Corn: Blessing or Curse?

[huntingthebig1]

I have been feeding corn for years.  The article hits it on the head.  My feeding of corn consists of 8 ears a night, every night to 7 regular visitors.  Does, fawns, and 1 very large buck.
The pictures you can get during the cruising stage are incredible. Every buck that walks through this property will visit this 8 ear feeding / camera station.
As you can see this buck visits at night I have been hunting him for 5 days. He will slip up soon, I just hope its before I do........

Baiting with corn piles is unethical and can cause the issues described in the article.  

[doe assassin]

I hunt in the wonderful state of Texas, and which corn is legal to feed. I love the attractent point of it, but also the nutreints in it. I fill my 55 Gallon feeder up every week and have bucks coming regularly to the feeder. People say that corn is not real hunting, but the way i see it, if you hunt on a lease like i do, you cannot go into that lease and plant food plots because you dont know if you are going to be there next year. Corn is just like a food plot, but concentrated into a 55 gallon drum that feeds it to the deer. People do not understand how corn is like a food plot.

[USN_Sam1385]

ORIGINAL: buckhunter21

Corn, as an attractant (putting it in piles, etc), I'm against.  Obviously it's legal in some states versus others.  But, planting it as a food plot, I don't see anything wrong with that.  Harvested or un-harvested, this is a great crop for the deer to eat to bulk up for the stresses that happen because of the rut, or to recover post-rut...Also a great survival food in the winter with those carbs!

Whats the difference between the pile of corn, and the unharvested plot of corn?? Besides the corn is off the cob?

[USN_Sam1385]

g. For example, ask yourself how many bucks(in my neck of the woods)acually stay in the backyards of many homes. THAT CLOSE! Tell me i'm wrong I dare you. things are not the same anymore, lets face it. Scientist are learning more and so are we, but deer are an instinctual animal and no matter what kind of feed they encounter, they know whats good and whats bad period. And as an added point, deer have been on this earth longer than us, and i think we need not nit pick something that has been a part of thier diet for century's. And please dont get me wrong, I'm not perfect, and still have a lot to learn about deer and deer hunting, but the deer instinct is still the same as 1000 years ago. THEY STILL KNOW WHAT TO EAT AND HOW MUCH OF IT TO EAT!

ORIGINAL: doe assassin

I hunt in the wonderful state of Texas, and which corn is legal to feed. I love the attractent point of it, but also the nutreints in it. I fill my 55 Gallon feeder up every week and have bucks coming regularly to the feeder. People say that corn is not real hunting, but the way i see it, if you hunt on a lease like i do, you cannot go into that lease and plant food plots because you dont know if you are going to be there next year. Corn is just like a food plot, but concentrated into a 55 gallon drum that feeds it to the deer. People do not understand how corn is like a food plot.

People will tell you that baiting with corn is not real hunting, or not primitive enough. What about your scent proof clothing, Trail cameras, ATV's, scent spray, scent attractants, high powered rifle and scope, 25 foot up deer stand, thermacell, bow that shoots 340 FPS. What is REAL HUNTING anymore?? The Indians didn't have any of this stuff. I don't see how someone can do all of these other things, but knock a pile of corn as not REAL hunting. The goal is to kill a deer right?? All those other things aid in that.

[buckhunter21]

ORIGINAL: USN_Sam1385

ORIGINAL: buckhunter21

Corn, as an attractant (putting it in piles, etc), I'm against.  Obviously it's legal in some states versus others.  But, planting it as a food plot, I don't see anything wrong with that.  Harvested or un-harvested, this is a great crop for the deer to eat to bulk up for the stresses that happen because of the rut, or to recover post-rut...Also a great survival food in the winter with those carbs!

Whats the difference between the pile of corn, and the unharvested plot of corn?? Besides the corn is off the cob?

 
Really no difference at all, besides one being natural versus the other not so much.  The reason I say this, is because most of the time when hunters drop the bait in a pile, they only do this right before or during the hunting season, so it's usually a quick fix.  With a standing cornfield, they have it while it's growing, then when they pick it, there is usually a certain percentage that gets dropped, and with a large field, this can add up.

[retch sweeny]

Baiting with corn piles is unethical and can cause the issues described in the article. 

