Corn & Legality ?

[RobertM]

I'm in a reasonably large deer camp. I've never had any problems or even aggravations until this past weekend.

I decided not to go and hunt saturday morning (good thing). When I got to the camp at lunchtime, I was told that game wardens had been around that morning and were writing tickets.

One man got a ticket when he was coming out of the woods. He got a ticket because some doofus had corn in a feeder. (actually there were several more feeders with corn and several more tickets written) but thats ok because they were guilty.

My issue is this.....one man who got a ticket was 400 yards from a feeder that he didn't know was even there.
The officer told him that they could write a ticket to ANYONE on the WHOLE property hunting because it was illegal to have corn in the feeders at that time.

So......some others stupidity bought an innocent man a ticket because it was the wardens view that it was the camps responsibility to make sure there were no illegal feeders.

Is that ticket legal? or one wardens interpretation of the law? I didn't even hunt this weekend after hearing all of that. I was too afraid I would get a ticket I can't afford for something I didn't even do wrong.

Will he be able to go to court and have it dropped I wonder? I dont figure so, because thats all the judge hears is I WASNT DOING NOTHING WRONG.

Hopefully all the corn at our camp has been addressed and we can enjoy the coming weekend. I'd just like some opinions from others on what happened last weekend.

thanks

[Seymore]

I'd like to know the answer to that one as well. I don't use and/or hunt over corn and I try to stay far away from the corn feeders I know are on the land my camp leases. If I can be written a tickets because someone else in the camp isn't going to play fair then I don't know what to do. Get out of the club I guess. One club I'm in is over 20K acres with 200 members. There's no way I'd ever know where all the rednecks have their feeders.

[RobertM]

My camp isn't nearly as large as yours, but I feel the exact same way. Except I'm not willing to get out of the club. Going to have to attack it in other ways. Just will be March before our annual meeting.

[rjohnson]

i thought the law was simply that you could not be within eyesight of the feeder, guessing that green jeans would say i was off in my understanding

[levi127]

Way I look at it.
You have to be over 100 yards away from it, considered baiting. Im sure it can be seen all different ways but read the book.
Another thing im thinking without looking into it. You can only feed corn at certain times and or a mixture with supplements im sure. Like rice brand, can not be hunted till all seeds are gone and after 10 days after that.

Alot of guys on here know something about. Im sure they will chim in tonight sometime

[RobertM]

If the feeder had been filled with the pelletized feed legal for this month....he would have been fine because of the distance. The illegality of it was because it had corn in it.

[JFW2006]

I thought it was like 500yds and out of eyesight...not too up to date on that either

[quack_a_tack]

Seems to me,although he didnt know it was there, he was within what I would consider reasonable distance. Deer would be drawn past his stand to get to the feeder, hence baiting with corn. If you only had to be 300 or so yards away every bait happy fool on the property would simply fill their feedee with corn, and place their stand X yards away on a trail. You also have to remember ( even if this member didnt know it was there) I would doubt wardens hardly get a " yes I did it, I was wrong" answer. This is all just my personal opinion, and I am not well read on the laws surrounding baiting.

[levi127]

Feeding Deer Corn
According to Mississippi law, it is permitted to feed deer corn in state-approved feeders from July 1 through September 30, and December 1 through February 28. During other months, including hunting season, hunters must only feed deer what is known as Complete Pelletized Ration (a mixture of crude protein and vitamins.)


This is 1 thing I found on it

[levi127]

http://home.mdwfp.com/PDF/Wildlife/Publ ... index.html

Must be over 100 yards away and out of sight. Nothing about being in a direct travel path to or from it. Just it has to be out of sight. Can not be hunted till after 10 days after all feed has been removed as well.
Im sure the GW could have given everyone the same ticket on the property possibly from corn being feed at this time of the year the way it reads.

Suppose to be removed by Sept 30th. Meaning if it was you couldnt hunt till Oct10th if corn was there on Sept 30th. I am sure you can see what im saying. But then can be feed after Dec 1st again. Sure someone on here will jump in and break this down and hammer me for it, someone always does
Never seen anyone have a problem with this but all GW are different.

[Doc Holliday]

what if i am using the corn feeder to attract wild hogs and only shoot hogs off the feeder and let the deer walk? what does the law state about this situation?

[huntersmky]

the law is stated above. it's illegal to feed corn from October 1 - November 30 - period. I believe you can have a feeder at your house in your backyard only and you have to have a permit for that.

IMO Robert, your club should also fine these guys using the corn feeders "illegally" for bringing trouble to your camp and the camp members that were innocent. I believe the fine is only $100 bucks, but it sucks to have to pay that if innocent. The law is pretty cut and dry on this one. It's not the wardens fault for doing his job. Ya'll must not lease from the timber company? They generally don't allow supplemental feeding at all no matter what the law says.

what if i am using the corn feeder to attract wild hogs and only shoot hogs off the feeder and let the deer walk? what does the law state about this situation?

[driveby]

what if i am using the corn feeder to attract wild hogs and only shoot hogs off the feeder and let the deer walk? what does the law state about this situation?

The law states you can bait hogs but the bait can not be a grain product. Corn's a grain.

[DUCK-HUNT]

U get caught breaking ANY law on the timber company land we have you get your lease yanked no questions asked

[RobertM]

I wanted to say...I have no problem with the wardens for doing their job...

I agree, the persons who had the feeders out should be fined by the camp and if I had my say, would be removed since I think the feeders belonged to new members.

We do lease from a timber co.......partially, some is Plum Creek and some is private lease. But if the timber co gets wind that we have had a bunch of tickets.......we could lose that lease and be screwed.

I wish the camp as a whole didn't allow feeders, but we do.....and they are supposed to be within the game regulations. however.......this year theres been too much of it. At minimum I think the owner of the feeder should have his name on it. That way........ANYONE in the camp or wildlife officer can see who it belongs to. That way....the idiot who isn't within the law can be punished, either with a fine, beating, or being asked to leave.

The answers I've seen here really dont make me feel better. So this weekend....if I go hunt somewhere and Doofuses still have corn out somewhere we dont know about, I can be ticketed for it even though I have had nothing to do with the corn. (except for cleaning up one feeder last weekend and dumping the corn in the creek)