How much benefit?

[BHC]

How much benefit can one provide by supplementally feeding of irony one 2 month period of the year? Assuming deer herd is at max carrying capacity. What would that period be? Late winter? Early antler growth/ fawning period? Late summer? Can you do anything by supplying corn or does it have to be so thing higher in protein like pellets or soybeans? I'm talking about bulk feeding... Supplying a couple tons or whatever... I know food plots are better and more cost efficient, but that's not always an option.


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[infoman jr.]

I'm made up of 2 parts irony: 5 parts sarcasm.

Corn is basically a filler food that is mostly useful as an attractant.

 

[scn]

IMO, you would get MUCH more bang for your buck (no pun intended) by using the supplemental feed money on fertilizer for natural vegetation such as honeysuckle and weedy fields on your hunting grounds. IMO, supplemental feeding is largely a major waste of money unless the deer herd is way over carrying capacity.

 

[dhpro]

Put your money into mineral blocks

 

[AllOutdoors]

IMO, you would get MUCH more bang for your buck (no pun intended) by using the supplemental feed money on fertilizer for natural vegetation such as honeysuckle and weedy fields on your hunting grounds. IMO, supplemental feeding is largely a major waste of money unless the deer herd is way over carrying capacity.

This^^^^ when I bought the farm I spent lots on supplemental feeding. I brought home truck loads of pellet feed (antler max) I think, to have above average bucks and more deer. While they ate it, I soon realized my bucks weren't getting any bigger and I wasn't seeing any more deer as far as numbers. This was on 300 acres and went on for 4 years. I do plant food plots and I hope they benefit the deer but in the end they are simply there to draw deer in for the kids.

 

[Mike Belt]

Fact is that deer have to eat. Here's where food plots, browse, etc. come into play. Fact also is that if enough pressure is put on your deer during season around those food sources they will avoid them during daylight and only hit them at night. The ticket to keeping deer on your land during shooting hours is cover. If I had money to spend on my land this would be my priority.

 

[landman]

There was a recent study about this done in Mississippi saying yes it would, but once I shared it
with BSK he was able to point and and punch holes in it for me. The protein in a pen and controlled setting helped
but not in the wild, pumping up the natural food sources is the way to go.

Theirs actually 2 farms around me that do heavily feed pellets, but those who go the other route are actually killing better bucks and have more of them on TCs too

 

[BSK]

Much depends on how large the property is, and the habitat on the feeding property and the habitat on the surrounding properties. Just remember that it is very common, even for properties exceeding a thousand acres, for many of the deer that use the property during hunting season to not use the property at other times of the year. So in essence, the deer you are feeding in winter, spring and summer may not be the deer you are hunting in fall.

Now a high-fenced property--where they deer cannot leave--is a different story.

 

[MickThompson]

I've seen deer in very high density areas let it sit and rot. You usually have to cut it with something palatable like corn, diluting the nutritional benefit. I also have a philosophical problem with it- feeding pelletized feed to wildlife is a little too close to deer farming for comfort.

 

[Boone 58]

IMO, you would get MUCH more bang for your buck (no pun intended) by using the supplemental feed money on fertilizer for natural vegetation such as honeysuckle and weedy fields on your hunting grounds. IMO, supplemental feeding is largely a major waste of money unless the deer herd is way over carrying capacity.

I AGREE