Baiting

Originally Posted By: 6mm06
Man, that's a lot of crows. I rarely ever see that many here in one location.




I think those are all Turkey Vultures !!!! Man putting a bait out with all those around is futile . That many could strip a cow to bare bones In a day!!!!!
 
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Not crows, they're black bussards. In less than 48 hours, they demolished a 5gal baitsicle and a mature roadkill buck. Funny part was at one time they all disappeared then in the next photo there were five turkey bussards. Those five birds ran off over 50 of these guys and took over the carcass!
But I need to get rid of them....Will putting it deeper in the woods keep em off?? Hate to move because this is the perfect setup, from the hidden approach to the natural blind we built everything is ideal...except the birds....
 
Dobro- You do have a mess there. Putting the bait in the woods will not stop them from feeding on it. Can't think of anything (legal) to deter them. Don't know if an eagle silhoette would do the trick or not. Hawk won't, 'cause they will feed together but I've not seen a buzzard and a eagle eat at the same time.
 
If you are able to hunt at night I would cover the bait with a plastic tarp during the day and then go out early evening and remove the tarp. Once the birds find it they won't leave it alone until it is gone.

Heck, now that I think about it, they might peck through the tarp to try and get to the meat.
 
Yeah actually Im only hunting it at night. Cant usually get to it until 8 or later though. I could possibly build a box to cover the baitpile and keep it smaller. Drawbacks being it would only be exposed while Im hunting, and that Id have to expose myself and track more human scent to the pile before I begin. Which also almost eliminates the possibility of ambushing a yote on the pile when I approach. Maybe some sort of lean-to or shelter that would allow a canine to get to it but deter the fowl?? Im sure the yotes would be just as spooky of that too though...

Edit: Just spoke to my grandfather on the telephone, and found the origin of what my grandmother had told me about hanging the dead crows. Back in the early 80s the turkey bussards had gotten to be notorious for swarming calves in the calving pastures just as they were born, before they could get to their feet. Apparently it was a problem for neighboring farmers too. They were protected back then as well, but that means little to farmers losing cattle. My grandfather shot one and hung it from a tree at the edge of the calving pasture, and the bussards never came back as long as that dead bird was there. Hmmmm...never seen a bussard decoy, let alone a dead bussard hanging decoy....
 
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Okay so get this.

Find a roadkilled yearling doe. Take it out where the camera is with my buddy. Tie a rope around its neck and tie it to a tree. Put the trail cam on video mode. My buddy goes to check it today. Says the deer and rope are gone and there's rub marks all over the tree. I'm thinkin ooo the videos are going to be good. I get an email from him and open the vid. Some middle aged guy trespassed saw the deer but not the cam, untied the rope, and walked off with the roadkilled deer.

What perfect timing considering its goin to be below zero tonight.
 
Some of the guys around here use metal sheep fencing to surround their bait piles. The buzzards could still reach through the wire squares, but maybe it would slow them down enough so that there would be something left for the coyotes?
 
Times must be hard when folks are taking other peoples roadkill!
Good grief!!
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Originally Posted By: Jeff VOkay so get this.

Find a roadkilled yearling doe. Take it out where the camera is with my buddy. Tie a rope around its neck and tie it to a tree. Put the trail cam on video mode. My buddy goes to check it today. Says the deer and rope are gone and there's rub marks all over the tree. I'm thinkin ooo the videos are going to be good. I get an email from him and open the vid. Some middle aged guy trespassed saw the deer but not the cam, untied the rope, and walked off with the roadkilled deer.

What perfect timing considering its goin to be below zero tonight.

Well, at first I was thinkin', the deer is dead so why did you need to tie it up but now I am thinkin' maybe you needed a cable and padlock. LOL.
 
greenmountainboy, Ive been searching DNR site and Endangered/Threatened wildlife lists, and cant find anything that protects these bussards. I think Im'a set up in my blind with the HMR Sat morning about 9 (they seem to start on the bait around 10), and light up the first one that lands. Might have to switch the stealthcam to video mode for that!

On another note: Ive got a good friend that traps red fox pretty heavily. He says the coyotes love to eat the red fox out of his traps, sometimes they just play with them and bite their tails, other times they devour them! So he's got 24 on the skinnin' floor right now(season ended yesterday), any thoughts or opinions on using fox carcasses for a bait pile?? Anybody tried this? The scent alone should be a great attractor, stinky little critters...We've got a new 800 acre farm to hunt and am thinkin of puttin out another bait pile there....
 
Originally Posted By: Dobrogreenmountainboy, Ive been searching DNR site and Endangered/Threatened wildlife lists, and cant find anything that protects these bussards. I think Im'a set up in my blind with the HMR Sat morning about 9 (they seem to start on the bait around 10), and light up the first one that lands. Might have to switch the stealthcam to video mode for that!

