Rob Nye and Josh Viste study maps of our hunting area. They're probably speculating on where they might find the donor of those shed antlers.

He was right about one thing -- I was reluctant. Baiting is also legal in my home state of North Dakota, and it has created raging controversy there. Ethical considerations and the spread of disease such as chronic wasting disease fuel some of the controversy, but I oppose it primarily because it inflames baiting wars. A landowner, or outfitter who has leased private land for hunting, will put out a five-gallon bucket of corn to attract deer. The neighbor decides he has to put out 10 gallons to bring the deer back onto his land. Soon guys are dumping truckloads of corn along fencelines, even adjacent to public lands. A hunter on public land can sit on dead ground with little to no chance at a deer while dozens of deer munch corn just across the fence on private land. It is getting out of control in North Dakota.

I had to concede that "baiting wars" were a small problem in Saskatchewan. Hunter densities are too low to create serious competition, and provincial law restricts bait sites to something like five gallons, which prevents escalation into all-out wars.

"You guys hunt this ground blind this morning and I'll go hang a couple of stands near a small bait. You can hunt there this evening," Rob said convincingly. I hoped a buck would present an opportunity that morning, but once again it didn't happen.

Some people have chastised me for speaking out against baiting. "Don't talk smack unless you've tried it," they say. Well, I was about to try it.

Let me make one final point clear: This hunt will appear on Bowhunter Magazine TV. Because of the way the footage was taken, we easily could have "overlooked" the fact that we were hunting over bait. But we believe in telling things as they are, and we hunted over bait, pure and simple.

THAT AFTERNOON JOSH AND I wiggled up through the branches of a pine tree to get to our stands placed side-by-side. Rob had told us the bait was some small grain on the ground 34 yards to the west, but we could not see it in the leaves and grass.

The distance concerned me, but we occupied the only tree close enough and large enough to hide two giant red Santas. The sky was cloudy, but the air was still warm, considering the time of year. I'm not sure Josh would have agreed, but I personally would have preferred below-zero temperatures and snow.

I've always been amazed at how the tiniest movement can catch the eye, human or otherwise, and it was a tiny movement that caught my eye now -- a patch of brown slipping between two aspens. With the naked eye, I could not identify it, but looking through binoculars I made out the form of a mature whitetail buck. He was a 5x5, the first buck we'd seen in four days. With only two days to go, I was not going to be picky. This buck was clearly a shooter.

He was also ultra-cautious, nearly bolting at the sound of his own movement. Focused on the bait, but scanning the area for danger, he studied each step as if walking through a minefield. He took long minutes to get to the grain, and then he hesitated to commit to a bite. He trusted nothing.

Continued -- click on page link below.