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<blockquote data-quote="BSK" data-source="post: 1102872" data-attributes="member: 17"><p>bigorangmd,</p><p></p><p></p><p>My views on this are highly biased, as I am very "anti" supplemental feeding unless absolutely necessary (and there are situations where supplemental feeding is necessary to see even decent performance from a deer herd).</p><p></p><p>Supplemental feeding has been shown in many scientific studies to produce a myriad of problems. Although some of those documented problems are greatly reduced in a winter feeding situation, others still exist or are enhanced by winter feeding.</p><p></p><p>Now I'll be the first to admit that a winter feeding program <em>can</em> benefit deer (extra high-energy food sources provided), but in your situation, with all of the cropland around, I question just how much benefit you would be providing your deer.</p><p></p><p>Now corn as camera bait is an accepted practice for conducting a winter census and should produce the results you are looking for this year and probably next, but I'm beginning to question corn as camera bait over the long term. I and others have noticed that over a period of years, corn loses its effectiveness as a census bait. For some reason, older bucks learn to avoid corn bait once it has been used for several years in a row. The first few years it is used, the census numbers look good, but by the third or fourth year, older bucks stop appearing in the baited census. To test whether corn was losing its effectiveness as a camera bait, a couple of years ago I ran dual camera censuses on the same property at the same time using both salt licks and corn (in a late summer census). I got very few older bucks over the corn but a plethora of older bucks over the salt, and the few older bucks I got over the corn where just in the background--passing through--not feeding on the bait. Now I realize salt licks won't work for a winter census hence corn may be the only option, but just be forewarned that corn as bait camera censuses may not remain effective over time.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BSK, post: 1102872, member: 17"] bigorangmd, My views on this are highly biased, as I am very "anti" supplemental feeding unless absolutely necessary (and there are situations where supplemental feeding is necessary to see even decent performance from a deer herd). Supplemental feeding has been shown in many scientific studies to produce a myriad of problems. Although some of those documented problems are greatly reduced in a winter feeding situation, others still exist or are enhanced by winter feeding. Now I'll be the first to admit that a winter feeding program [i]can[/i] benefit deer (extra high-energy food sources provided), but in your situation, with all of the cropland around, I question just how much benefit you would be providing your deer. Now corn as camera bait is an accepted practice for conducting a winter census and should produce the results you are looking for this year and probably next, but I'm beginning to question corn as camera bait over the long term. I and others have noticed that over a period of years, corn loses its effectiveness as a census bait. For some reason, older bucks learn to avoid corn bait once it has been used for several years in a row. The first few years it is used, the census numbers look good, but by the third or fourth year, older bucks stop appearing in the baited census. To test whether corn was losing its effectiveness as a camera bait, a couple of years ago I ran dual camera censuses on the same property at the same time using both salt licks and corn (in a late summer census). I got very few older bucks over the corn but a plethora of older bucks over the salt, and the few older bucks I got over the corn where just in the background--passing through--not feeding on the bait. Now I realize salt licks won't work for a winter census hence corn may be the only option, but just be forewarned that corn as bait camera censuses may not remain effective over time. [/QUOTE]
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