Should I be concerned?

[Greg M]

I have had a feeder and cam up since April. Early on (up until mid june) I had alot of deer activity on it. I just got my card yesterday, and from june 26-july 11 I only had 13 pics of deer, all does and one fawn. Only one deer pic since. I was getting close to 1000 pics a month, some coons and tree rats, but alot of deer. Is it the heat? have they grown tired of my corn/rage mix? Am I paranoid? Should i try something different on the last feeder fill in mid august? On another note, had some japanese stiltgrass in the small food plot i have clover/chicory in. Sprayed it with Over The Top. We'll see how that looks this weekend. Planning on overseeding with clover/chicory and turnips in mid August. Thx

 

[BSK]

First, what are you using in your feeder? Sometimes deer will no longer respond to corn. That's why I primarily use salt licks as my "bait" for trail-cams. I get better response to salt than food-based bait.

Second, deer generally display some range-shifting right around the end of June.

 

[lungpuncher1]

Sorry but is there any way you can go in detail when you say range shift BSK? What do they shift from and what do they shift into? Just for food purpose or for the upcoming fall and for fawn reasons?

 

[BSK]

Sorry but is there any way you can go in detail when you say range shift BSK? What do they shift from and what do they shift into? Just for food purpose or for the upcoming fall and for fawn reasons?

Although deer have "annual" ranges (the area they cover in an entire year), they often do not use all of that range all of the time. It is extremely common for individual deer to have seaonal "subset" ranges that fall within their annual range. Now sometimes these seasonal ranges partially overlap each other, but it is also common for seasonal ranges to be completely separated from each other. In essence, a deer may spend the spring at one end of their range and the summer months at the other end of their range, and the two areas do not overlap.

Nobody knows why deer seasonally shift around within their range, but it probably involves changes in preferred food sources.

 

[Greg M]

BSK thanks. I was using strictly corn in the feeder and mixing in 5 or so pounds of Rage Acorn/soybean meal. The fill last weekend, however, I mixed in 120lbs. corn, 80lbs of an accidentally purchased corn-pellet-berry-infused stuff, and added 16lbs. of Rage. I have a mineral block that has been sitting on a stump next to my small plot that I'm going to move to the center of the plot now that it's sprayed and getting overseeded. I don't have a camera on the plot, so I will be getting one on it next week to see if that makes a difference. While your range change makes sense, the ironic thing that I forgot to mention is that the feeder is maybe 500 yds into the woods behind my uncle's garden and he's consistently been seeing a particular 8 point that I had on film earlier in the year along with several does, yet I have no photos of him or any of the other bucks recently. Thanks so much.

 

[BSK]

I have seen MANY instances where deer--especially older bucks--will not respond to corn in the summer. That's why I use salt licks instead of corn as "bait." In most parts of TN, bucks will use salt licks.

 

[lungpuncher1]

Thanks BSK that helped me understand alot better. One more question, do the doe's or bucks usually have a larger range if so does the age class change that range size?

 

[BSK]

Thanks BSK that helped me understand alot better. One more question, do the doe's or bucks usually have a larger range if so does the age class change that range size?

ON AVERAGE, bucks have larger ranges than does because of the rut. But studies have shown that every deer is an individual. Some bucks have tiny ranges and some monsterously large ranges.

 

[AllOutdoors]

Don't worry about your picture count. The does are just not willing to travel to far from their little ones right now to enjoy the feed. As soon as the little one's get a little bigger and stronger, your deer will start to show back up.

 

[Boone 58]

X-2.....Salt is enough and seems to work best here.