Feeding deer

[Brokenarrow1980]

Alot of the guys I used to work with would put out minerals and grain with nutrients to grow racks. I personally viewed this as a giant scent bomb but they swore it worked. Do you guys feed deer throughout the year and what do you use along with any methods to keep target deer from spooking.

[JAK]

I used to use mineral always thought i was doing more good then bad. But now thinking back it turned all the mature deer on camera nocternal the more we would check cameras.

[Ghost Hunter]

I use salt lick in hide away places in attempt to give them more of a reason to come my way. They use a salt lick from around March to first of Sept. After that they don't have a use for it. It is a good way of getting inventory of a large area. Lot of people use corn feeders. All that does is just let more mature bucks lay in wait on paths that does take going to feeder or away. They never get close to feeder unless one is in heat. Trail cameras have proven that time and time again.

[Bowhunting Brian]

Alot of the guys I used to work with would put out minerals and grain with nutrients to grow racks. I personally viewed this as a giant scent bomb but they swore it worked. Do you guys feed deer throughout the year and what do you use along with any methods to keep target deer from spooking.

I've heard just the opposite. Studies have shown licks don't grow racks any better than not using licks.

[218er]

I use minerals to get deer on trail cameras. Also helps to locate bears. Once hunting rolls around their not interested in minerals in my area.

[Horizontal Hunter]

I use minerals to get deer on trail cameras. Also helps to locate bears. Once hunting rolls around their not interested in minerals in my area.

Same here.

Bob

[cspot]

I honestly don't believe the supplements help that much in "growing racks" in less you live in a very poor area as far as nutrition goes. Putting salt out does help you get an inventory. Deer don't hit salt once the velvet comes off for the most part. My recommendation is to put the salt in a higher human traffic area where you don't plan on hunting and you can easily check the camera. You will get mostly night time pictures, but the only reason to really do it is to get inventory anyway.

[Twenty Up]

Watch this video Dr. Grant Woods of Growing Deer TV shares their findings, along with a Mississippi State Graduate Student as he shares his thesis findings. Very interesting stuff they unfolded.

https://youtu.be/ovvpgyUWGSQ

[Southern Man]

Alot of the guys I used to work with would put out minerals and grain with nutrients to grow racks. I personally viewed this as a giant scent bomb but they swore it worked. Do you guys feed deer throughout the year and what do you use along with any methods to keep target deer from spooking.

I've heard just the opposite. Studies have shown licks don't grow racks any better than not using licks.

I have read that the only way minerals will do a deer any good is if they have a mineral deficiency in the area. And then any supplements will go to their body first, antlers last. Giving a deer more minerals than their body needs will only pass through their body, not add to what they already have. I believe its all a gimic, like most of the other crap they try to sell you. I did use to run mineral licks, and they got used, but it didn't seem to make any difference though. I haven't put out mineral in quite a while.

I also used to put out corn piles. I would keep one going from the end of the season (mid January) until spring green up (usually around mid march). Every week I'd put out 100 - 150 pounds of corn. I did it for inventory purposes. In that time period, there isn't much to eat here except browse. When I put out corn it brought deer in. I would set 3 - 4 cameras around the area and catch deer coming to the corn. I got thousands of pics. It was amazing how regular the deer got coming to it. As a side benefit I did notice the racks on 1.5 year old bucks got better over time. Wintertime is rough on deer and food is scarce. That corn kept them in better shape through the winter, giving them a jump start coming into spring. Once the spring greenup started, they would slack off the corn in favor of the natural stuff starting to grow. It kind of surprised me.

[may21581]

I have several mineral sites near spring and summer bedding areas. I do not run any cameras on them. I will summer scout the ag fields in the evenings to see what is around. These mineral sites are maintained every year and bedding is concistant every year as well.

[Dpierce72]

I have a piece of private that I used to hunt (not one time last season) and I’d always keep 6 corn feeders running by big buddy ladder stands. Made it too convenient for the other guys to go anywhere else

Result, I had the rest of the place to myself.

I have used mineral sites but am not planning to this year. Planning to use bean field / corn field edges for summer inventory.

I DO use feed for Bear hunting and it’s critical for establishing a pattern IMO.

[A5BLASTER]

Wait I'm lost.

I see this is under public land section. So I have too ask is it legal for y'all to do what y'all are doing on public land?

I feed from a feeder and put out protein but that's only on private land. Where I live it's illegal too put out anything a deer can eat on public land.

Not trying too derail just trying too figure out if yall are talking about what y'all do on private land or that y'all or doing this stuff on public land.

[Brokenarrow1980]

There is no law against it in our state as long as there is no reminance of bait 30 days before the season. I personally don't think that this is a helpful tool but I have work friends who swear by it. I actually try to avoid areas with supplements to keep from getting pinched. This seems to be a very knowledgeable forum not trying to push products so I figured I'd get a straight opinion on the value of such practices.

[Dpierce72]

Wait I'm lost.

I see this is under public land section. So I have too ask is it legal for y'all to do what y'all are doing on public land?

I feed from a feeder and put out protein but that's only on private land. Where I live it's illegal too put out anything a deer can eat on public land.

Not trying too derail just trying too figure out if yall are talking about what y'all do on private land or that y'all or doing this stuff on public land.

Illegal in AR. Just saw heading not category. My comments were directed to private lands.

[hambone]

I don't feed deer, but I do use mineral from Redmond Mines (i.e.Trophy Rock) at 3 of my cam sites. I check my cams before a good rain, not less than 2 weeks apart. The entry and exit are as important as when I'm hunting, IMO. I wear waders and use surgical gloves to handle my cams, while spending as little time at the actual site as possible. If there are mature bucks around my place, I usually get multiple pics of them on cam at one of these sites. I am sure there are some bucks who avoid any place they know a human has been frequenting. The buck I killed in 2017 was such a deer. I had several close encounters with him during archery season, from 4 different stands. THREE TIMES he was within 10yds, never giving me a shot. I finally killed him, but it took the gun to get it done on opeinng day of firearms season. That was the 2nd encounter with him from that stand. He tried to avoid the spot, but was unaware that he was now in range at 50 yds. I killed him half way between 2 cams that are 200 yds apart. I never had one pic of that buck, that I am aware of. He was 5.5