To Feed or Not to Feed

[Ghost]

I am very much aware of the best possible situations for food plots and also the problems associated with feeding and CWD.

Two years ago right after gun season I would take 50 pounds of shell corn into the creek bottom every night on the wheeler. It was just another chore and I did it right after I feed my cattle. My only thought was to concentrate the deer on my property during the time when the bucks would shed. There was an article written, "Assessing your deer herd" that I found interesting. I did this from the last week of December each and every day until about the end of the first week of March. I was in no way using antler traps, or any such device, just wanted to be able to track trails from feed to bedding. I know that with the mild winters we have had that this probably didn't do much for herd health and it sure wasn't cheap!

In case your wondering why I don't put in a bunch of food plots, my ground is 98 percent timber. I would love to buy some adjoining ground just for food plots, not a real economical answer right now.

I did find more sheds on my place that year than before and was going to do it again this year. I am fully aware of CWD.

Any thoughts you want to share are welcome!

 

[Scott]

Feed away Kent! If u can afford it I would defintely do it. CWD or anyother disease hasnt been proven to be in Iowa so I see no negative side effects. If you are finding more sheds on ur ground, not only are you concentrating the deer but you are also relieving some of the stress thats bucks undergo. I find sheds earlier in areas with poor food supplys than in spots with great food plots.

 

[Waukon1]

I think it's like anything else, it's fine in moderation. I do the same thing, for the same reasons. The only thing that I have read negatitivly about it is people who feed the deer to much. They become dependant on it and it was screwing up their motabalism, doing more harm than good for the herd. I start doing after muzzleloader season.

 

[SaskGuy]

I do it too Ghost, once winetr sets in they get about 500 pounds of grain a week. I don't do it every day, instead spend a good chunk of Sunday afterrnoon lugging 100 pound sacks back to my feeders. I'm not too worried about CWD b/c I keep my feed off the ground in wood feeders. They say that deer eating off of other deers waste may be a cause of CWD so I keep mine off the ground.
Like you I', also doing it for sheds as well as helping them out through the winter. Winter here can kill alot of deer so I feel I'm helping out.

 

[Ghost]

Saskguy...did you build the feeders? I have thought about this but really don't know how high off the ground, how big, etc... Can you help?

 

[SaskGuy]

Yeah I built them myself, they are actually quite crude.

One is like regular feed trough you'd use for cattle or pigs, about 30" high, attached to some spruce trees as well so it cannot be knocked over. The other is just an old bathtub I put inside a frame I built between some more trees. They are actually hard on the eyes

but they do the job of holding alot of grain off of the ground where the ndeer are dropping their bombs!

 

[Ghost]

Thanks Bud!

I think I will get started on one, the bottom ground I'm feeding in gets a little sloppy if the ground isn't frozen. I've got some left over treated 8 x 8's in the barn. I can make it like a sled I can pull to the timber with the Ranger.

 

[bjkpharmd]

Ghost- I'd feed at my place if it were closer or I got there more often but... Anyway, the feeders are a good idea, I saw one that was a set of locust poles set as a teepee with a piece of plywood set towards the bottom. I heard before that most of your place is timber- is there anywhere that either things are thin or have spotty scrub trees? Most timber has at least a few patches that aren't worth much for the timber value and can be converted to food plots. Even a couple acres in clover in a big timber is amazing.

 

[Danno]

You have brought up some things in this thread that I am confused about. Is baiting only illegal during the hunting season? I thought any supplemental feeding is illegal. What is the concern about CWD? Unless you are feeding meat and bone meal, I don't see the risk.
Dan

 

[BW]

How did deer ever get along without us?

 

[Ghost]

[ QUOTE ]
How did deer ever get along without us?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure they will and have done just fine without any feed from me.

My reasons for feeding are selfish, I want to find more sheds!

 

[BW]

Ghost, I totally understand.

That's why I feed the neighborhood cats. So I have less tracks on my PU.

Happy New Year everyone.

 

[Ghost]

Well I completed my new deer bunk feeder and it is now in full operation. This cold snap should provide for some more good photo's.

One shed buck and one not shed...

 

[Ghost]

Sheds from the buck in the picture above.

Next year I am going to feed soybeans mixed with corn. The soybeans are more expensive but should provide a much, much higher level of protein.

It didn't help out a lot with sheds this year but I did take way more than 1000 pictures of the deer at the feeder. The mild winter sure didn't help much either.

 

[SaskGuy]

If it is at all possible, try some alfalfa bales too Ghost. They'll be far cheaper than the grain, the deer like them alot plus they provide some good nutrition. Just make sure it is good late cut stuff, nice and green. Alot of times the deer out back will walk past the feeder full of peas and oats to rip away at those bales. I wish I could find some corn up here, got some 2 yrs ago, man they mowed it back.

 

[Ghost]

Kaare...I usually do throw a small bail of 3rd cut alfalfa out as well. Depends on the winter as to how hard they hit the hay, but they always slick up the corn.

 

[Skully]

I fed some corn this winter too Ghost. No sheds in the feed but found a matched set about 100 yds down the creek and a few more in the surrounding timber. I think it saves a few miles on the old Rockys and is something fun to do, can't wait to find one laying next to the feed pile though.

 

[Ghost]

Re: Winter Feed Update

[ QUOTE ]
I fed some corn this winter too Ghost. No sheds in the feed but found a matched set about 100 yds down the creek and a few more in the surrounding timber. I think it saves a few miles on the old Rockys and is something fun to do, can't wait to find one laying next to the feed pile though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Skully...the camera really added something a lot of fun to feeding this year. If you get a picture of a buck with antlers on, and then one of him shed, and then find the sheds it is awesome!!!

 

[SaskGuy]

Re: Winter Feed Update

[ QUOTE ]
can't wait to find one laying next to the feed pile though.


[/ QUOTE ]

I know some may think it is being lazy but like any other shed it is a rush too. I've found some pretty good sheds on or near the feeder.