When do you start feeding Whitetail??

[AKElroy]

I have been hunting all my life, mooching opportunities off of family ,friends & business associates. Having exhausted all mooching opportunities, I am on my first official lease, and I need to get my feeder set up.

When should I start feeding whitetail? I was thinking early September. Any advice? My lease is north central Texas, just north of Llano.

 

[3pairs12]

NOW. We tried to start 6-8 weeks before season and with a 250-300lb feeder and fresh battery you should only need to check once about 2 weeks before season. Thats we did anyway.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

'Course, you don't need to or have to feed them at all, and I've never killed a deer at or even right near a feeder. But my buddies have and it can help to keep them in the general area. I've killed quite a few within 200-250 yards of the feeders in past years. I haven't used a feeder in several years, but I'm contemplating putting out some feed this year in some archery-only areas, since I finally have a 4-wheeler to make deliveries instead of the sweat of my brow. I *do* put out some "apple salt blocks" every year, in multiple locations.

I think that *most* people who feed / bait them wait until the cold drives them to really crave the fats in the feed, which is not until November or December in the South, and not until October in the north. It's certainly much more productive of a draw to feed them when it's cold and barren with ice and snow around than in September or early October. But still, even with plenty of natural food area, during the early season, if they find your feed, some of them will still come back to it occasionally since it's forest candy to them, not a bitter acorn.

If you don't know, don't ever hunt over a feeder. Always back off a bit, in at least a 75 yard radius, give or take, and look for pathways going to the feeder. Big bucks will never go to a feeder during the day. But he *might* just be standing a little ways off from a doe during the rut, so if the doe is at the feeder, and you're 50-100 yards out, then you might just hit paydirt.

 

[AKElroy]

If you don't know, don't ever hunt over a feeder. Always back off a bit, in at least a 75 yard radius, give or take, and look for pathways going to the feeder. Big bucks will never go to a feeder during the day. But he *might* just be standing a little ways off from a doe during the rut, so if the doe is at the feeder, and you're 50-100 yards out, then you might just hit paydirt.

+1; my stand is actually obstructed by scrub & mesquite, probably 125 paces from the feeder. The trails going into the feeder are my only & best opportunities.

 

[MCgunner]

For gun season, usually around labor day, but I already have my feeder out, for all the good it's done. Damned hogs knocked it over and kicked the crap out of the timer trying to get the corn out. Danged dry down here, animals are starving. Should be no acorns to compete with this year. Should be a good year, but ya never know. In my 56 years, though, I've never quite seen a drought this bad. There was a bad drought in the 50s I've read about, but I was too young to know what a drought was at the time.

I have another timer and am going to set it back up Tuesday for another try. I need to get it going because I'm going to bow hunt this season.

 

[AKElroy]

In my 56 years, though, I've never quite seen a drought this bad. There was a bad drought in the 50s I've read about, but I was too young to know what a drought was at the time.

Me either. We are seriously praying for rain; we have it in the announcements every Sunday. I was up at the Oasis last week on Lake Travis; I cannot BELIEVE how low that lake is. 44' low, all public ramps closed.

As for the hogs, I am actually hoping to pull some in & take a few; I will be staking the feeder w/ rebar 18" deep if I can get a heavy enough sledge to get through this dry ground. Hopefully they can't dig that up.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

We sow our green fields on Labor Day. With good rain (like this year, so far)it is well underway by opening day and lasts through the hunting season(mid-October for archery,mid November for gun, until January 31st.).For feeders all food must be removed at least 2 weeks before season. Hunting is NOT allowed near a feeder or on a trail leading to a feeder. Baiting is zealously prosecuted.

 

[jfrey]

We usually fill our feeders around the middle of September. The deer will actually cycle their feeding schedule to when the feeder goes off every day. Turkeys and hogs will do the same. Last season we had 27 turkey tom's hit one of our feeders every morning at 7:00 am. They would actually run off the deer. I have seen deer bedded down within 10 feet of a feeder, waiting for it to go off. When food gets in short supply, big bucks will come to a feeder during the early morning and just before sundown. I've seen as many as 12 bucks, of all sizes, under a single feeder at one time.

We also build barbed wire pens around our feeders to keep the cows off them. A couple of years ago we had one old cow figure things out and toppled every feeder on the ranch.

I put 2 packets of yeast and a dry pack of cherry jello per 100 lbs. of corn. The yeast will help the deer digest the corn and the jello adds flavor they seem to like.

 

[AKElroy]

Last season we had 27 turkey tom's hit one of our feeders every morning at 7:00 am.

I hunted a ranch in Sterling county on the Concho river. After taking a nice Doe, (this was a cull hunt), I heard what sounded like a freight train roaring toward me. Just like you describe, it was 30-40 toms heading for the corn within 10 minutes of me shooting that Doe, walking the trail under my stand.

On other cull hunts, I have dropped a Doe or spike out of 15+ at a feeder, waited 5 minutes, and all the deer are back on the corn, actually nudging the downed animal to get at the corn they are laying on.

