What do you put in your feeders?

[Blue Duck]

Pretty basic question.  I know there are a lot of choices out there.  Some have got to be better then others.  Id think cracked corn would be good for the turkeys, but there must be lots of choices for deer. 

[SHOOTALL]

whole corn . Turkeys love it as do deer , coons , crows and just about anything else . Have had ducks come to it . I do buy feed corn instead of deer corn as it cost less here .

[Land_Owner]

whole corn

Good answer.  Whatever costs the least. 

Some folks are in "grain country" and can get wheat, oats, rye, soy beans, etc. in great abundance for low cost.  Then use those.  No worries.  IMO, don't use pellitized feed in it...the kind that has been pressed into pellets anyway.  Thsoe pellets tend to "come unglued" in the presence of moisture and can clog a feeder.  Also, bridging of the whole kernal corn will clog a feed right quick too.

[SHOOTALL]

I haven't had a problem with whole corn if i get good clean corn . If it has trash in it it cloggs . I have tried other grain but yellow gold seems to draw better . We can't feed after sept 1 . But if i feed all summer i can walk out and set off my feeded repeter and deer come to the sound weeks later.

[SHOOTALL]

One other thing is if we use corn called deer corn with other flavors on it the deer will let it pile up until rain washes it clean . We do have alot of food in the area so the feed we put out is a extra for them .

[Land_Owner]

Must be the exit hole in my feeder then because whole corn advertised (and appearing) as "Exceptionally Clean" still cloggs.

[SHOOTALL]

Are your feeders getting any water in them ? I had one the top fit badly and water would get in a swell corn and mess up .

[Land_Owner]

No, but good call.  I figure that between the size of the corn kernals, the diameter of the funnel hole in the Cabelas slinger, and the height of the slinger from the hole (pretty close and can be adjusted longer), these combine to bridge the corn. 

I have gone up there to find the slinger "dry" and the reservoir full of corn on too many occasions.  The wind has been a friend more than an enemy unbridging while I am not there.  Too often on another slinger of different manufacture, the wind swings the feeder and slowly empties the corn as it slid past the slinger.  Finding an empty 55-gallon feeder a few weeks after fulling it up with 300# of corn is quite an upset and an expense.

[SHOOTALL]

Here the law changed and we can't feed during hunting season so i switched to planted food . Problem I'm having is they eat it before season or early into the season . I had a patch of turnips with greens knee high 2 days later it was gone . The area was 100 ft X60 ft Same with 3 salad patches . This year i plan to fence part of the patch .

[Land_Owner]

We're off from feeder fodder a bit...but I plant iron and clay peas.  Four acres of them.  The peas get about 5 inches tall and the deer get on them like kids in an ice cream store.  In 48 hours, as you said, they are GONE.  Not even Army Worms are as fast at clearing the fields as are the deer when the peas come up.

Once, only once, have I seen my fields with peas over 15 inches in height.  That was before they knew they liked them so well.  Now, I plant sorghum, wild game food (WGF) sorghum that is.  Not the grain sorghum.  Tried that and got 9' tall stalks so thick you thought you were in the Afircan Jungle.

And I plant wheat, oats, and rye.  Makes the fields look so nice to hunt over.  Green like big lawns.  The deer ignore it.  Now that everything is dead from the Central Florida freezes, they are coming to eat the only green there is in the woods.

[markc]

If your feeder keeps clogging, lower the spinner plate, (increase the gap between the funnel and the spinner plate) and reduce the spin time.   At the end of deer season we begin to feed a 50/50 mixture of peas and whole corn in our feeders.  The peas are much higher % protein than corn, and they seem to be a favorite of pretty much every animal at our place, especially the Axis. 

[Land_Owner]

Problem with adding peas is the additional cost.  Corn here runs about $7.50 per 50# bag.  Peas about $40.00 per 50#.  No brainer then in just feeding with corn to not spend as much money.

[markc]

Peas here are just over $10.00 a bag.  That is really high priced there.  We switch to peas to add protein to the diet prior to does having their fawns, and for bucks to recover from the rut.  We don't feed peas year round, or only as an attractant.   We generally do not go over a 50% mixture of corn to peas either, so it isn't as costly as filling 55 gallon drums with peas alone.  That could be real expensive.  But in a wildlife valuation here if you supplementally feed, it must be a specific % protein or it will be rejected as a management measure.  It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish.