Trail cam pics taken during 2011 in Western Oregon

[pwd72s]

2011

[Jeff Higgins]

Hmmm... I'm not sure how I feel about this. I was ready to say "great pics" (and they are), and I was really getting into looking at them, until... The ones at the end of their "harvests". It kind of struck me as odd seeing guys in hunter orange setting out the salt lick in the first few photos, but I really didn't give it much thought until the last few. Then I started giving it a lot of thought...

I hate to say it, but it looks like what they were doing is illegal as hell, and downright unethical. They were, essentially, baiting big game. It sure looks like they put out the salt lick, and the apples, and over the year more or less "trained" those animals to come there to find it. They even patterned the animals' behavior with their game camera.

Granted, they may have taken those animals somewhere else completely. I sure hope they did. But, the way the whole slide show is put together, it really looks like it all goes together, and the game was taken on the same trail. If that is true (and believe me, I really hope it's not), then all involved belong in jail, giving up their hunting privileges for life, and surrendering all of the gear and equipment used to both take the game and the pictures. This, by the way, includes everything up to and including the truck they drove out there in, and anything they may have been camping in, like a trailer or camper.

This is very, very serious stuff. I hope it is not what happened.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Hmmm... I'm not sure how I feel about this. I was ready to say "great pics" (and they are), and I was really getting into looking at them, until... The ones at the end of their "harvests". It kind of struck me as odd seeing guys in hunter orange setting out the salt lick in the first few photos, but I really didn't give it much thought until the last few. Then I started giving it a lot of thought...

I hate to say it, but it looks like what they were doing is illegal as hell, and downright unethical. They were, essentially, baiting big game. It sure looks like they put out the salt lick, and the apples, and over the year more or less "trained" those animals to come there to find it. They even patterned the animals' behavior with their game camera.

Granted, they may have taken those animals somewhere else completely. I sure hope they did. But, the way the whole slide show is put together, it really looks like it all goes together, and the game was taken on the same trail. If that is true (and believe me, I really hope it's not), then all involved belong in jail, giving up their hunting privileges for life, and surrendering all of the gear and equipment used to both take the game and the pictures. This, by the way, includes everything up to and including the truck they drove out there in, and anything they may have been camping in, like a trailer or camper.

This is very, very serious stuff. I hope it is not what happened.

Now you make me wish I hadn't posted. That said, I'm as sure as I can be that the pics were taken in an area NOT hunted...

[chocolatelab]

Jeff

For the record I am not a hunter, not because I am against it but because it just wasn't part of my childhood.

I see what you say about baiting big game. I think I understand why its wrong.

I wonder why then its ok to use turkey calls or fake ducks in ponds. Just wondering what the distinction between the 2 are?

[lowyder993s]

I was looking at it as a menu w/ pictures...but I only got thru 2 minutes of it. I don't use trail cams. Prefer to stumble upon them as I go...or catch a glimpse of white azzes bounding away. Just ask Vash! Cool pix 1st 2 min.
EDIT: watched the end...good for them. Looks like they filled some tags. Agree on the apples, not my cup of tea,,,but if the cam picks up what's breezing thru, I like. Nice stuff re: elk, see how they mature. Looks like they have a nice spot to put up a stand. AFAIK...ALL totally legal.

[aigel]

That didn't load well on my home computer ... let me comment without seeing it: What is allowed for baiting varies greatly from state to state.

I can't speak for Oregon, but by Jeff's reply it appears that baiting big game is not legal in that state. It would be illegal in California (where I know the game laws better) and it would probably be perfectly fine in Texas.

One can have a theoretical discussion on baiting game in general (i.e. do you consider it "sporting")? Personally my opinion is that every hunting method allowed in your state is fine with me! If something is illegal in your state, it is NOT fine with me. Hunting is a sport and that's why you pay by the rules - seasons, limits, hunting hours etc.

George

[aigel]

Ok - saw the show now. You could argue what the white thing is in the first images, but in the middle there is clearly pile of apple visible in one of the night shots.

George

[tevake]

Food plots, scent attractant, remote camera scouting, tree stands , human scent hiding spray etc all seem to be part of modern hunting practices. The two most repugnant types to me are bear baiting and wild cat hunting with dogs.
I've gotten into watching hunting shows and most ethical type of hunting that I've been seeing is elk hunting via spot and stalk, with calling. I especially find bow hunting most appealing to me, as the wood craft needed to get close enough is really challenging and sporting.
I am interested in hearing the thoughts of those that are active in hunting.

Cheers Richard

[aigel]

I do not condone any type of legal hunting in the US. Some of it I prefer over the other, but if you start to criticize other hunters and their methods, you will only arm the animal rights extremists in their fight to eliminate all hunting. They start out with the low hanging fruit but will not stop there until all hunting is illegal. Even if you don't hunt, that can't be in your interest, as the next thing they will go after is all animal use for mankind - no more milk from a cow, no more pets and certainly no animal experiments to develop a drug that may save your life one day ...

