Author Topic: Deer food (Read 1535 times)

yecats6569 · « **on:** November 28, 2006, 08:27:44 AM »

What is the best thing to use to get deer coming in and coming back

joshco84 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 29, 2006, 01:05:20 PM »

my grandpa's feed fields next to the neighbors wheat field. they feed on the wheat field all night and then browse through our field on the way to the river. but our other feed fields have lots of deer on them without the wheat also, so i would say the feed, will find out exactly what it is. it is a "cain" type of feed, its like sumac cain or something cant remember right off hand. deer and turkeys love it because it drops grian that looks like milo and is sweet, and they browse on it all winter long. also i have heard soybeans are supposed to be one of the best food plots also, so ya might try them.

dw06 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 29, 2006, 11:32:06 PM »

I planted buckwheat as cover crop on my garden this fall,after it came up for 3-4 weeks the deer came in and within a week all that was left were stubs.Farmers around here told me they would eat it but had no idea they would totaly wipe it out.Might plant a couple plots for deer next year with clover and other things mixed in so it may last alittle longer.

gdolby · « **Reply #3 on:** November 30, 2006, 09:19:26 AM »

I don't know if you are talking about a food plot crop or something smaller. try putting peanut butter on a stump(a little salt seems to help) in 2 years the deer had the stump dug up and going down in the ground. the butter was replaced about every 2 mo. in a food plot try some pink eye peas.

Land_Owner · « **Reply #4 on:** November 30, 2006, 12:52:11 PM »

Leave them alone and "nothing human intorduced" is the best way to answer your question.

deerslayer79 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 11, 2006, 03:39:11 PM »

I plant almost 5 acres of food plots,usually at least 1 acre of food plot for 10 acres of land,and thier favorite is purple tops turnips.

nabob · « **Reply #6 on:** December 11, 2006, 04:56:21 PM »

www.whitetailinstitute.com

www.qdma.com

The answer depends on your part of the world and the soils you have to work with. I'm up in the north woods part of the country and I use Imperial Whitetail Extreme clover. It handles lower pH well so I don't have to deal with as much lime and it works on the sandy soils of the deep woods in my part of the world.

Call up the Whitetail institute to see what they recommend. Then give the Quality Deer Management folks a call to get started on a program that improves the deer herd in your area. You'd be surprised at how much you can learn from the QDMA folks. They also have info on food plots.

backstrap · « **Reply #7 on:** December 12, 2006, 12:07:19 PM »

if it is leagel in your state us hole corn deer love it and will keep comeing back for more thatwhat i use in Olahoma and they have winter wheat to graze on and alfalfa feilds to graze on also but they cant resist that hole corn

WylieKy · « **Reply #8 on:** December 13, 2006, 12:31:08 PM »

I have been told that it is best to have food plots of 1+acre and it is better to have a square plot vs. a long narrow plot. We have also found that having strips of different foods or mixes 10-30 yards wide keeps the deer more interested than one big mix. If you are having trouble with overgrazing there are some products that you can use to protect you plot for a couple of weeks. Once it is established it will probably last the season. We also supplement with corn, but you have to be careful and start them gradually if you are using corn for the first time. If there are no corn fields in your area a deer can actually gorge on corn and starve to death because the bacteria in their rumen is not the kind that can break down corn, and it takes time for them to cultivate the right strain.

WylieKy

backstrap · « **Reply #9 on:** December 14, 2006, 04:38:05 AM »

here where i live i have never seen a dead deer from starveing from corn and we dont have corn feilds here just wheat and alfalfa hay feilds, soybeans, milo and all the hunters feed the deer corn the deer around here are smart enough not just have corn in there diet i put 300 pounds of hole corn in my feeder this year and was gone in 3 weeks and no dead deer other than the 1 i shot u put some corn out dont matter if u have corn feilds around i bet money they will eat it and keep comeing back to eat it its not like the eat it and just lay there tell next time they are hungry and eat more they will go some where else and get ruffeg to eat in there diet

rihmfire · « **Reply #10 on:** December 18, 2006, 10:58:38 AM »

Well we started with food plots...but we have crappy soil here in florida
and the deer would whip them out in no time!
so we start hanging feeders filled with corn....then the bears showed up..
so we switched to soy beans...deer and turkeys love it...and it make the bears sick...
then we added deer chow....record rack...found out the bears love that too...
So we switch to record rack golden nuggets...We put out 320 pounds every
two weeks.....and its gone within a week...we went from mainly spikes to
6s, 8s, and even spotted a 12....But heres the catch....we have made it so easy
for the deer....that they have gone nocturnal....we also have a drought down here

WylieKy · « **Reply #11 on:** December 18, 2006, 12:34:22 PM »

backstrap,
It is a different situation in my area of SC. Very poor nutrition, other than the improvements we have made ourselves. 3000+ acres of pine and scrub oak, maybe 200+ acres of mixed hardwood bottoms. If you give them all of the corn they can eat, they will gorge themselves on it and not be able to digest it. To be honest, I have never done an autopsy on a deer to conclude it died from corn, but I know it is a problem in areas with otherwise poor forage. If you start them slow, they are supposed to be fine, but can suffer if given unlimited corn with out a breaking in period.

http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/reso/toughlov.html

WylieKy

Land_Owner · « **Reply #12 on:** December 19, 2006, 12:17:43 AM »

rihmfire, how do you keep the hogs out of the corn and nuggets? We get so many hogs the deer get practically nothing and we have found nothing that the deer love and the hogs hate.

WylieKy · « **Reply #13 on:** December 19, 2006, 02:26:19 AM »

Eat ham!

WylieKy

motor · « **Reply #14 on:** December 23, 2006, 12:21:01 PM »

Soy beans and cow peas planted in 1to2 acre plots..deer love it..

hillbill · « **Reply #15 on:** December 25, 2006, 01:50:00 PM »

if your not into the food plot thing then whole corn will work. i started puttin corn out near a stand i have about 3 mon before season and stopped a week or two before season. they didnt seem to be really interested in it. it would dissapear but very slowly, wasnt sure if it was the deer eating it or the crows and squirrels. then we killed 3 deer in the vicinity and all had traces of corn in them. they were eating it but not gorgeing on it like cattle will do. now thats the weather is colder they eat it a lot faster. i plan to keep putttin it out till next deer season occasionally just to keep them checking out the location.happy huntin!

rihmfire · « **Reply #16 on:** December 26, 2006, 12:09:22 PM »

Quote from: Land_Owner on December 19, 2006, 12:17:43 AM

rihmfire, how do you keep the hogs out of the corn and nuggets? We get so many hogs the deer get practically nothing and we have found nothing that the deer love and the hogs hate.

We dont have any hogs in our area yet....They have been spotted and whacked by other hunters...
Most of the hogs are closer to the saint johns river and the east side of lake george...
What we really need in florida is a bears season...its really getting out of hand....I would gladly
pay some bucks for a permit.....

Land_Owner · « **Reply #17 on:** December 26, 2006, 03:35:27 PM »

rihmfire, I will gladly grant to you "my" bear permit. I find that I have no interest in hunting bear. Like you, I prefer to be the top of the food chain in my neighborhood. If shared with bears, I would probably feel like you do about hunting them.

Buckmaster 30-30 · « **Reply #18 on:** December 28, 2006, 02:25:33 PM »

I have a deer feeder in my front yard under a pole light so I can watch the deer during the day and night , I use horse and mule feed mixed with whole grain corn , the deer love the horse and mule feed because it has mollases mixed in with it.