The general practice of baiting wild critters for study and conservation is pretty well accepted. Baiting for "harvest" is prohibited in many places.

My main concern would be whether the "bait" is something established in the area where it is used, or might present the possibility of "contamination" of similar/competing populations. There are many kinds of mice, just as an example, and moving a new kind of mouse into a niche ecology where it hasn't existed can have unpredictable, sometimes bizarre, results. Even a different "sub-species" of the kind already present can have an effect.

People who fish are cautioned to buy their bait in the local area where they intend to fish, and to dispose of it before going to another unconnected area. Quite a number of good fishing spots are periodically "contaminated" by foreign species brought in by people who ignore this rule.

A sort of "classic case" has been reported recently, I believe by Smithsonian magazine, but it may have been American Scientist:

Step 1: a foreign thistle accidentally introduced, mainly in western US and Canada, competes with native grasses and has destroyed large areas of grazing land. (NOTE: deer and elk graze too - not just cattle.)

Step 2: a parasitic worm was found that can kill the thistle, and was deliberately introduced for control purposes.

Step 3: a foreign "mouse" that likes the worm was accidentally introduced, or (remotely possible) may have migrated naturally, and has virtually terminated the thistle control project's earlier success by eating the larvae before they can attack the thistle.

Step 4: the "mouse explosion" due to the unnaturally rich source of thistle-eating-larva has produced local epidemics, and expectation of more widespread incidence soon to come, of mouse-born disease in humans in areas where the disease did not previously occur.

The use of attractants for photo and study is well accepted. Do be aware that any live bait brought from outside the area can have significant impact on a local ecology if any escaped bait survives.

John