I wanted to comment quickly on the use of dogs for hunting as that came up. Many non-hunters will argue "that's easy - the dog is doing the hunting for you". "If the pointer finds the bird and all you do is flush and shoot it, where is the sport?" Same on big game hounds tracking a bear or a cat for you. I would encourage anyone with this opinion to go out, get a dog or a pack of hounds and give it a try. Even just joining a dog hunt with an experienced hunter would be a good idea and see if you can keep up chasing chuckar over the high desert mountains, quail through the rolling valleys or a bear straight through some of the roughest terrain and vegetation you can find in North America.

Cheers,

G

[tevake]

The cooperation between a well trained hunting dog and handler/ hunter is a thing of beauty. How ever setting a pack of dogs out to run a cat up a tree then to just shoot the cat out of the tree, just doesn't sit well with me. If you don't eat it don't shoot it.
As far as the opinion of those against hunting, they must have no awareness of the efforts of hunters in habitat preservation and expansion/ management and the recovery of game populations that have resulted.

Cheers Richard

[slakjaw]

I think they were baiting for photo-op

[ODDJOB UNO]

is it 1800 oree-gon dept of fish and wildlife? is that where i get my POACHING(baiting) REWARD??????????????????????




we:

hate

loathe

dislike

turn in

narc on

tell on

spill our guts on

tattle on

POACHERS!


here they will take :

yer truck

yer guns

all of yer camping gear

yer wallet

yer soul

to JAIL! no ifs and or BUTTS!


and then fine yer azz into the stone age

jail time

have to buy yer truck/trailer/quad/guns/gear back at the going rate.



and if that isnt enough a MINOR 1st offense is 5 years where you CANNOT HUNT/FISH IN ALL 50 STATES.


a 2nd offense will get you GHEY TIME with BUBBA for a long long TIME!


and I LOVE IT!


signed an ethical/moral/legal HUNTER/FISHERMAN!

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by tevake

I am interested in hearing the thoughts of those that are active in hunting....

Does hunting fish count? I only hunt bass with barbless hooks anymore, and keep less than .01% of what I catch. If you're legal (in your state), and are gonna eat the harvest, then all is "good" imo.

ps: Autos kill more deer in these parts than hunters by a HUGE margin...if'n the cars don't, then disease will (overpopulation). In many areas, hunters are the only viable predators after the expansion of urban sprawl. There are more whitetail deer in NC than ever before (well, at least for the past few hundred years).

[ODDJOB UNO]

baiting is ILLEGAL in most states. trail cams are legal. SPOTLIGHTING IS REALLY REALLY ILLEGAL! like yer soooooooooooooooo screwed if you have a:


light attached to any vehicle.

have any/all LOADED OR UNLOADED WEAPON IN VEHICLE!


ONLY NIGHT HUNTING LEGAL here as of this writing is RACCOON HUNTING with NO LIGHT ATTACHED TO VEHICLE /BOAT/QUAD/PLANE/BLIMP/GO KART/UHV/ATV.


that may be changing to shotgun only varmints/predators in certain very rural area units due to trapping going belly up, and fawn survival rates going DOWN due to predators/vermints.

hunting fish with bow is legal here.

[slakjaw]

Originally Posted by ODDJOB UNO

baiting is ILLEGAL in most states. trail cams are legal. SPOTLIGHTING IS REALLY REALLY ILLEGAL! like yer soooooooooooooooo screwed if you have a:


light attached to any vehicle.

have any/all LOADED OR UNLOADED WEAPON IN VEHICLE!


ONLY NIGHT HUNTING LEGAL here as of this writing is RACCOON HUNTING with NO LIGHT ATTACHED TO VEHICLE /BOAT/QUAD/PLANE/BLIMP/GO KART/UHV/ATV.


that may be changing to shotgun only varmints/predators in certain very rural area units due to trapping going belly up, and fawn survival rates going DOWN due to predators/vermints.

hunting fish with bow is legal here.

Spotlighting is legal in some states for non-game or pests like coyote

[slakjaw]

Originally Posted by tevake

The cooperation between a well trained hunting dog and handler/ hunter is a thing of beauty. How ever setting a pack of dogs out to run a cat up a tree then to just shoot the cat out of the tree, just doesn't sit well with me. If you don't eat it don't shoot it.
As far as the opinion of those against hunting, they must have no awareness of the efforts of hunters in habitat preservation and expansion/ management and the recovery of game populations that have resulted.

Cheers Richard

Cat tastes good.

[ODDJOB UNO]

spotlighting here is ILLEGAL AS ALL HELL here due to (2) freeking MORONS over in new messiko KILLING AN ELDERLY COUPLE with Hi-PO RIFLES a few years back. thats why the law was enacted.


but................with fawn survival rates due to vermints/predators low and a ongoing drought, they may back off on it. i have heard "shotgun only" and i have heard "centerfire" also. have not read either in black and white yet so there ya go.

[lowyder993s]

Originally Posted by slakjaw

Cat tastes good.

Yep...dad's buddy gave us a leg once. Very mild meat.

[Rot 911]

If we didn't have deer hunting in Missouri we would be overrun by deer in just a couple of years. They breed like rabbits around here and there is no shortage of food for them and no natural predators other than man.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by NotaBRG

I couldn't watch much of the video because the transitions were making me sick.
From what I did see, I didn't see anything that looked like poaching. What did I miss?

The animals were fed. This is considered baiting and not legal in some states if the animals are shot within a certain distance of these bait sites.

G