Didn't see a thread started yet so I figured I otter start one. I feed a supplemental protein pellet year round and keep a camera on it. Pulled this off the card the other day after re-seeding thee food plot in the background. I think this little dude was a decent 9 point last year, maybe 135", glad to see him off to a good start this year. I refreshed my two mineral sites in February and he was one of the first to start hitting it again.
I had one in northwestern Illinois walk about 15 yards from my turkey blind yesterday morning with about a inch or two of growth. Looked like a big deer ill be putting a camera around there later have checked cards in a few weeks and typically don’t put them in their summer homes until after turkey season Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I've got one with about a 1". Amazing how fast it happens, by July ill know who is who and just about know who is top of the list
I usually wait until about June/July to put out cameras. I can get a little better idea of how big they can potentially be by then. Good to know that they some are already growing.
Is that a 200lb feeder? How often are you refilling that with the amount of deer that are hitting it?
It's a 350LB feeder but with the funnel inside I can only manage to get 325LB's of protein pellet in it. I refill it about once a month but I have another just like it on the other side of the property. I feed a 16% protein pellet that has garlic in it, it's supposed to help with the biting insects and I will say it keeps their coats pretty slick throughout the year.
I've never heard that about the garlic, but maybe the bugs don't like the taste of everything with garlic in their system? Yeah I feed from a 200lb feeder and it has a hard time keeping up with the deer and coons lol. I can get anywhere from 1-2 weeks out of it depending on how hard they hit me. It's kind of a pain though going about 2 weeks to feed. I'll look into the bigger feeders for sure.
I bought that whole set-up gravity feeder, funnel and all at Academy for less than $150. They were on sale so I picked up two. This time of year consumption should slow down but it doesn't. They are out beating up the buckwheat and the feeder. Any given day I have 10-12 regular does and 7 bucks hitting that feeder alone. Once the does drop fawns, they start in on the other feeder and the bachelor group of bucks stay at this feeder. Que overtly angry pro NRA member 2A rights activist on a bowhunting forum for mentioning Academy.. like I give a care when it comes to prices on hunting equipment.
This weekend I hit a food plot armed with a camera and got a bit of an idea on antler development here in PA. Not sure how old the first deer is (I'm fairly green at aging deer). Am I over-shooting his age at 31/2?
I second that. After shed hunting and habitat stuff are done with then it’s just a long, slow wait. I swear I’m only going to check my cameras 3 times this year
