Mineral supplement or baiting??

[rattle them in]

Went out yesterday and checked out my 2 food plots and saw 2 bucks in them with good sized velvet nubs.

The question is are mineral supplement sites like the Mossy Oak bio-logic mineral in a bag etc..or food plots considered baiting since they are man made to draw deer to them. I know you can plant them but on my private ground if the right officer finds me hunting over them could I be charged with baiting??
I had a park ranger (not a D.N.R. officer) tell me last year that was considered baiting.
On the public ground that I hunt someone must have put some mineral out or something and the deer had made a huge hole in the ground. One day when I got back to my vehicle a park ranger was patroling and I was talking to him and asked him what could happen if I got caught hunting over that hole since I didn't spread the mineral and it was public ground I didn't know. He said I could have been charged with baiting.
Is this right or not??

 

[TimberPig]

The baiting law is pretty simple really, at least as I understand it.
Basicly, if it is growing at the location you are hunting (whether you planted it or mother nature) you are ok, if it was produced elsewhere and you just dumped it on the ground, its baiting. This applies to anything an animal could consume, mineral, salt, or foods. Scents, since they cannot actually be consumed, are not considered baiting.

As for the public ground senario, it would probably depend on the officer and the likelyhood that you did or should have known the area was baited.

The only part I find confusing about the baiting law is the proximity. You can put out a mineral block, but you cant hunt near it. So how far is "near"? Shooting range? On the same property? Again, I suppose it depends on the situation...