 
[font=arial]You ignore the facts stated above about the negatives with both bait plots and bait piles from both a disease transmission standpoint and an ethical standpoint. Again, [/font][font=arial][font="times new roman"][size=100]if you are using hunter provided food to attract, congregate and feed deer to advantage your hunting situation, it does not matter if you grow it or pour it. you placed it there as a hunter to give you an advantage in seeing and taking game and once you hunt over or near it, you are a baiter. Just like a recurve and compound hunter are both bowhunters, food plotters and corn pilers are both baiters just using different means to reach the same goal. Using food as an atttractant for hunting purposes is baiting. Using it to attract and feed deer when you are not present is called feeding.[/font][/size][/font]

[OHhunter]

ORIGINAL: retch sweeny

Baiting with corn piles is unethical and can cause the issues described in the article. 

[font=arial]You ignore the facts stated above about the negatives with both bait plots and bait piles from both a disease transmission standpoint and an ethical standpoint. Again, [/font][font=arial][font="times new roman"][size=100]if you are using hunter provided food to attract, congregate and feed deer to advantage your hunting situation, it does not matter if you grow it or pour it. you placed it there as a hunter to give you an advantage in seeing and taking game and once you hunt over or near it, you are a baiter. Just like a recurve and compound hunter are both bowhunters, food plotters and corn pilers are both baiters just using different means to reach the same goal. Using food as an atttractant for hunting purposes is baiting. Using it to attract and feed deer when you are not present is called feeding.[/font][/size][/font]

Yes, except in a 2 or 3 acre food plot deer can be anywhere and enter anywhere, I doubt you can cover the whole field with archery equipment, deer aren't forced to eat nose to nose mouth to mouth in a confined area, I forgot you can't set a timer to on a food plot to pattern deer either. Once hunting season is over the food plot will still be there.

[Goose]

You cant haul a bag of soybeans a mile back, dump them in a 5 ft area and have them turn into a field to hunt over the next day.
 
Yes if you plant food plots for deer you are hunting deer over food or on their way to the food but to say that it is the same as hunting over a pile of corn is rather foolish.
 
A food plot can not be dumped out where ever and moved if necessary, it can not be dumped out and expected to survive drought or severe weather, it does not rot and cause sickness, it does not spread invasive species that can take over a forest like corn screenings can, it is rooted to the ground, and it does not work off of a timer.
I could go on and on but you get my point.
 
You are correct that both are food though.
 
You could say that about every food source though......most of it was introduced by man at some point.
 
I'm not going to judge anybody on here on what is right or wrong, but I will say that a corn pile and a food plot are not the same thing.

[buckhunter21]

ORIGINAL: Goose

You cant haul a bag of soybeans a mile back, dump them in a 5 ft area and have them turn into a field to hunt over the next day.

Yes if you plant food plots for deer you are hunting deer over food or on their way to the food but to say that it is the same as hunting over a pile of corn is rather foolish.

A food plot can not be dumped out where ever and moved if necessary, it can not be dumped out and expected to survive drought or severe weather, it does not rot and cause sickness, it does not spread invasive species that can take over a forest like corn screenings can, it is rooted to the ground, and it does not work off of a timer.
I could go on and on but you get my point.

You are correct that both are food though.

You could say that about every food source though......most of it was introduced by man at some point.

I'm not going to judge anybody on here on what is right or wrong, but I will say that a corn pile and a food plot are not the same thing.

 
Well said.

[retch sweeny]

Yes, except in a 2 or 3 acre food plot deer can be anywhere and enter anywhere, I doubt you can cover the whole field with archery equipment,

I was unaware that only bowhunters used bait plots. 1/2 and 3/4 acre food plots are more the norm that 3 acre plots. Regardless of size, your hunting over bait placed by a hunter to give an advantage. Some just don't want to admit it.

deer aren't forced to eat nose to nose mouth to mouth in a confined area,

If you take the time to study CWD, deer to deer transmission is not the issue. Nose to nose means very little compared to nose to earth. It's the urine and feces that build up in the soil when deer return to the same plot or pile. Read my first post to gain a better understanding of what is taking palce

Once hunting season is over the food plot will still be there.

Correct! Making plots worse from a disease transmission standpoint. The constant and repeated attracting and congregating of deer allow for more infectious material to be deposited over a longer period of time.