No, absolutely no deer hunting over bait. Game Warden tickets and fines for doing it and getting caught. Maybe loss of hunting privileges also.
You also cannot feed deer, even if you are not deer hunting over the food.
We have had some whitetail deer chronic wasting disease previously in New York State.
The crowding together at bait piles or a feeding site allows the pathogen for CWD, easier transmission due to close proximity & herding up of the deer. (prions being the pathogen)

However, should you chose to deer hunt at the edge of a food plot, grove of apple trees, or a corn field, that is allowed as agriculture, and that would not be considered baiting or feeding deer.
I had planned for late spring 2026, planting a pumpkin "patch" in my interior field for deer attraction/feeding purposes.
We can't plant up here until about Memorial Day weekend, late spring frosts will kill off new tender plantings.
Taking care of the better half when she was sick didn't allow the extra time needed for the agricultural work.
Maybe next year!

This guy is the Albert Einstein in my woods.
Do you think he noticed something out of the ordinary in the woods?
I am betting he has noticed something that peaked his curiosity.

08_09_2026 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

08_18_2026 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

08_23_2026 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

08_23_2026_a by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Another buck bachelor group photo today. They will fight ferociously when the rut arrives later in around one / two months, but they are comfortable feeding together now.

08_25_2026 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Here in upstate NY, we have had a rather wet summer. Typically in August and into September, all the lawns have turned brown from less or practically no rainfall.
For sure, not the case this year.

In whitetail deer, the rut is triggered by the reduced number of hours of daylight as we head into fall/early winter and the start of deer hunting season.
By January, the days are so short that the bucks hormone levels decrease so low, they drop their antlers. (phototropic, phototropism)

With all the rainfall, the hours of daylight are lessened compared to typical or usual, and I am starting to see hormonal activity.

When a deer runs in front of a trail camera, the picture may not be great due to the motion from the deer running, and the exposure on that picture may not be great either.
There is also no guarantee you will see what is causing that deer to run. The woods are filled with trees, and if the "chaser" runs behind the tree the camera is hung on, no picture.

However, sometimes you get lucky.

Doe running. Check. Crappy picture. Check. Later in the day, less light, shutter is open longer. Check.

08_30_2026 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

"Chaser" is running. Check. Poor picture quality. Check. "Chaser" ran on the correct side of the camera tree. Check.
Note the time stamp on both pictures.

Edit for spelling/punctuation.

08_30_2026_a by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cee_Kamp,

That buck in the 8/9/26 photo couldn't have done the photo any better with a selfie stick.

When we do a system wide batteries change out in the cameras, typically we see a pretty steep decline in deer pictures due to the human scent for at least a few days.
Deer associate human scent with trouble. It takes a bit of rain, wind, and overnight dew for "washing" the human scent away from the tree, nylon mounting strap, and camera.

The previous system wide batteries change out took place on June 04, 2026.
That buck clearly identified that particular camera as a foreign object strapped onto a tree.
It wasn't human scent that was the issue.

Black bears will spot a camera, and destroy it just for the fun of doing so.

09_07_2026 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

With assistance from my son and grandson today, we did the annual food plot field bush hogging work.
Sadly, and now for the second time in that field, I buried the Kubota tractor in the mud.

The last time I did it, we widened the forest road so you can get a four wheel drive truck down into the middle of the property.
The Toyota Tacoma earned it's keep this afternoon, it pulled the tractor & bush hog out of the mud hole.
I had to fold in both door mirrors, and had about four inches of clearance between trees.
Down near a small stream at the base of the field slope, the sod & turf grows on top of the mud. All is good until you stop & change direction with the tractor, and it sank about six inches.
I learned my lesson last time, and didn't try and drive the tractor out of the mud, spinning the wheels and just sinking deeper.

It was a good day, the work is all done, nothing damaged or scratched on the equipment, and everything got put away in the shop building before the rain started.

By mid November, that field will have six inches of fresh green grass.

PXL_20260912_203123064 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

PXL_20260912_203040395 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Did anybody notice the little gray face peering out of the right rear door window on the Tacoma?
That's Hagar, the mini bulldog. He wandered the woods today with my son & grandson while I was doing tractor stuff.
He had fun today, walked several miles on his stumpy little legs.
He is snoring now, next to my computer chair.
He doesn't know it yet, but he's getting a bath tonight!

Here is a better photo of the view from the 18' two man steel ladder stand in the interior field.
The camera for this location is over by the orange Kubota tractor in this picture.
Having been all over the property during the bush hog work day, it will take a few more days for the human scent to dissipate before there is any significant deer presence.

IMG_20260912_223202 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr