Sportsmen's Monthly July | August | Page 12

and smell, and will often circle the site testing the wind from all directions before moving in or leaving the area if danger is sensed. Likewise, many species will often go nocturnal with any pressure or sense of danger.
What bait does, however, is increase the odds that an animal will frequent an area, and will slow down enough so that a hunter can take a clean, ethical shot on a specific type of animal – the exact age class, sex or physical attributes determined by the regulations and desires of wildlife biologists to keep population levels within a stable range. Mature males can be taken, while immature animals and females with offspring can be evaluated and allowed to leave. Breeding-age, but offspring-free, females( which impact reproduction rates) can be passed on or harvested, depending on biological goals for the immediate ecosystem.
To the angst of animalrights activists, the use of bait isn’ t the lazy man’ s approach to hunting and doesn’ t present any more of an unfair advantage than any other form of hunting. It’ s just another tool wildlife biologists can use to properly balance populations of animals within today’ s fragmented habitats.

Facts & Fibs

Those against bait usually rationalize their position with one of the following theories.
Conditioning
Dependence
Pregnancy Booms
Unethical
The Claim: Animals visiting bait stations will become conditioned to the presence of those tempting delicacies, and will reject natural food sources in search of corn, chocolate or donuts.
The Fact: When food sources, natural or artificial, expire, animals keep moving in search of sustenance. Wildlife won’ t pass up edible plants or carrion for bait. If this were true, addicted bears would be raiding Dunkin Donuts stores downtown.
The Claim: Not only will animals become conditioned to bait, they will become dependent upon its presence to survive – effectively compounding wildlife deaths due to starvation.
The Fact: Supplemental foraging at bait sites won’ t sustain a wild animal’ s needs over the short term, much less for long-term survival. Additionally, seasonal baiting during a short hunting season won’ t change an animal’ s patterns long term.
The Claim: Artificial food sources higher in carbohydrates and fats prompt wildlife to reproduce at artificially high levels, which is what really leads to overpopulation and a false need for hunting.
The Fact: Again, small piles of bait don’ t support individual animals over the short term nor for longterm survival, and they sure don’ t provide enough sustenance to support the demands of pregnancy and rearing of offspring.
The Claim: Animals can’ t resist food and will come to bait no matter what, and hunters shoot all of them.
The Fact: Bait is a management tool that helps biologists maintain equilibrium within the ecosystem. Wild animals remain wary and use all of their sense to detect the presence of hunters. It allows hunters the ability and time to evaluate animals for age, sex and presence of offspring, as well as to take the most ethical shot possible.
July | August 2017 SPORTSMEN’ S MONTHLY
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