Okay, this is a question for guys that use feeders? During the summer, when other sources of food is plentiful, do you stop using your feeders? I have noticed on my trail cameras, the deer are becoming more scarce at the feeder. My feeder is on the edge of a bean field and I'm SURE they are browsing in the field. Any thoughts? BHA BigHackAttack
We have our feeder in a very secluded thick part of our property and what we found is that deer actually started bedding near the feeder. One interesting thing though, most of the deer that visit the feeder are yearling-2 year olds. The mature deer visit much less frequently. We typically stock it with corn but every other month I put in a bag or 2 of high protein deer feed. The frequency that deer visit our feeder highly depends on our honey hole food plot and the the surrounding farms, since our area is mostly woods, our feeder is a steady and reliable year round food source so I consider our situation different than yours.
We don't have many places where crops are grown around here, but the woods are thick so basically there's food every where for them.. I stop the feeder in spring about the time the woods flushes back out..then I start back late summer( Aug) a month before our bow season starts.. That gives them time to find it and start occasionally visiting on a regular basis.
Here, on my property, i feed year round. This due to the fact that i hunt hogs during most of the off-season. Not much farming in my area any more, but so it seems the deer siting are still constant. But like Spear said "Tne interesting thing though, most of the deer that visit the feeder are yearling-2 year olds. The mature deer visit much less frequently."
I feed year round and the amount of feed is less than half of what they go thru in the winter. The deer numbers go down when the fawns are born and then go back up once the fawns are 3 weeks old or so.
