Deer Feeders and growing antler inches
- Thread starter Brian662
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omicron1792
5 year old buck +
It is my man. In south where forest is dominate landscape they just don’t come out of woods in daylight.
Also I agree bucks avoid spin feeders like the plague. I have two left on large green fields I used just to keep does around.
I now put feeders back in the woods and bucks will use them. Only gravity feeders. It’s a pain because it’s much harder to get feed into the feeder. But worth it imo.
I also think we are conflating two topics. Corn imo is used to lure deer to property for hunting purposes. Protein feed is used to improve deer health and antler size. There is some overlap but they are separate imo.
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Yeah. I’ll handle my own ethics thank you very much. HaThat's a rationalization that all those who feed deer use ... good intentions
It's always interesting to me to see all the different points of view. Perception spawns from belief. Some people view feeding as domesticating animals. Some see baiting with corn the same as feeding protein pellets. Some people base all their belief on what they see on small acreage. There are emotions vs. fact. Some think food plots are great but feeding pellets immoral while some think deer should only be on. native habitat. Some think we shouldn't do anything that is " unnatural " for deer while at the same time many { most ? } deer herds are so perverted from their " natural " habits by pressure from man that they have become psychotic neurotic vampire deer behaving totally different than they " naturally " would. We all hunt yet many have their own rules about what is right and wrong pointing their fingers at others that don't comply..The list goes on. The deer must think we are nuts.
It's all great. To each his own. As for me my goal is to create an environment that maximizes herd nutrition and health including density, stress, age structure, recruitment b/d ratio reflective of nature. I'm for the quality of the deer herd with hunting them further down the list.
It's all great. To each his own. As for me my goal is to create an environment that maximizes herd nutrition and health including density, stress, age structure, recruitment b/d ratio reflective of nature. I'm for the quality of the deer herd with hunting them further down the list.
I am not saying they might visit a feeder in daytime in season - but almost never regularly - like they do in summer
BenA
5 year old buck +
I can attest to both of these observations. Big bucks visit feeders regularly during daylight in season and Big bucks avoid feeders during daylight in season. I don't know the reason (I have an opinion), but I've definitely seen it both ways.
Yes - and they are all really old judging from their briskets
Just described my place
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Man they have an uncanny ability to avoid pressure. Almost makes you think that hunting has skewed the genes to make them avoid feeders when the weather turns colder.
When I first got my place back in 2003 - we killed dozens of hogs and saw hundreds of hogs - all during daylight. Twenty years later - I went all year without seeing a hog during daylight - although I killed dozens - with a thermal. I can go to a nearby NWR - where they allow very little rifle hunting for hogs - and you can see some every other time you go in daylight. Hogs are a little quicker to catch on than deer - and it is all of them - boars and sows - but they exhibit how hunting pressure will definitely affect the game. Ducks in Arkansas are becoming more and more nocturnal. My catfish will be frothing the water when you are feeding them - and hook one in that seething mass and the rest are gone for an hour. Probably if KY had he season length AL and AR have - their deer would be much more cautious around a feeder during daylight.
I keep hoping my hogs will become more diurnal since I have killed so many in the dark - but it hasnt happened yet
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
I know you would happily be rid of them, but do you enjoy hog hunting?When I first got my place back in 2003 - we killed dozens of hogs and saw hundreds of hogs - all during daylight. Twenty years later - I went all year without seeing a hog during daylight - although I killed dozens - with a thermal. I can go to a nearby NWR - where they allow very little rifle hunting for hogs - and you can see some every other time you go in daylight. Hogs are a little quicker to catch on than deer - and it is all of them - boars and sows - but they exhibit how hunting pressure will definitely affect the game. Ducks in Arkansas are becoming more and more nocturnal. My catfish will be frothing the water when you are feeding them - and hook one in that seething mass and the rest are gone for an hour. Probably if KY had he season length AL and AR have - their deer would be much more cautious around a feeder during daylight.
I keep hoping my hogs will become more diurnal since I have killed so many in the dark - but it hasnt happened yet
I have immensely enjoyed predator hunting. It extends my hunting season pretty much all year.
To be honest, I dont want my hogs gone. They provide much more hunting time than any other animal I hunt - except ducks. They dont run my deer off, they dont damage nearly as much stuff as do deer. They are easily fenced out of the orchard, garden, and feed locations - which deer are not. My hogs live in the bottoms almost all the time - and that is not where most of the turkeys do their nesting. I know almost all habitat managers consider a hog to be the devil himself - but I dont see that. I do agree that you cant plant quite a few things. I used to plant every manner of seed available. Spring plantings, summer, early fall, late fall. The hogs taught me wheat and clover is all I need. No spring summer or early fall planting. They will destroy corn or beans and milo. Wheat and clover, they graze like deer. My labor has dropped significantly since the hogs taught me to quit planting all that other stuff. To be a very successful hog hunter, you need a $150 feeder and $7 corn - oh, and a thermal scope. And you dont have to clean them
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
I was hoping you would say that. I love hog hunting. It’s fun and fast paced. I am getting closer and closer to your style of planting. KISS. Keep it stupidly simple!
