Hello all. I just wanted to share a little piece of info. I learned about one of my neighbors just recently. He likes to feed his deer, not with food plots, mineral stations or improved natural habitat, but with deer feed, i.e protein pellets, corn, etc. Now, first of all let me say that I have fed deer all my life and always will simply because it's just a good way to interact with the deer during the offseason, however, I've learned when and how to do it effectively I think. Still, the MOST feed I think I have put out in a calendar year maybe 500 lbs. max with the majority being in the late winter and early spring then again in the late summer. Anyway, my neighbor puts out 17 TONS of deer feed, that's right, tons. That's 34,000 pounds for you aspiring minds. I can't even begin to fathom that, when you think about the money, time and effort it is really hard to believe. Anyway, initial reaction? No reason for the banana man.. he just looked cool.
Idiot. Ive read studies that fed deer will get off their natural habits (kinda like domestication). 17 tons of food...i bet you can pet those deer. Their are certain situations where feeding deer may be plausible, but, natural selection should be allowed to take place. With that much food laying around i bet the carrying capacity of the land is FLOODED. And you can forget about patterning a buck with that crap going on.
Not sure about the total acreage, less than 200 and maybe a shade less than 150. Months: Not completely sure but he did get tagged for feeding during the season just a couple years back. In Va. you can start the Sunday the season goes out to a month before it comes back in (September 1, for arguments sake). Topography: I would say 75/25 in regards to fields (hay) and thick brush (Not CRP, but what you would find in a CRP). The thing of it is he has a clover food plot planted?
Bingo. Thing is he doesn't shoot many does either. Actually, I believe he said, "there's no need to shoot does when they are whats keeping your bucks around." Also, the negative impact on his natural habitat is going to be unheard of in the years to come if not already. Some species of plants and forbs rely on browse for growth and regeneration and it can take up to 100 years for some species to "fix themselves" if they are not browed upon. Again, I feed deer and Jeff mentioned he did too. I dont want to sound like feeding deer is bad, but in this extreme case, I can't find any good in it really.
Excellent points. One more point I'd like to add. My dad stopped by his camp a few weeks back (reason being, we are starting a QDM cooperative so we are speaking to several landowners) and he came about this information and the thing is, his bucks were not ALL that impressive. Granted, he did have some nice ones (according to my dad) that were likely to score in the 130s (a true trophy around here) he did not have any super freaks one would expect from that much feeding. The past two years, coincidentally (sp?) two years into our QDm efforts we have seen a 140" and two 120s and that is solely off food plots and natural browse. It's tough to imagine what this fella could accomplish if he actually knew what he were doing.
Well I must correct myself, he is not actually a 'neighbor' in the sense that our property does not actually border his. But it's not far at all, as the crow flies it's no more than 2-3 miles and with a couple ridges to cross in between. Either way, it's likely that one of his pets could find his way under my stand!
I have always seen the exact opposite first hand. Does and fawns feeding at a feeding station, and then scattering like roaches when 2 bucks came stomping in. I saw this 4 different times last summer at my grandpa's property. Same 2 bucks and same group of does/fawns. As for your #2, I definitely agree
