baited field, unintended consequences

Outside of Burnet , Tx ------- my friend Harlon Winters had a place-- he drove up one day and sign on his gate from game wardens --- no hunting on this property ---- ( I dont remember if it was federal or state wardens)------ about a mile down the road landowner had dumped a dump truck of grain,,, every dove within miles was feeding on it. The assumption was that a neighbor had turned him in. Apparently the wardens can stop all hunting within a 1 or 2 mile radius,,, and did. 2 years later the same guy did it again----- no one turned him in because it would stop all hunting on their property.

Bet they had a great year the second time around!


I remember the first part of the story from a few years back.

Anti-hunters do this, they dump bait on public land, then call GW. And no one can hunt it.

Genuinely curious, have you heard of this being done on public land? Is the act of dumping grain on public land illegal?

Hmmmm, was the guy dumping the grain in hopes of stopping hunting? There is nothing illegal about dumping grain on private property as long as your not hunting.

Your first question yes I have, I have heard it discussed on this forum ainti-hunters on lake x dumping corn so no one hunts near their property. Second question not sure. But I have seen several places on public that have been baited, when you see a spot with a few trees loaded with dove, that is first sign of bait. And you go no where near that.

We use to have a guy that lived on a public hunting lake that would bait his property every year. Would come out during season throw corn in the air and tell at you it was baited. Then called the GW. was a ton of fun.

I know of a guy that baited a area then called the Federal Game Warden, the problem was the Warden saw him baiting the area he was one unhappy camper when the Wardens showed up at his door. Plus the guides on the river where not happy at all., He moved that very same season and as far as I know has never come back.

Perfect!

I'd think that qualifies as hunter harassment (on public land).

I've never heard of that. That'd be pretty unfortunate.

you can thank the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918....

place or direct the placement of bait on or adjacent to
an area for the purpose of causing, inducing, or allowing any
person to take or attempt to take any migratory game bird by
the aid of baiting on or over the baited area

when bating became illegal market hunters would bait an area and set up to shoot passing birds that were headed to the bait to feed. This kept them legal as far as hunting over bait, when the GW's got tired of being backdoored the feds widened the meaning of hunting bait.

Yeah Huey Lewis does this [censored] baiting to shutdown hunting.

Thanks garret for the specifics, I highlight the 2 key words...as I explained those 2 key words more on the other baited thread going..

https://texashuntingforum.com/forum...on-for-dove-and-duck-hunters#Post7813161

When I was a kid, my cousins and I walked down to the tank behind granddad's house just to mess around and had one helluva dove hunt. Even had to walk back up to the house and get more shells (we weren't very effective with our single shots and just being bad shots). When we came home with our birds, our granddad matter of factly and somewhat proudly commented that our uncle had cleaned out some old grain bins and dumped all of the waste behind the tank dam, "for the pigs. I wondered if there'd be any doves around there," he said. I didn't say anything, but in my youthful enthusiasm I had read the regs a hundred times and I didn't go near that tank for a while. I wasn't gonna find out about so called game warden's discretion.

I don’t care how good of head you have on a combine, you will leave hundreds of lbs on the ground, so every combined field is baited,

Need to update the laws and migratory act.

Best way to stop the anti-hunters from doing it is for the game warden to allow triple limits and extended shooting hours for that season for every property within 10 miles.

The Anti's wouldn't do it again the second year...

Back years ago we had a ranch hand living in a small house on our family ranch. I’ve often taken buddies up with me to help with deer season prep with dove hunting at the beginning and end of the day and a steak dinner as a thanks for the help. We went out on the first morning at first light and noticed milo all over the place. Moved to another tank, same thing. 3rd spot, same thing. WTH? Needless to say we had to pack our guns up PDQ. Turned out the ranch hand thought he was doing me a favor by seeding the tanks to make sure my buddies had a good hunt.

That guy doesn’t live there or work for us anymore. Could have gotten me and several buddies nailed.

Similiar circumstance. Had a big family dove hunt planned, asked the ranch hand to disk up some ground and overflow water troughs. He spread 500 lbs of milo. "You boys want a good hunt, you will have one now." We were not pleased. Moved to the back of the property and hunted around unbaited tanks and did ok but he eliminated quite a bit of huntable property.

Understand the law. But, anyone else wonder why it matters if a limit is a limit?

It only matters if no one else is doing it AND if you are market gunning.

I’m sure there is an ethnical piece also, since it’s so pure to buy a Cheeseburger at your local fast food restaurant