On FB I just learned that people actually bait elk during hunting season. I have never heard of this and it threw me off guard. I don't think I could ever do that. I'm not frowning on those who do its just not a style that I never thought of. Anyone do this? When I think of elk hunting I think of sitting on a ridge with glass, i think of spot and stalk, I think of calling. I don't care how thick the trees are in cascades, we all have hunted the thick stuff in our own states. Im just curious, not against just curious.
Baiting elk...
- Thread starter ivorytip
- Start date
sheephunter
Active Member
Colorado outlaws hunting over bait and they expanded the definition of it this year. Specifically they stated hunting over bait is illegal whether the hunter placed the bait or someone else did. This translates to me that if a rancher puts out a salt or mineral block, and you find it and decide to sit over it, that's illegal.
JimP
Administrator
Some states allow it while other don't.
I came across a bait site a few years ago in Utah and called it into the DOW, they told me that it was legal. Since then I have come across other sites and anymore I just use them to my advantage as long as it is legal. I have even found a couple here in Colorado that I have called in, now weather or not they did anything about it is another question.
I came across a bait site a few years ago in Utah and called it into the DOW, they told me that it was legal. Since then I have come across other sites and anymore I just use them to my advantage as long as it is legal. I have even found a couple here in Colorado that I have called in, now weather or not they did anything about it is another question.
Back when I was in Cody, a guide told me a few outfitters in the Thorofare used to toss bags of salt out of planes before the season started. They'd fling them along ridge lines and other areas in their drainages where they hunted. Believe it or not...
The first elk I got with a bow when i was 14 ish? was out of a stand that was salt blocked. I thought it was totally normal. I don't hunt that way now, but it was still exciting. Just because it is a bait block doesn't mean there isn't some effort and skill involved.
I don't think a person should be able to build a bait stand on public land.
I don't think a person should be able to build a bait stand on public land.
shootbrownelk
Veteran member
wy-tex
Veteran member
If they consume it , it is bait.
Wyoming you can hunt near mineral or salt placed by ranchers for cattle.
ission regulations, and the Commission also adopts the following definitions:
(a) ?Bait or Baiting? means the direct or indirect placing, exposing, depositing, distributing or
scattering of salt, hay, grain, fruit, nuts or chemical, mineral or other feed as an attraction or enticement and
for the taking of big game animals, regardless of the kind and quantity. A chemical used as an attractant or
mask rather than for consumption shall not be considered bait.
(b) ?Baited area? means a site where bait has been placed for the attraction and taking of big game
animals and includes all lands under the same ownership within fifty (50) yards.
Wyoming you can hunt near mineral or salt placed by ranchers for cattle.
ission regulations, and the Commission also adopts the following definitions:
(a) ?Bait or Baiting? means the direct or indirect placing, exposing, depositing, distributing or
scattering of salt, hay, grain, fruit, nuts or chemical, mineral or other feed as an attraction or enticement and
for the taking of big game animals, regardless of the kind and quantity. A chemical used as an attractant or
mask rather than for consumption shall not be considered bait.
(b) ?Baited area? means a site where bait has been placed for the attraction and taking of big game
animals and includes all lands under the same ownership within fifty (50) yards.
Directly from the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks web site
It's illegal to bait in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho but most I believe that most will allow the use of scents, it's only food or salts that they outlaw. Utah doesn't seem to address the question so it looks like it's legal.
Baiting is basically an eastern United States thing, in most western states baiting is illegal with some states allowing baiting on private property. Bait is loosly defined as anything used to attract game animals, salt licks for farm and ranch animals and crops aren't considered bait.
It's illegal to bait in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho but most I believe that most will allow the use of scents, it's only food or salts that they outlaw. Utah doesn't seem to address the question so it looks like it's legal.
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shootbrownelk
Veteran member
Like WY ME has mentioned earlier, outfitters have been salting along the border of Yellowstone park for going on 100 years. The G&F for the most part have turned a blind eye toward the activity....at least I'm unaware of any outfitter that was ticketed for it.
Wyoming didn't make baiting illegal until 2001. I've found that it's fairly easy to find articles quoting park service and forest service personnel that want to stop baiting so it's obvious that the problem isn't being ignored but I'm sure that the law enforcement personnel are stretched thin and they probably have a tough time catching violators in that isolated terrain; I'm sure that getting funding to pay a couple of guys to sit for a couple weeks on a salt pile is not very easy. But like most crimes, it's not that there isn't enough law enforcement, it's that there are unscrupulous people who will always violate the law if they feel that they can profit from it. Then there is always the problem that since it's been done for so long in the same places that the ground is saturated with salt and the animals are conditioned to go to those places on a regular basis.
shootbrownelk
Veteran member
I'm sure the Wyoming G&F has game trail cameras that send pictures to a computer or phone. No interest in ruffling outfitter's feathers I suppose.
mntnguide
Very Active Member
To say outfitters are salting just cause of a general dislike towards outfitters is a petty statement to make without facts. Game and Fish checks camps, and will write tickets to outfitters whenever they can. I spent 5 years guiding Yellowstone border hunts, and never once dropped salt anywhere but in our corral.. whereas you look at Utah and every DIY hunter and social media group praises their use of critter lick and other baits. Salting was a thing of the past, are their some outfitters that might still? Probably, but it is definitely not common practice these days, so no need to make general accusations against outfitters with no proof to base it on.
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shootbrownelk
Veteran member
I was stating facts as I read them from an article in Wyoming Wildlife if I remember correctly, and I didn't imply that ALL outfitters salted. You're one of the squeaky clean ones I guess.
mntnguide
Very Active Member
There are plenty of law abiding outfitters just like diy hunters, then there are the occasional bad ones who give a bad name to all the rest, just the same as unlawful hunters. I'm not a outfitter nor a guide anymore, Just saying there are plenty who abide by the laws.
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