Was wondering if any of you guys use supplements during both on and off season. Do you actually see a difference in your heard, and does it cost an arm and a leg. What brands about there are legit. Thanks in advance
It's very costly to do it effectively, fellow Carolinian. I had a wonderful talk with a member of the Oakland Swamp Hunting Club (SC) about eight years ago. Much of their pricey membership dues pays for supplemental feeding of protein to the herd. The nice gent I spoke with swears it makes a difference. So much so that he said the biggest challenge for a new member is passing up a 2.5 year old P & Y class deer simply because it doesn't make their age restriction harvest rule. They're committed to shooting older bucks, the size of the rack be hanged. Understand that I'm describing a club that is on the coastal plain, a place not known for great soils for producing big antlered deer. And yet it's not unheard of to see a 2 year old 125" class buck? I wish I could tell you what brand they use but that info escapes my memory. But I will say you have to feed constantly in copious amounts and it has to be available all the time or it won't make much of a difference at all. So, the cost could be more than many of us are willing to undertake to really make a difference. Note: the Field & Stream article about them online is very inaccurate, though the author actually interviewed the same gent I spoke to. That club does NOT require its members to carry a camcorder to the stand with them, for example. LOL. It's something many members do voluntarily just because they love swapping videos and educating each other about age classes of deer, etc. Their punishments for killing a buck that doesn't meet their age requirement is also overstated in that article. And the size of the club in the article includes the bird hunting club; the actual deer club, if memory serves me correctly, more around 1,500 acres. The bird club and deer club are separate entities. Here's a link to the article, but keep in mind the details are partly inaccurate. https://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/gallery/kentucky/2007/06/trophy-club#page-6
Man thanks for the info as an NC bow hunter I’m trying hard to take care of my heard, but there’s just so many does on our farm I’m afraid of them getting some sort of sickness cause we have so many deer. I’ve had to bring folks in to harvest does so we can manage the heard so with that being said I’m looking hard at supplements
letting the deer age is the best method to see bigger bucks. I just use mineral to get an overall inventory of the area I hunt.
