Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 24, 1993                   TAG: 9310240160
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HUNTING, NOT SHOOTING, THE CHALLENGE

It surprised me when didn't try to disguise the fact they were baiting deer to their bow stands. Instead, they were bold in their theory the best way to a deer's heart is through its stomach.

Then I learned they had no reason to be illusive. Baiting deer in West Virginia is legal. In fact, it is legal in the majority of states. The best and latest survey I have found, conducted by the Wildlife Management Institute, shows that baiting is permitted in some form in 36 states.

So Virginia is in the minority.

And that's where it should be, its top deer officials say.

"I am relly disturbed about the number of states that are jumping in to legalize baiting," said Bob Duncan, chief of the game division for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "I haven't seen the justification for shooting over bait. I think anything we do to dilute the fair chase aspect of hunting will undercut hunting at some future point."

Matt Knox, the deer research biologist for the game department, also opposes baiting, even after working as a biologist in states where it was practiced.

"I'm personally diabolically opposed to it," he said. "My idea is when you pursue a deer you have to hunt it. It is a challenge. When you put bait out, hunting become shooting. Hunters already are being looked at as slobs. It is not going to help when non-hunters find that hunters pile corn up out there, or sugar beets or apples."

So the chances of seeing baiting legalized in Virginia appear slim. In fact, I can't recall a time when baiting was requested during three decades of covering hunting issues. That speaks well of Virginia hunters.

Even so, hunters in our state aren't isolated from the practice of baiting. Stores and mail order catalogs that handle hunting equipment carry a growing array of baiting devices. They generally fall into three categories:

Feeders that dispense food automatically through a timing device that can program deer to arrive at a precise time.

Licks made of salt, scent, flavors and minerals - one is called Granpa's Deer Suckers - that not only attract deer but are reputed to aid antler growth.

Mixtures you pour onto the ground that will attract deer for weeks. These are hot this season.

For the most part, baiting is a matter of carrying corn, vegetables or apples into deer territory. This practice is so extensive in some states that it is an important market for tons of agriculture products. Roadside stands touting "Deer Feed" signs are popping up to meet the demand.

In Virginia, it is legal to feed deer. You can put out attractors if you want to observe deer close up. The activity becomes illegal when you hunt over bait.

Wildlife officials in Virginia prefer that hunters attract wildlife through plantings that result in natural food and cover.

"You can plant clover and it will attract deer - no question," Knox said. "But it attracts them at their own timetable. They come when they want to. The difference, when you put out bait feeders you can set the clock on them and teach the deer to come in to the very minute. You condition them to be there when you want them to be there. That is the difference for me."

With Virginia's deer herd expanding rapidly, game officials have been encouraging hunters to kill more does. The time may come when hunters will say, "You want us to kill more; why not let us use bait?"

Wildlife officials don't appear ready to buy that.

"I don't think we have to lower our standards to achieve the kind of management we are approaching," Duncan said.