I'm more worried about deer being drawn off of National Forest land and being shot over bait than I am about the bears. Our deer are having a hard enough time as it is.
Valid concern in areas of low deer density
I'm more worried about deer being drawn off of National Forest land and being shot over bait than I am about the bears. Our deer are having a hard enough time as it is.
I bet you won't see one ounce of difference than it is now. Do you have any idea how much "supplemental feeding" is going on right now? Ask the sporting goods manager at Walmart how much corn they go through in a week.
I'm sure they go through a lot but I also know many folks who feed deer with no intention of ever hunting them. They just like to watch deer. Maybe that creates an opportunity for a hunter on a neighboring tract, maybe not.
I get that, but this bill will make it possible to place bait more strategically and hunt directly over it rather than just taking advantage of other peoples desire to see deer. Lots of that corn is going out in the middle of unhuntable subdivisions. I just have visions of piles of corn all over placed just outside Forest Service land. Theres going to be a lot of people tempted to poach bears and I'm afraid our dwindling deer will get hammered in years with an acorn failure. I personally dont feel that hunting over bait is sporting. I'm not going to condemn anyone else for it if it becomes legal but I wont be doing it. I have concerns about CWD reaching Georgia and I dont think anything that concentrates deer unnaturally is a good idea.