Baiting may not be "ethical" based on the point of view of some, but 100% legal in your situation. Do what you want to do and what makes you happy. You mentioned that you consume the meat or give it away so the deer is not wasted.
I, like you, didn't grow up hunting. We didn't have that where...
Sent my renewal the second week of January. I received my license yesterday, exactly 20 days after sending it. Is that fast or just right? I've heard for some it takes 6 weeks to get theirs.
We occasionally do geese round-up here in several parks in PG. Downside is we have to pay some amount per geese for the animal to get processed. Meat goes to a food bank.
Goodluck on learning how to deer hunt and all the game processing that comes with it. I've just started to hunt this year and it's hard to learn how to hunt if you've got no one to show you how.
I'll keep you in mind if I harvest any deer this week or next.
It took them 12 days to ship a complete rifle kit (w/o lower of course). I ordered Oct. 25th. I already have it but my order status on their website still says "processing
Went out last yesterday, got nothing, saw nothing. Last Friday, same spot, nice 8 pointer chasing a doe but i couldn't take a shot. They were moving too fast. An hour later, saw a small buck, didn't take a shot because it was too dark.