Feeding Wild Deer

Warm weather year round.... lots of good food year round.... lots of room..... I think you have a perfect setup as it is!!! Mabey a couple bunk feeders with roofs above them with 18 or 20% pellets would be fine. I would also make a mineral lick on the property also as i dont believe the soil would be the best there!!!!!

I would add a small alf alfa field to your plot also. This always seems to be the main draw for deer in areas were I hunt. As far as feeders that would be baiting and I think you have to be three hundred yards from any feeders so do the deer before you can shoot them. You could put a feeder out then remove it 30 days before hunting then put it back after you harvest your deer. Thunder valley makes a good feeder that would keep the racoons and other varmits out.

Corn works really well but once you get them used to coming in yo can switch it up and they will get used to it. If you are going to use pellets you will need to keep them out of the weather.

Outdoorfreak, I live in Fl. but have hunted in S. Carolina for years and heres what we did. You can start with your spin cast feeders first. If you have been feeding them corn already you have a head start. I use a good pelleted feed like "Record Rack". This particular feed is specially made with a hard glossy finish which is weather resistant.( I didn't say water proof, no such thing!) Record Rack also makes this same feed in a standard little round ball but it doesn't hold up to moisture and will mildew and fall apart easier. Anyways,we put in a small amount of the pellets in with the whole corn (about 5% at first) in the spin feeders. It takes the wild deer a little while to get used to the pelleted feed but as they do we add a little more pellets each time untill they fully accept it. At that time you can switch over to a trough or gravity feeder etc. We still throw a little corn in with the pellets and even hand broadcast whole corn around the feeders for good measure. While you can bait in S. Carolina we were told that you had to shut the feeders down during the off season. I think this only applied to NON property owners like us.(WE leased the property) I believe the reason was that we were not there year round to maintain the feeders and thus a feeder could jam up get moldy and poison the wildlife. Trust me moldy feed/corn KILLS! The real experts in this subject are the Texas Boys, most all of them do supplemental feeding at their high fence properties. It takes time... be patient and good luck! Tom

You keep coming back to shooting them at the feeder!!!! With all the food you have planted and 200 plus acres of land to hunt, Why not just hunt the deer?? If you have the numbers of deer on the property that you should have it should be somewhat easy to take a few deer!!! Im not sure if you want to hunt deer or just shoot deer?? It sounds like you want to take nice bucks and you will need to give them some protien but you say you plant everything they need to grow. Beans,corn,clover,alpalpa... If you have any kind of genitics at all then all they should need is some age and mabey some minerals. It should be easy pickins for any kind of deer harvest at all with all the food they have...Just Hunt!!!

I would also plant a alfalfa plot, even if you already have corn, bean's and clover, the deer would have good food all year long. As far as a feeder I would use a gravity feeder. Use a pellet mixed with corn. I dont think shooting them off the feeder would be a problem, they do it in Texas year after year and the deer keep coming. I dont think that there is any magic feed out there that you can use to make your buck's bigger. As long as you have your property set up with food plot's, mineral and feeder's to give them everything that they need the buck's should be doing all right.

Most people will not agree with me here but I think if you want better quality buck's you will need to let your best quality buck's live and do the breeding and kill the poor quality animal's. And when it come's to killing the doe's, only kill a mature doe. Try to kill the oldest doe's on the farm. If you let your best buck's breed then your younger doe's should be the best doe's on the farm. The bad thing here is with only 200 acre's to manage if your neighbor's are not on the same page as you are, I am not sure that you will see a big improvement in quality just doing this your self.



I wont shoot a 2 1/2 year old buck but we do let the kid's if they want to,I have killed plenty of them in the past it is hard to tell them they cant kill a few. But below is a link to a photo of a 2 1/2 year old on our farm that was off limit's even to the kid's, because he is the kind of buck we want to let live a few more year's and do hope that he breed's a few of the doe's.



http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e273/mod15racing/home10pt.jpg

I only have 50 acres but I have given up on managing for trophies(I tried for several years)when my neighbors shoot everything that walks or runs by them. More times than not I have had to shoot deer that they have wounded while poping off ten rounds at a running deer. On opening day of gun season this year I shot a doe and a 9 point 113" buck that both had busted front legs. They wound more than i take a year. If you can afford it fence it in, If not shoot a few does and a nice buck then take the money that you save from not feeding and go on a trophy hunt at a reputable hunting preserve.

I gave up managing for trophies due to the neighbors shooting at everything that walks by them. You might be better off in the long run fencing in you property so you can truly manage it. If thats not an option you might want to consider saving the money from supplemental feeding and go on a trophy hunt at a reputable hunting preseve every year. If you have your heart set on feeding, the thunder valley feeders are the best gravity feeders out there.

