YES!

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From the it’s about freekin’ time file - the Georgia Senate approved the deer baiting bill 34-17. A slight amendment means it goes back to the House where the bill originated.

Barring something incredibly strange happening - well, these are politicians I am talking about so they are more unpredictable than a specific atom of helium in a tank the size of a football field. (Tony McBrayer and John Crosby are not included in these statements.) Provided they continue to show sense … If things go as they should … If intelligence ...

Well. I can certainly HOPE the House passes the slightly amended bill which will finally allow deer hunters to hunt over bait in this state.

The AP story here. You'll note this story also allows for baiting wild hog. We've had that for years anyway. As long as you hunted over corn piles outside of turkey and deer season, game wardens ignored it.

Amatuer

Support for the bill comes from the South. Opposition from the north. This is a generalization because there are some n. Georgia deer hunters who favor baiting and some South Georgia hunters who object.

The great majority of deer hunters I know hunt over corn and have been doing it for years.

Those who oppose the bill are really, really, really splitting microscopically thin hairs on this one.

Under present Georgia law (the baiting bill is not law yet) I can plant corn. When it matures, I can harvest the corn ANY WAY I WANT TO. Yes. I can run a combine over it.

Then, I can dump the corn back on the field and hunt over it.

My corn pile come deer season.

Completely legal.

As long as the corn never leaves the field, it’s legal. I can store the corn in a wagon on the field, pour some out along and along and hunt over it. I can hunt from within the middle of the corn pile if I want to.

Completely legal.

What’s the difference? Yes, I had to plant the corn and hope I made a crop.

But once the shelled corn is on the ground what difference does it make if the corn came from a bag or came from the field? The deer are not going to know the difference.

A Philadelphia lawyer would have a hard time making a case of ethics over the difference between baiting and combining corn in the food plot.

For that matter if I plant corn and harvest it, short of genetic tests or catching me dumping corn from a bag, there’s no real way to know if I periodically add corn to what is there.

Call me whatever you want, but the next time you get on the road and drive above the speed limit, just remember there’s no difference between me and you.

The main difference now is instead of just dumping corn, we’ll be able to use timed feeders. These feeders dump corn at set times.

Besides which as I noted the first time around on this subject - if you object to hunting over bait, don’t do it.