When I was a little kid hunting with my dad, I was not allowed to cough, sniff, breathe loud or whisper while hunting because he said deer evaporate at a pin drop. Getting older I realize he just really liked quiet. Deer ignore rifle fire when it comes to eating.

 

[kanook]

I put out some "no plow" so that it keeps them on the area all year.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Hey MC, 2006-2007 (fall 2006) was a bad bad drought here, and we also broke the harvest record for the state that year - something like 118K statewide deer. Drought = good hunting usually. At least for deer.

 

[MCgunner]

Well, they have to move to find food if the acorns don't make and a feeder works a lot better to attract 'em.

 

[exbiologist]

If you're gonna feed you should have been feeding them all year round. If you mean corn/bait, not feed (pelleted concentrates, ie protein), start nowish.

 

[mongo4567]

We feed year round, but the sooner the better. It only takes them a couple of weeks to find a feeder at the most.

 

[wyohome]

In Wyoming, only legally blind persons or people confined to a wheelchair can hunt over bait or use feed to attract deer. The rest of us have to 'hunt'.

 

[mongo4567]

In Wyoming, only legally blind persons or people confined to a wheelchair can hunt over bait or use feed to attract deer. The rest of us have to 'hunt'.

Do you "hunt" over a food plot, water source, or mineral block?....if so, same difference....

 

[wyohome]

No. It is illegal to plant food or use mineral/salt blocks for any game animal or bird. Of course we hunt where game might be plentiful, which would include the cover, food, and water sources that all animals seek.

 

[kansas coyote]

When the acorns start falling off the trees .

 

[Rottweiler]

Started feeding about 20 years ago....still feeding daily

 

[rcmodel]

Kansas F&G has this to say:

- Don’t train deer to congregate around bait piles. It is highly likely that enticing wild deer to unnaturally congregate around bait piles may increase the chance of spreading Chronic Wasting Disease once a positive animal has visited the spot. This is true for other transmissible diseases such as tuberculosis. In dealing with any transmissible disease, the more animals that spend long periods of time in small or confined areas, the greater the danger that an area will become contaminated with infection-causing agents, whether they be bacteria, viruses, or the abnormal prion associated with CWD. Baiting and using various mineral blocks and lures to attract deer to a site may make that site deadly for deer to visit in the future. In the case of CWD, recent studies suggest that prions bound to soil particles may be even more dangerous than those passed from animal to animal.

rc

 

[MCgunner]

Perhaps in Kansas, they have special problems. Feeders are a way of life in Texas. Don't like 'em? Don't come here.

 

[41 Mag]

Ask your local feed store if they have the Purina Water Repellent Protein, if so mix it about 1 bag - 2 bags of corn. Feed it year round if you can increasing the protein after the first of the year and through about Sept. This is when they need it the most, and will give you more return on your deer than simply throwing corn. Also if there are cattle be sure to put a pen around your feeders or they will be on the ground in short order as well. If there are hogs, you will have to anchor the legs or as mentioned they will get them too.

We had a lease in just north of Llano for a while and brought the local deer there up a good deal from when we got on it. IT cost a little but we went from the typical 80# deer up to 130 - 150# deer simply feeding the good stuff, and the horns really showed the differences in the second year.

Good luck with your place, I sure miss hitting those hills in the fall and spring for turkeys, that was a hoot.

 

[AKElroy]

Maybe I am old fashioned, but I do believe animals were put on this earth by God for our good pleasure. I have killed a lot of deer; Many the old fashioned way, and many over a feeder. I simply see no difference from an ethical standpoint.

In both types of hunting, advantages are taken that culminate in a shot surprising the animal. Feeders frankly allow greater analysis of animal attributes, and greater care for what is being harvested. It is also clearly easier to take an animal cleanly when they are stationary.

Hunting does actually fill my freezer as well as the freezers of several friends, and I doubt many of us wrestle with these ethical concerns when buying a steak.

In September, I will be wearing a camo shirt, in the cover of shade, waiting for the birds to come to the tank I will be hunting over. I do not view that as an unfair advantage, as I do not consider fairness to be a bar to hurdle with regard to hunting. Ditto the feeder for whitetail & piggies.

 

[wyohome]

I have no problem with harvesting meat that way either. Calling it hunting gives hunting a bad name. These are no more wild (and in some cases less wild) than free range cattle. People just getting into hunting see this raising of deer as no more sport than shooting a cow. They are not wrong in their assumption and those who participate in the hiking, camping and enjoying of the wild more than the whir of a feeder get a bad name.

 

[AKElroy]

those who participate in the hiking, camping and enjoying of the wild more than the whir of a feeder get a bad name.

Not at all. I prefer an extended trip, several days of hunting & camping, preferably in a scenic location. The reality is different for me, where work contraints allow for a Friday afternoon drive, camp that night, hunt next morning (with a feeder supplying some opportunity for success) & drive back. It's not ideal, but better than pizza & a movie.