A friend of my mine and I hand feed our deer and he just bought a self-feeder and it seems the amount of feed they consume went way up when he started using it. I had the same result some years ago . Is this just because it's new to them or what??? Has anyone else seen this and if you have will they go back to normal consumption after a while? Jim
Joined Apr 2009
1,428 Posts | 0+
Northeast Wisconsin
Maybe they weren't getting enough when you were hand feeding. They really can't ask for more. I will say that this time of year the pace picks up dramatically as the bucks start growing antlers and the does come close to fawning. All deer are eating a lot more now than they were a couple months ago.
We've always fed our deer free choice with gravity feeders. I remember visiting a farm one time where the farmer fed every day putting a certain amount in the trough for the deer. Those deer were standing there waiting for the feed and I remember thinking - they are hungry and feeling like they could have used more.
We've always fed our deer free choice with gravity feeders. I remember visiting a farm one time where the farmer fed every day putting a certain amount in the trough for the deer. Those deer were standing there waiting for the feed and I remember thinking - they are hungry and feeling like they could have used more.
I used to feed by gravity feeder, but have been feeding by hand for about 10 months now. There are days when they eat way less than normal, and then I back off; other days, they might be waiting. I feel that if you know your deer well, you can tell if they need more or not just by their language-so in a way, they can tell you that they want more. On the other hand, if all you've ever done is hand-feed, you might assume that they'll eat until it is gone no matter how much you give them.
We feed what they clean up....they didn't clean up what we were giving and then on the feeder would eat twice as much as they had been cleaning up 95%.