Pellet lime considered a mineral lick?
Whitetail Deer
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Last Fall, I built a small foodplot way back in a large wooded area. It has been wooded for 40-50 years, With that many years of leaves decomposing, I figured that the pH would be terrible, and it was .......4.7. Since access to the area is really wet this time of year, I can't get a bulk lime spreader back in there. So I took 30 50-pound bags of pellet lime back in there a couple weeks ago, set them on a pallet, and covered it with a tarp. I went back in there about a week ago with an Earthway spreader, and "spread" ten of the bags (500#). Since our turkey season opens on May 1st, I went back in there today and checked the trail camera that overlooks the plot. Since I always filled the Earthway at the same place (right next to the pallet), any extra spillage would be right there. You should see all the deer that favor that area!! My biggest worry now, is that baiting, mineral licks, etc are not allowed in the state. Hence my question......Has anyone ever heard of pellet lime being considered to be a mineral lick? It obviously has lots of CaCO3/MgCO3 in it.....but since it has no salt, I wouldn't think so.....but it sure has the attention of the local deer......
I'd check your state regs. Here in Indiana, under Fair Chase, our regs state "It is illegal to use bait, salt, snares, dogs, or other domesticated animals to take deer. Bait is considered any product that is transported into a hunting area and placed there for animal consumption."
So, if you were in Indiana, what you did would not be considered baiting, since you didn't put the lime out to be consumed by deer.
Good Hunting!
I never have but in this crazy environment who knows.Jake with that ph you shoud have planted blueberries yumm.Good luck Lewis
Just to be on the safe side, I think I’d check with fish and game, regarding this, Jake. Can you get equipment back to this plot and incorporate the lime into the soil?
If you keep a record of your soil test, I would think any reasonable person would be able to see why you added lime to the soil. But maybe I'm making a poor assumption about dealing with reasonable people.
I can't imagine anybody saying that pellet lime is considered to be bait and certainly not for turkeys. Taking it to extreme, every farmer who applies it to their land would forever render their land un-huntable under that interpretation. Or at least until the landowner could prove that the lime was no longer present in the soil. But you do live in NY where up is down and down is up. I would suspect that the interpretation may depend upon your political affiliation.
"Here in Indiana, under Fair Chase, our regs state "It is illegal to use bait, salt, snares, dogs, or other domesticated animals to take deer." Unfortunately here in Wisconsin some people call that hunting and some of it is legal!!!
I wouldn’t consider it a baiting site. Nor would anyone else. But, I promise you that a game warden might. Depending on his mood. At this point, I think you have no other option but to contact the game department. It’s real likely they’ll find out and treat you accordingly in their eyes. It’s the World Wide Web. And, people are watching.
A more important question How's the coffee
I always get answers from the people that would give me the ticket. Otherwise..."Someone online said it was fine officer".
What Troy said, plus you may want to see how you look in striped britches ! :-)
“ My biggest worry now, is that baiting, mineral licks, etc are not allowed in the state”
Doesn’t have to be “salt” (NaCl) to be a mineral. But then, too, there are LOTS of salts in the world.
JMO, from a “letter of the law“ perspective, it certainly presents a problem. Whether an individual CO would choose to make it YOUR problem..... probably depends on the individual CO. Not saying that “most” or an “average” officer would have you up against the wall for it, but I’d guess they certainly COULD, if they felt like it
One more reason to not mess with any of that stuff ;)
"One more reason to not mess with any of that stuff " What alternative for lime is there???
If lime is considered mineral baiting then where do I turn myself in?
Of course, we are talking about NY.
Jake, according to recent press releases from NY Prosecutors, you should skip the lime and run a brothel instead.
What you have described would not be considered baiting in PA.
I hope one doesn’t need lime to plant pot in NY. Any cop that tickets someone for spreading lime on the soil, needs to be defunded.
I just spoke with the surrogate court (adjunct supreme court) judge for my County.......pellet lime is not a problem whatsoever. (Figured I'd skip the LEO's and go right to the top....it doesn't hurt that he is an avid sportsman).