Before you decide to bait
Always check your local hunting regulations to see if baiting is legal in your area. Then check your hunting area for any natural food sources. If there is a natural food source, such apples or acorns, baiting may not be an option. The same holds true for agricultural areas.

What to use for bait
Check your general location to see what is around you. The most common bait for deer is corn. Carrots, beets, apples, pears, peanut butter, molasses and marshmallows all have been use to bait deer.

How much bait to use
Use 1 or 2 gallons at a time, anymore than that is a waste. You want to attract deer and get them to come in when you want them to. A doe with fawns may eat your bait before something worthwhile may come in to your location. If nothing else use that doe and fawns as live bait. They will let you know if something is coming or not. Most times the deer will get in a pattern and come in at regular intervals just to see if anything is there or not. Anything more than 2 gallons will make the deer go nocturnal and this something you want avoid.

Bait placement
I have given much thought about this because of mistakes I have made in the past. Never place a bait pile directly in front of your stand, place off to the left or right but where you can keep an eye on it. Deer have the tendency to stop and look around before they actually come up to bait pile. This can be use to your advantage, especially if they stop in a shooting lane. Another thing to do is watch the body language of the deer. They will be restless and constantly moving around.

Spreading Bait
Something that I have tried in the last few years is spreading the bait out over a given area instead of just dumping it out on the ground. You can a seed spreader for corn or spread by hand for carrots. Spreading the bait out keeps the deer in a more natural feeding pattern and allows more deer to come in at one time. The deer are more relaxed when you spread the bait out than they would be if you just dumped it on the ground in a pile.

Live bait
If the only thing coming in your stand is fawns, watch them. I have over the years seen many a buck come in to see what was up. Fawns make great live bait. Most of the time they don't even know you are there and are fun to watch also. If anything they make the time go faster.

Always check your local game laws to see if baiting is legal in your area. In some states, baiting is illegal.