Corn pile - no bucks

[mheichelbech]

I put out a corn pile in the woods behind my house. I mainly wanted to text out some new cheap cams I bought. I’ve had numerous deer come to it in the past week but no bucks.

What would you read into this? No bucks around? I’ve seen nice bucks around every year but last year when we got hit hard by ehd.

[Huntress13]

I think they just know better. I put out food a couple years ago and I only got a doe group and every other woods animal eating on it. Raccoons, possum, fox no bucks, even though we did have bucks around.

[Andyschulte]

I’ve had similar results using corn with a property I used to have permission on. I got lots of pictures with a salt lick though.

Could be that they aren’t there, or maybe they don’t want to venture too close to the house.

[purebowhunting]

Bucks are in bachelor groups, I see areas in the summer that are pretty much void of bucks until fall. Does are very territorial during fawning and they move out.

[Seeker529]

I’ve had the same issue with feeders and salt licks.. but I put a camera on a trial 20 yards away and I got pictures of bucks... and that happened mostly in the fall!

[HuntingParadise]

Ive only seen bucks on corn during night. They just seem to know better when its piled like that.

[Primetime]

My old neighbor would do the same thing behind our house because he liked seeing the deer in the back (which is an overgrown drainage area). I only saw does actually eat the corn. Once pre rut and rut was going on I would see bucks in my back and front yard. I think the does bedded back there and the bucks were across the street. There is also a lease less than a mile from my house with good quality bucks and there is plenty food and other attractants. They probably came by my house just because of the does.

[<DK>]

When I introduce salt to a new property, it takes a few weeks for bucks to find it or use it. Ill have the local does coming into it right away and regularly but not the bucks until a certain point.

If everyone around you baits and pressures deer hard then you may just be wasting your time anyways. They have to be around as well though.

[Boogieman1]

My opinion is life is pretty dang sweet for deer this time of year. They don’t have to search an travel to anything. Instead of introducing salt/corn to an area. Introduce the buck to the salt/corn. Lot of hit and miss. But theoretically put the salt or corn on the north edge of the thickest stuff u can find in your area. Nothing pulls a buck this time of year and they are very lazy. If u can get multiple daylight pics u have located his honeycomb hideout.

Just dumping corn or salt anywhere doesn’t offer up much Intel this time of year. I mean if u would have got a pic of a velvet monster at 1 in the morning what kinda strategy do u put in that?

Play with it and use your noggin and I’m positive u will find something out.

[Hawthorne]

Bucks are a different animal. Mature bucks even more different

[mheichelbech]

My opinion is life is pretty dang sweet for deer this time of year. They don’t have to search an travel to anything. Instead of introducing salt/corn to an area. Introduce the buck to the salt/corn. Lot of hit and miss. But theoretically put the salt or corn on the north edge of the thickest stuff u can find in your area. Nothing pulls a buck this time of year and they are very lazy. If u can get multiple daylight pics u have located his honeycomb hideout.

Just dumping corn or salt anywhere doesn’t offer up much Intel this time of year. I mean if u would have got a pic of a velvet monster at 1 in the morning what kinda strategy do u put in that?

Play with it and use your noggin and I’m positive u will find something out.

I did it more fun and testing my cameras...especially to see if the deer noticed them at the distance I had them from the corn pile. I have put corn and salt back there before and have NEVER had a mature buck come to it...at least whenever I had cams up. I don’t really hunt back there so this specific little area doesn’t have a lot of pressure. I have killed a couple nice ones further back in on a different property as well as a crossed the street. My neighbor gets bucks on his cameras but they are also right by an ag field whereas I am not. About a half mile away. It just seems odd to me to never get one on cam there. Who knows?? Not that worried about it really. More curious.

[Boogieman1]

I hear ya and understand. I’ve done everything from hanging my wife’s dirty undies over a scrape to cinnamon sticks along a trail to see what they would do just for the fun of it. Sometimes if u get creative u can peak there curiosity if it’s something they have never experienced or associate with human predator danger.

[Rich M]

I love the comments.

The bachelor herds have a routine and will stick to it until it is time to split up. If you were seeing them in the yard and they wouldn't eat it, then that'd be a conundrum.

Corn is like magic for some and ruins hunting for others. It does work very well in the correct setting.