Thoughts on feeding deer???

[Jeremy]

I can't add to (or emphasize enough) what Sticks only and Dimeit have said.

If you're feeding them lots of corn, their digestive systems will adapt to it and they won't be able to process natural winter browse.  You can't possibly feed them enough corn throughout the winter to survive, so they will die.

[Bill Carlsen]

We have had a feeder across our pond for at least five years. It spreads out cracked corn twice a day. Here is what I have observed. Deer come to it almost everyday. As the winter lengthens the total number of deer seems to increase. When they come to the feeder they often stay only for 15 or 20 minutes and almost always browse on natural vegetation around the feeder as much as they eat the corn at the feeder. One thing for sure is that they do not use our supplemental feeding as a primary food source....they just do not spend enough time to clean up everything on the ground. Occasionally  the deer will come in from two or more family groups at one tiem when the weather is really bad and that is when they seem to get competitive and push each other around. But that happens only several times during the entire winter and only when the weather is just plain awful. Each year out F&G dept. sends out emails to dissuade people from feeding the deer along with a long list of reasons not to do it. So far Laura and I have seen no adverse affects of our "program". I am also sure if we did not feed them that they would be quite alright on their own because, as I said, from what we see our feeder seems to be a pit stop for them as they browse thru the area.

[killinstuff]

You would better off to find a Cedar tree and drop it with an axe or gather up some limbs and bring them to the area want feed. That's their winter food anyway.

[jeanpaul3006]

i've been feeding the deer in my area since december. move the feed bag every few days, about 50 yards. there is about 2 to 3 feet of snow around and in the last month they have stopped coming. the temp have averaged-30 c without the windchill. they are tough to withstand this climate.

[George D. Stout]

Just because you see no adverse effects, Bill, doesn't mean their aren't any.  It's natural to want to feed critters during a bad winter....but it may be the worse thing we can do.  It does make them congregate during deep snows and that can be much worse than no feeding at all.  

Much good information has already been given above.

[Sticks only]

Killinstuff makes a good point. Though in your part of the state Monty, you would be best served to find aspen, birch or maple, cedars are hard to find in your area. Clear cutting a small area, maybe 5-10 trees, will provide excellent browse while allowing regeneration in the spring. If you have small stands of aspen (popple as they are sometimes called, clearcutting them is a fantastic option. If you have multiple groups like this, I would suggest doing a cutting of 10 or so  trees spread out over the winter each year. This will provide regenerating browse and feed the deer in the winter off the buds of the trees you drop. This also makes some fantastic rabbit cover.

[ONE SHOT]

The very best way to help Deer out as far as feeding goes is, if you have any Acorn trees in your Hunting area, get some 10-6-4 fertilizer, maybe a 100# bag a year, drill a series of holes into the ground all around the drip area of the tree canopy. By doing it this way you will be benifiting the Acron trees and the Deer and all the other creatures in the woods. It is LEGAL in all States because you are not actually baiting. You are simply helping the trees to produce more acorns which in turn will increas the yearly mast on the ground. Also any woody plants nearby also benfit from this program.

If you have a Hunting partner or a Hunting group you can all work togewther and share the expense of the fertilizer, even make it a Family thing where the whole family gets envolved, can't think of a better way to spend a sunny spring day....ONE SHOT...              :D    :D    :D

[Tom Leemans]

Illegal here in IL also. The logic is that when you start feeding deer like they were cattle or something, things like CWD become more prevalent, due to high interaction among the animals. Now, how they explain a whole bunch of healthy deer eating alfalfa in the same field together, all the time, is beyond me.

[BigRonHuntAlot]

My two cents... Let Mother Nature Handle it.  The Strong will Survive.

[burnie]

Ill just suggest, if you start, dont stop till more brows grows.  Deer are rudmen and once they get the bacteria built up in there gut to ferment corn, they will need it to help them make it through  the rest of the year.  If you start then stop, it can mess up their stomach and cause problems.

[Big'n]

I feed 1500# of soybeans every winter as part of my QDM. It works great. The beans have a much higher percentage of protein than corn and the deer do much better on it. It took a little while to get them switched over from corn as deer are not used to eating beans out of the pod (thats' my guess?) but I'm seeing above average birth weights and larger yearlings and a more healthy hurd overall. When I started managing my farm, I had a deer management expert come stay on my place and evaluate my deer hurd. He is the one who clued me in on the Soybeans. I use them from broadcast feeders and station them between my food plots and bedding areas so the deer don't have to travel too far during harsh weather.  Just my 2 cents. DAVE

[Three Arrows]

Can I come over Big'n?  

[Steertalker]

You'd could buy 10 tons of cottonseed for less than $2000 and would be just as good as soybeans.  It's good stuff!

[killinstuff]

The other thing with Michigan is with the millions of pounds of bait those deer ate in October, November and December, they were like a plump Christmas goose when things started to get a little cold.

[whitebuffalo]

WOW!! I have learned alot from this post,, With almost no thought I would drop corn too,, but learning about there stomachs and what they go through during the winter it makes sense to drop some tree tops,, Thanks for all the great post fellas,,J and I'm still watching this one,,

[Otto]

I'll second what Bill Carlson stated.  I feed the critters year round.  Every morning and every evening I throw out a 2 gallon bucket of whole corn, sunflowers, and 10% sweet feed.  I don't possibly throw out enough to entirely feed the 15 or 20 deer that make it through each day.  This is a big woods area and no crops anywhere for many miles.  They are eating natural browse for the main part of their diet and coming up to my place to get a snack.  I've seen no adverse effects in the 12 years I've been doing so.

Maybe I should post a disclaimer at the bottom like a Jenny Craig commercial.

"Results not typical".

[Big'n]

Steertalker, what percentage of protein do you get from cottonseed? I've never even heard of it. You got me thinkin though.DAVE

[Sticks only]

Those of you that are contentious of the feeding of corn must also look at the programs you are installing. Since most of you say you are feeding them corn everyday and have had no ill effects for all these years are fine. What you are doing is not the same as suddenly making a huge change in diet. Since you have been feeding them all winter, their ability to use the corn is still there. When you make a huge change, and start feeding corn to an animal that is converted to browse is where the problems will start. Stopping a corn feeding program mid-winter in an area with adequate browse will show minimal problems. While starting one in the middle of winter is asking for above stated problems.

[geno]

anyone just put out a round bale of hay and see what happens ??? corn for fat, soy for protien...you can mix the two and grind them good. Put them in an above the ground feeder.
thats jmo
G

[Warden609]

Labs4me
I am interested in your decision after all this info?