If the deer is feeding on acorns on public land, and you decide to gather up all the acorns from the surrounding areas and put them in one section? hehe

You do not bring in outside food source you are just relocating the current food source.

I know your pain... haha

This is what the TPWD APHP Booklet says...




And goes on to say that...



Unless someone is out to get you, or you are hunting really close to a road (within walking distance), I don't think you would ever be caught. By the time someone found your "pile" of acorns it would have probably been scattered by animals anyways and look somewhat natural and not appear to have been placed there on purpose.

The book does not go into detail on to define "placement". Is relocating the same as placement? IDK...

Definition from the public hunting booklet -

Baiting—The placement of minerals, vegetative materials, or
other food substances used as an attractant for wildlife.

Note it does not say anything about bringing the items in from outside but simply "the placement of .... food substances used as an attractant for wildlife".

I can't tell you one way or the other what to do but I don't push the boundaries. If there are acorns in the area you are hunting then find the trails the wildlife are using. They will show up sooner or later.

Man just hunt! Obey common sense laws! GW are out to get poachers and real law breakers
I used to catch sandbass during the day! And dump the remains on river bank and arrow hogs all day long eating sandbass carcass! From my canoe on opposite bank ! Then drag them to my truck! Game warden would be checking fishing license ! And use my phone to take a pic for me!

Is baiting public land what THIS STUFF is marketed towards?

I saw a commercial for it the other night, I can't see any other reason to make an attractant that supposedly easier for deer to see, but not easily detected by man.

Probably. Maybe there are states where you can bait on public land.

It may sound silly, but technically I think that would be baiting. The key word is "placement." Picking up acorns may not be a violation, but placing them so as to attract game to a specific spot might be. Look at it like littering. You pick a gum wrapper up off the sidewalk, good for you. You drop the same gum wrapper on the same sidewalk 30 seconds later. You're littering. Same gum wrapper, same sidewalk. Once you pick something up off the ground it is yours. What you do with it is up to you. I guess you could pick up all the acorns except where you want to hunt and dispose of them elsewhere? That way you're not placing them to attract game, but creating the same result.

I once hunted with a guy who had decent success by collecting white oak acorns from a tree in his yard to scatter in his food plot.

While it might be considered baiting, it definitely doesn't follow the same lines as scattering corn, at least in my opinion. I mean, if you collected the acorns from under some tree in the area and just made it easier for the deer to eat them, I doubt a judge would agree with any charges made against you.

If you gather corn from the field next door and pile it onto a specific spot on public land is that baiting?