bait.  Long story short I got lucky and he came into the bait where I was able to arrow him at 20 yards.  

 

I would say if your going to continue baiting then it may pay off later in the season.  These deer know that the nice green fields filled with food are short lived and won't be there forever.  Having the bait established well in advance will give them a level of security when the time comes for them to start feeding on them.  I definately wouldn't hunt them until it's absolutely necessary and nothing says you gotta hunt right over them either.  

 

So in my opinion go ahead and keep baiting, but for now concentrate on the natural food sources and everything in between.   

 

JMHO 

Wow, great information! Thank you!

[DV1]

 

A few years ago I was after one buck that was religiously back and forth between the woods and the corn field.  I would watch him every night go from one to the other on the same trail (granted it was easy to scout cause it was in my back yard).  I set up a stand on the edge of the field where I had a shot in the woods or on the field as he entered the corn.  I also set up a ground blind about 75 yards away and baited it with corn.  Me and the old lady went away for a few days and when we got home surprise surprise the corn field was gone!  I kinda figured this would change up his routine so I decided to hunt the ground blind with the bait.  Long story short I got lucky and he came into the bait where I was able to arrow him at 20 yards.  

 

Nice work, got any pics?

 

This scenario quoted above is probably your best bet. I personally don't do it. I've seen guy's dump a pile of apples right in a bean field a few rows in from the woods and hang a stand over it. Never understood that but it's not uncommon. As BB's story shows, and Rusty said, once the corn comes down, your odds probably improve. Unless there is a water source nearby, then I would hunt the edge in the morning. I've actually done well hunting morning stands on the edge of a standing corn field and had deer come from the corn to the woods for water and acorns. Then go back to the corn to bed. If the right situation exists, that can be a great plan.

[Axiom]

I dunno what a lot of you guys are talking about in regards to deer hanging out in corn fields in NJ.. In my experience the deer only go a few feet into the corn, eat and then return to the woods or travel between the woods and the field or where ever.. Rarely could I find deer tracks that went further than 5 or ten rows in.. usually only 3 or 4... and the deer usually return to the same general spot in the field to feed.. so its not like they are random.. So, with all that predictability why bait near the bait?

[DV1]

I dunno what a lot of you guys are talking about in regards to deer hanging out in corn fields in NJ.. In my experience the deer only go a few feet into the corn, eat and then return to the woods or travel between the woods and the field or where ever.. Rarely could I find deer tracks that went further than 5 or ten rows in.. usually only 3 or 4... and the deer usually return to the same general spot in the field to feed.. so its not like they are random.. So, with all that predictability why bait near the bait?

Deer often bed in the corn fields around here. Find a low, weedy swale, a lone oak tree, or a couple of them in the middle, or sometimes just a spot where a point of woods meets the corn. Deer will basically live in the field until it's cut.