Deer baiting

out of any additive i'm weary of, its not the corn but molasses. the stuff can mould and if the dear eat it, they'll get a case of listeriosis. Deer are quite a bit like my goats and sheep rather than cows as ruminants and its easy to kill if you feed improperly. if you see a deer circling, yeah it could be cwd but if they've been baited hard, my money would be swelling of the brain due to the mould.

I am not sure why people worry so much about racoons,
honestly I will put out extra corn in the beginning and hope some racoons show up, the more natural scent in the area I figure cant help put cover up my scent

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fenelon

We used to hunt a property that was adjacent to a heavily baited property where the owner would dump full bags of corn. Over the years we shot at least eight deer that were in serious condition from gorging on the corn. You'd see deer completely bloated out like they were pregnant with quads! You'd, dress the animal and the entire rumen would burst out of the abdominal cavity, filled with gas so tight that there was hemorrhage around the rumen from the mesenteric being stretched and torn. You'd pop the rumen and it smelled like a malt brewery. The bottom of the rumen floor was completely blocked with a solid mass of compacted corn. The contents were drier than usual. The lower portion of the rumen was blueish in color, like it was getting reduced blood flow. We spoke to the dude and showed him some pics. He was surprised and adjusted how he baited.

This is only a real problem with deer that aren't eating corn regularly throughout the year and corn is introduced to their diet by way of a bait pile. It can also be a problem if someone decides to start baiting deer that have already transitioned to browse. Baiting yarded up deer in December that are feeding almost exclusively on browse for example.

Baiting deer with corn that have regular access to corn generally isn't a problem.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk