question specifically for blacktail hunters

[RoyBoy]

What is the number one kind of grain yhe blacktail deer like I have two feeders set up but I know they don't care much for corn like white tails do. Would you think cob? Thanks for your help , royboy

[Wolfdog2314]

I've tried the Purina deer chow and they kinda picked through it.

Wet or dry COB works well. But if you have bears anywhere in your area and they find it, it's all over.

I'm going to try a hanging spinning feeder in a couple weeks here with an apple flavored corn, and see how that does.

I don't really like the idea of using gravity feeders anymore. One because the bears find it and demolish all feed. And I've read a few different posts/articles where a big chow session for the deer on grains isn't too good for them.

Very best bet is apples!

[bobcat]

I've had both wet cob and dry cob out for elk, the deer walk by and never touch it.

[billythekidrock]

I have had deer try both wet and dry cob, but they never stick with it. Apples and salt/minerals have worked better for me.

[bobcat]

Funny thing is at the spot I'm talking about, the deer don't touch the apples either.

[bearpaw]

Don't food plots work better for blacktail rather than bait?

[h2ofowlr]

Apples are the best item for BT besides rose bushes and arbrovites.

[h2ofowlr]

Don't food plots work better for blacktail rather than bait?

I've had many buddies try food plots for BT without much success.  If you have property with BT in the area and can plant a dozen or so apple trees or have one or two large producing apple trees you will shoot a BT off it every year if they are not over harvested in the area.

[billythekidrock]

Don't food plots work better for blacktail rather than bait?

No. Apples are the best.

The only "food plots" that truly work for bt's is natural food that sprouts up after a thinning or the plants in your flower garden.

Pretty much everything else plot related is just hype when it comes to bt's.

[billythekidrock]

Funny thing is at the spot I'm talking about, the deer don't touch the apples either.

I have found that to be true in places that they don't naturally find apples. Sometimes it can take them a while to get a taste for them.

[grundy53]

Don't food plots work better for blacktail rather than bait?

I've had many buddies try food plots for BT without much success.  If you have property with BT in the area and can plant a dozen or so apple trees or have one or two large producing apple trees you will shoot a BT off it every year if they are not over harvested in the area.

I've made food plots and the elk LOVED them. The Blacktails would barely ever visit.

sent from my typewriter

[snowpack]

Don't food plots work better for blacktail rather than bait?

No. Apples are the best.

The only "food plots" that truly work for bt's is natural food that sprouts up after a thinning or the plants in your flower garden.

Pretty much everything else plot related is just hype when it comes to bt's.

  A pruning tool, saw and a rake can make a good bt food plot.  Thin the area and prune some bushes/trees down to their level.  Alder, salal, salmonberry, willows, blackberry, etc.

[lokidog]

As far as feed, I have had much more success with Allstock pellets from Dels than the similar pellet that Coastal sells.  If it has been a while since I have had pellets out, I will usually cut up a few apples to draw them in.

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[Lunchbox1981]

Ya'll are doing the Blacktail food plots all wrong then.

Rows upon rows of roses and you would have every Blacktail in the greater area visiting you plot.   

[trophyhunt]

I've had both wet cob and dry cob out for elk, the deer walk by and never touch it.

I even had a trail camera on the wet cob, not one deer on the pics.  This was in an area that I've seen plenty of bucks. I think the browse habit of blacktail makes it harder to bait them, salt works good but that's done with by hunting season.

[dfresh96]

I have had success using cobb w/molasses, salt, and apples...what I have noticed is that the bucks will only return with the does in late season, otherwise its doe central...

[jackmaster]

minerals are your best bet, i had the deer on my place knock the snot out of an apple block, but the best i have found is the little wild blackberries, not those great big rip your clothes off and gash you to the bone bushes, the little vine ones that snake along the bround with a berry the size of the end of your pinky, their favorite food is what we cal a purple cap, its a berry that grows on a sticker that useally has two to three stocks and its like a flouresent green, they really like them when they are young and tender, but no matter how old they are always nipped back, i wish i knew the actual name of them...

[hunterrcc]

Apples and minerals for sure but don't over look planting red and white Dutch clover.  They will come to that food plot over and over again and it helps it when its grazed or cut so it thickens the clover patch. 

[MarkyMark]

They never turn down geraniums in flower pots. Never.

[RB]

They never turn down geraniums in flower pots. Never.

Hmm now how do I get enough geraniums hanging from the tress in my favorite BT spot 

[PolarBear]

The blacktails around here won't touch grain dry or sweet, alfalfa or minerals/salt except for a couple of months during the early summer.  I had a bunch of feed left over from finishing off a steer so I made a couple of tube feeders and placed them at my back corner with a trail cam on them.  One tube had straight ground and cracked corn, the other had a mixture or deer chow, wet cob and dry oats.  The deer would take one nibble and never come back to either of them.  The base of the tree where the feeders were was covered with apple flavored buck jam and also had an apple flavored salt block. The deer did like the apple salt block for about 2 months but wouldn't touch it after mid August.  The birds (especially the quail and doves) loved the grain as did the raccoons and squirrels.  The deer really like apples, acorns, clover, berry vines and good sweet pasture and oat grass.  What I have found over the years is that the more "urban" the area that they live, especially on the islands that they are more likely to go for grain based feeds.  In areas like where I live there is a lot of timber and farm land so variety of food is more plentiful.  The deer at my friends place in Hartstine and Anderson Islands as well as in the outskirts of Olympia can be baited in with feed.   

[irishevox]

i use corn right now and have one one cam over 200 or so pictures. in just one week

[steelnducks]

Asian pear trees do the trick.

[RadSav]

Asian pear trees do the trick.

Wasn't it Erma Bombeck that wrote, "The grass is always greener over the septic tank"?  Maybe that's the secret ingredient

[ICEMAN]

My blacktail prefer pole beans, strawberry, pyramidalis and fruit tree leaves.

[TheFewTheProud]

I use apples and pears.

[headshot5]

their favorite food is what we cal a purple cap, its a berry that grows on a sticker that useally has two to three stocks and its like a flouresent green, they really like them when they are young and tender, but no matter how old they are always nipped back, i wish i knew the actual name of them...

Actual name is Blackcap berry...  Rubus occidentalis

[elkh8me]

I've had both wet cob and dry cob out for elk, the deer walk by and never touch it.

My experience too

[jackmaster]

their favorite food is what we cal a purple cap, its a berry that grows on a sticker that useally has two to three stocks and its like a flouresent green, they really like them when they are young and tender, but no matter how old they are always nipped back, i wish i knew the actual name of them...

Actual name is Blackcap berry...  Rubus occidentalis

excellent, thank you, now I know I wonder why they call them a blackcap when they are purple  scientists