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Round here after a mild winter and a wet spring/summer - the good antler growth will only extend all the beautiful 1 and 2 YOs getting killed.
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
Trust me that’s not proprietary to Minnesota….
T-Max
5 year old buck +
Concur
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Oh i'm sure. We just went from 2 straight brutal winters where deer were lucky to survive and had little quality browse until very late in spring and then straight into drought. Contrasted with this year where winter basically never came and then we had constant moisture until a couple weeks ago - thus theres 1.5 YOs with racks like 2.5 YOs of years past and probably 2.5 YO that look like 3+ of the last couple years because of overall body condition improvement.
roymunson
5 year old buck +
We feed. We particularly feed late winter just before green up. Our thoughts is it might give some does a boost when they're run down and carrying fawns.
We feed late summer for an inventory, and I have zero problems killing over bait. We're not forcing deer to come to us. Food is abundant this time of year. They can go anywhere to feed their belly.
That said, I don't like the trend. I think in the midwest, if they banned baiting, the deer would be just as big and we'd do just as well at the end of the season. I hate how reliant even I've become on it. My kids are FAR worse.
but, I have a neighbor who by the middle of October a couple years ago had fed over 14 TONS of a blended feed. Not just corn. The best clover field or turnip patch in the world won't compete with that. So it's really an arms race. He with the biggest pile of golden deer cocaine, wins.
We feed late summer for an inventory, and I have zero problems killing over bait. We're not forcing deer to come to us. Food is abundant this time of year. They can go anywhere to feed their belly.
That said, I don't like the trend. I think in the midwest, if they banned baiting, the deer would be just as big and we'd do just as well at the end of the season. I hate how reliant even I've become on it. My kids are FAR worse.
but, I have a neighbor who by the middle of October a couple years ago had fed over 14 TONS of a blended feed. Not just corn. The best clover field or turnip patch in the world won't compete with that. So it's really an arms race. He with the biggest pile of golden deer cocaine, wins.
I think the average hunter - not including anyone on this forum - doesnt realize how many mature bucks are in the neighborhood and how many of those bucks are really inferior - at least in my area. Before I had grand daughters, I didnt pay that much attention - there were mature, quality shooter bucks, there were a few extra ordinary younger bucks to watch, and there was everything else - non shooter bucks.
Then, along came the grand daughters. They all want to shoot a buck - and there are never enough quality shooter bucks to go around. We actually started trying to identify mature bucks among the previously “non shooter bucks” - and there are quite a few of them - a lot more than the quality shooter bucks. Of course, they are much more difficult to identify - because their antlers dont stand out and draw your attention. As previously shown, in my area, out of something like 75 5.5 yr old bucks - the average gross b&c score was around 115”. Of course, among those will be a few 140” deer. That means there are a lot of sub 115” deer within the 5.5 yr old group
The above deer obviously stands out as a quality mature deer. His buddy, below, is actually an older deer
The two pics above are of the same deer top from last year and bottom, this year. He is either a 5 or 6 yr old deer this year - and antlers are digressing.
There are five bucks using this feed location. Three of the five are mature - but two of those would draw little attention if you hunted quality antlers - but those two are on the grand daughter hit list.
Since the grand daughters started hunting - I realized there are a lot more mature bucks around - and very, very few will ever make a 135” deer, here. A 125” four year old buck with 8” g2’s is realistically not going to become a 145” buck with 12” g2’s the next year.
- doesnt realize how many mature bucks are in the neighborhood and how many of those bucks are really inferior - at least in my area. Before I had grand daughters, I didnt pay that much attention - there were mature, quality shooter bucks, there were a few extra ordinary younger bucks to watch, and there was everything else - non shooter bucks. Then, along came the grand daughters. They all want to shoot a buck - and there are never enough quality shooter bucks to go around. We actually started trying to identify mature bucks among the previously “non shooter bucks” - and there are quite a few of them - a lot more than the quality shooter bucks. Of course, they are much more difficult to identify - because their antlers dont stand out and draw your attention. As previously shown, in my area, out of something like 75 5.5 yr old bucks - the average gross b&c score was around 115”. Of course, among those will be a few 140” deer. That means there are a lot of sub 115” deer within the 5.5 yr old group
The above deer obviously stands out as a quality mature deer. His buddy, below, is actually an older deer
The two pics above are of the same deer top from last year and bottom, this year. He is either a 5 or 6 yr old deer this year - and antlers are digressing.
There are five bucks using this feed location. Three of the five are mature - but two of those would draw little attention if you hunted quality antlers - but those two are on the grand daughter hit list.
Since the grand daughters started hunting - I realized there are a lot more mature bucks around - and very, very few will ever make a 135” deer, here. A 125” four year old buck with 8” g2’s is realistically not going to become a 145” buck with 12” g2’s the next year.