Outdoor Freak,

We lease ground in South Carolina and also manage for quality deer. We try and only shoot 4.5yr olds+, not intense trophy management…however we will try and take out any 3.5yr olds with undesired antler characteristics. We have a lot of great cover/browse on the property, but that is also always changing due to the pine management on the property, although we don’t have control of what sections are cut, we do have a great relationship with the landowner and he takes any ideas we have seriously as he is on the same page as we are when it comes to managing the property for all wildlife. Approx. 60% of the property is planted pines with only about 20% of that not creating any cover (younger pines that have not been thinned). Another 20 % in hardwoods (lots of mast) and another 20% in agriculture. The 20% ag. (~200 acres) is also under lease, so we do not have control of what is planted, we’ve been lucky over the last few years because it has been a mix of corn,soybeans, cotton and peanuts. It is said it will be that way in the future, however they have mentioned putting a large chunk of the ag in turf, if that happens we will lose a lot of nutrition. Included in the ag is about 25 acres of foodplots that we do have control of, however due to the fact that we are in PA, we do not have the time to have a really intense nutritional food plot program, mainly we plant some summer annuals for a little extra boost in the summer and fall annuals (oats/annual clovers) to add a little nutrition, but mainly to harvest animals off of (corned roads are also used to harvest deer, mainly does to meet our quotas for the year). That is the extent to which we can manage our foodplots. Even with all the agriculture around there are still going to be stress periods for the deer…drought, flooding, crops being harvested, HEATetc. These can negatively affect the crops/food which in turn hurts the health of the deer. This is where our supplemental feeding program kicks in.

We feed protein to help with nutritional gaps the deer may have throughout the year…we do not necessarily use them to harvest deer over. With the amount of nutrition you have on your property I would guess that the protein feeders will not be used on a daily basis, there is just too much other natural food that they will prefer. We use tube feeders from Thunder Valley Whitetails that work great for us. One of our very good friends who lives adjacent to the property, maintains these when we are not there. We have 4 feeders that are in the “center hub” of the property, no need to be feeding everybody elses deer. (I know deer will leave the property but not all!). For that property that is 1 protein feeder for approx.. every 250 acres. we also have a mineral station every 100 acres or so. For OUR property and OUR situation that seems to be the most beneficial and cost effective way to supplement the wild herd. As mentioned by another on here, it will take time to get the deer adjusted to eating the protein pellets, we started with 75%corn 25%pellets and over a years time changed to 50/50 corn/pellets seems to be what works best for us…corn attracts pellets give the nutrition.

In our experience over the last 6 years with the property there will be very minimal times that you will harvest a mature buck at these feeders. Trail cam shows mainly nighttime activity with our mature bucks coming to the feeders. Early-mid November we did get some daytime pics…but they were coming to the does at the feeder not the feeder itself. So I would say if you are just using the protein feeders to attempt to harvest mature bucks over, then you are just wasting your time and money for the most part. My brother, cousin and I were just down last week and harvested two bucks, a 5.5 yr old 9pt and a 4.5yrold 10pt. My 9pt was shot chasing a yearling doe out in a clearcut adjacent to a large sanctuary we have in the property, my cousin shot his chasing a young doe in a field on the other side of the sanctuary. We hunt our mature bucks a little different than the does, none of our bucks have been killed over our protein feeders.

Sorry I took so long and got a little off subject…these are just the experiences my family and I have had on ground similar to yours. I would like to know how well you do with perennials planted on your property…we have had a hard time getting any established due to the heat and sandy soils. Anyways good luck with you your property and your goals!



Jarrid Barry

Powder Ridge Whitetails

[email protected]

717-821-0669

I am always facinated by those who plant agricultural plots for deer and have no quarms about harvesting a deer over them, then are opposed to harvesting a deer over a feeder. It seems to me that regardless of the vehicle you use to harvest a deer it is something to give you the "edge" over them to do so. I don't care what "tool" someone uses to increase their chance of harvesting a wild deer because I know it will be possibly one less car/deer crash somewhere in this country of over-populated wild deer.

We have shot deer off of feeders, food plots, roads lined with corn, clearcuts, browse cuts made for deer, commercial agriculture fields and any other legal means of attracting deer to a particular spot...however in our experience we have not had many oppurtunities at MATURE bucks while sitting over a feeder. WHen it comes to managing our herd we use every ethical and legal means we can to harvest deer, and I see now problems with any of the means mentioned above. But lets not get off subject here.



Jarrid Barry

Powder Ridge Whitetails

[email protected]

717-821-0669

harvesting and hunting have different meanings. Setting in a tent or tower is not hunting.

dearjohn said:

harvesting and hunting have different meanings. Setting in a tent or tower is not hunting.

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Can you tell me why hunting from a blind, or tower stand is not hunting. I dont see much different than a tree stand or any other way actualy. A mature deer is tough any way you go about it.

RLAwhitetails said:

Can you tell me why hunting from a blind, or tower stand is not hunting. I dont see much different than a tree stand or any other way actualy. A mature deer is tough any way you go about it.

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take your tent or treestand Easter egg hunting how many will you get.

the bucks will be where the does are.get rid off your does where do you think the bucks will go. duuu

Scott Heinrich said:

I am always facinated by those who plant agricultural plots for deer and have no quarms about harvesting a deer over them, then are opposed to harvesting a deer over a feeder. It seems to me that regardless of the vehicle you use to harvest a deer it is something to give you the "edge" over them to do so. I don't care what "tool" someone uses to increase their chance of harvesting a wild deer because I know it will be possibly one less car/deer crash somewhere in this country of over-populated wild deer.

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Between the coyotes and the dnr giving block permits out to the fruit farmers and the local meat hunters. the deer around here are a rare thing to see.