Reader doesn't see difference in feeding deer and food plots

BILL: I really see no difference between planting an acre food plot of corn for deer, which is a legal practice, and taking a bushel of corn and putting it out for deer, an illegal practice. Either way, you are feeding deer and without a doubt drawing them to that location.

I do not have food plots, but I have hunted on places that did and I do not put out corn or other food for deer. Either practice can be expensive, especially the food plots.

I am well aware that there is a timeframe when it is illegal to feed deer, but the same does not hold true for the person who has a food plot for deer.

To me, all this adds up to an unfair advantage for the folks who can afford food plots and get around the law against feeding deer.

JOHN WRIGHT

Amherst

BILL: Your "coyote" segment was interesting. What I have been hearing from the regulars in the Mountain Grove area of Bath is bears are also taking a toll on the young fawns. One old timer I met, was adamant in his belief that the increase in bear population is a factor. I know he spends a ridiculous amount of time in the woods, particularly along the Bath-West Virginia border. He supposedly sees more than the average outdoors person.

In your travels, have you heard any similar anecdotal evidence that bears are a factor?

STEPHEN HINER

STEPHEN: In the Virginia Deer Hunters Association survey, bear was mentioned as a factor in the decline of deer numbers, behind coyotes and the loss of habitat. The association is funding research in an effort to determine if bear do have an impact on the deer herd.

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