Okay, while looking at Buckeye's post on hunting standing corn it reminded me of a certain question that has never been totally explained to me. We all know that corn has minimal nutritional value but does load them up with carbs which turn into fat and helps them through the winter months. My question is, I've always heard anything above 16-18% protien has no positive effect on deer. I'm not sure if this is a fact or if it's just one of those things that some prima dona made up. Any of you guys care to elaborate on this subject as most supplemental pellet feeds are from 18-21% protien. Wouldn't that surplus go toward the body mass if not needed for antler development? Trying to decide if it would be okay to mix corn with pellets next year due to the price of the pellets going through the roof. I generally go through 2 tons per month and @ $520 a ton, I'm looking for some relief. I can get corn for around $310 per ton and while this would not be a huge cost savings, it would deffinately help.........Comments?
Protein not only enhances antler growth but it aids in all skeletal, muscular and bone tissue repair and growth. The rigors of the rut definately would deplete body tissues and protein does a lot more for body tissue than carbs!. Any buck under the age of 4.5 is still far from full muscular and skeletal maturitiy, not to mention a buck just needing to sustain. If I owned enough land to feed my deer during the winter months I would give them a mix of carbs and protein. Not just carbs. The carbohydrates in corn is an essential nutrient for fat storage during the winter months, there is no doubt but there are options out there for carbohydrates. Oats being one option for a carbohydrate source and can be bought in bulk cheaper than corn. Here anyway. We get oats out here for 100.00 a ton to plant our fields. These could be used for supplemental feeding too.
I never thought about oats. Not a bad idea at all. I'm just looking for some relief in the pocket. I spent almost $8K last year on feeding and that hurts my budget for other things I want to do on the property. It's unlawfull to hunt over bait here or any other food source that's not an agg product so I can only feed through the end of August. I used to use soybeans but they too went through the roof. Thanks for the suggestion on the oats tho, I need to look into that.