On another note: Ive got a good friend that traps red fox pretty heavily. He says the coyotes love to eat the red fox out of his traps, sometimes they just play with them and bite their tails, other times they devour them! So he's got 24 on the skinnin' floor right now(season ended yesterday), any thoughts or opinions on using fox carcasses for a bait pile?? Anybody tried this? The scent alone should be a great attractor, stinky little critters...We've got a new 800 acre farm to hunt and am thinkin of puttin out another bait pile there....
Dobro- I'm almost 99.9% sure that buzzards are a protected species on the federal list. Might want to check their list out. Sorry, I don't have a web link right now. Shouldn't be to hard to find.
I have left fox out for bait before and besides a few possum I had mostly . . . BUZZARDS!
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Sorry, couldn't resist.
 
Originally Posted By: Dobrogreenmountainboy, Ive been searching DNR site and Endangered/Threatened wildlife lists, and cant find anything that protects these bussards. I think Im'a set up in my blind with the HMR Sat morning about 9 (they seem to start on the bait around 10), and light up the first one that lands. Might have to switch the stealthcam to video mode for that!


You didn't look in the right place.

http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/RegulationsPolicies/mbta/mbtandx.html#t

Shooting a "bussard" will get you a trip to the marble court house, same as a hawk or owl.
The Feds frown on that kind of stuff.
 
Thanks for the heads up GG, and Ive checked into that also. Turkey vulture is a "species of concern" in one region of Alaska, otherwise it is not protected under the USFWS authority. Ill check with the local law first, then the war is on....
Edit: fw707, thanks for the link! Ive been to that marble house before, not for game-related stuff of course. Nonetheless, I dont care to return!

I might give the fox carcasses a try. Heck Id be happy even to see a couple possums. All Im gettin on the trail cam is about 20 pics/day of bloody bussards. You also said that there arent really any yotes down your way either...
 
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BIRDS PROTECTED BY THE MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT

List of Migratory Birds


------VULTURE, Black, Coragyps atratus
------Turkey, Cathartes aura
 
Originally Posted By: ScalloperHello to all from Downeast Maine. I have realy enjoyed reading this thred about baiting. I just found this site yesterday and I must say its one of the best forums I have found.After seeing the way some of you set up your bait sites I thought I would show you how some of the boys in this area harvest a few coyotes in the winter. Feel free to comment on the setup as everything can be improved.
This is a set up that 8-10 guys I know use in this area. This has proved to be quite successful with one guy shooting and killing over 70 in four years. Most all guys kill 15-20 per winter.

First we set up a bait pile from 70-200 yards from a window with a good rest. The window must open very quiet (very important). This is my bait pile in the first photo.
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I set up the site about 250 yds back further in the woods from the house to help build confidence and I think it worked they started eating 1 55gal barrel a week. There is 2 barrels of cow,deer and pig parts with some partridge parts from a hunt 9 days ago in the photo.
Once I moved the site to its final location,71 yds from my window,it only took 4 days until the coyotes started hitting the bait. When I got the bait to where I could see it from my house,its final location, I installed a Chamberlain wireless motion alarm ($94 radio shack) This is the sensor. see picture
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This is the beeper on the desk in my office. Its very important to put the beeper away from the window you will be shooting from because when you open the window and the beeper beeps the coyote will be gone.
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As I said I have only had the bait at this site for 5 days,on Wednesday night we had a coyote at the pile at 7pm. My son spotted it with a flashlight and it ran only to return 5 min later. Two nights later the coyotes were on the pile from 10:30pm to 1am we did not bother them at all just let them feed and get comfy.
On friday Newyears eve we installed a light system. I bought a outdoor rectangle box,outdoor lamp holder and a photo control for the light. I needed 250' of 14-2 wire to run to my home. The whole thing cost me $93.18 at EBS. pic
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The only thing I did differently is I oped for a red 100 watt flood light. I thought it will work better then a white flood light but the coyotes are still getting use to it, coyote may not get as spooked by the red light,we shall see. The regular flood light works but sometimes it takes awhile for the coyotes to get accustom to the light. If you mount the light back 30-40 feet shining away from your home and on the bait, its believed that it helps blind the coyote when he looks toward the your home. But some have the light shining strait down on the bait 20-25 feet high.

This is the view from my shooting window
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If you live in a residential area the red flood light may not assure you that its a coyote and not something else so keep that in mind. This system has worked very well for a number of guys here in Downeast Maine for a number of years. One guy that uses this system has no light he uses the beeper and a open field and shoots many but he needs the snow to offer him enough visibility for a good shot. Good luck.
At 1:30 am my beeper went off. At 2:05 I sent the .223 V-Max into flight...
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1 coyote down
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waiting for number two as there is normally two together here. I will have pictures in the morning.
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Here it is a male that I shot am 2:05 am today.
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dobro,i have never used fox for bait. i believe that if you put out anything that attracts scavengers, that the predators will come check it out. it's keeping them there or coming back that is the tricky part.okay i'll admit that i couldn't hit a buzzard with my rifle. it must of been struck by lightening.
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