Deer bait 101

[Netminder01]

tag

[earlmarne]

I just put out some minerals and I was getting more pics before I did so.I have used apples in the past and my deer dont seem to ever want them.Sweet cob really brings em in up here for me, corn also but they go after the sweet cob first

[huntingbaldguy]

I keep trying to find the salt with selenium but my feed store doesn't carry the se30, only se90. Is that OK or too much?

Also bought some more whole kernel corn today. Gonna put it down with apples and see how it goes.

Do they carry sheep salt? That often has selenium in it.

I'll check, thanks for the info.

[NOCK NOCK]

Deer will eat ALL the corn, All of it. They love it.. They eat it before the alfalfa or the Deer Acres block I put out. I've only had one bear on my bait in 5 years...and it was once and he never came back. I had him on my trail camera and he was humping the block like a monkey.

That was me, 

[TRD1911]

Tagging along for info.

[jasnt]

I feed corn year round. 150-200lbs a week. They eat it all. Never has it molded like cob or sweet cob.  I've tried all three at once. The corn was gone first every single time. My one feed location is located on the edge of a 2000 sq ft clover plot. I've been doing this for five or six years now and average 400-700 pic/24hr squirles and such do eat some but I set my cam up a little high so the corn is not showing in the pic. Almost never get a non target animal pic.  I recommend corn but it does get spendy  when you get as much tragic as I do.   When hunting season gets closer I start feeding less till it's gone before dark 30. This seems to force them to show up during hunting hours if they want any.  FYI This is whitetail Deer in farm country

[MLBowhunting]

  yeah I only have a handful of blackies to feed over here so my portions are way smaller.  I like apples just to bring them in because the corn seems to be the favorite.

[jackelope]

Any nutritional value to the deer eating so much corn?

[JimmyHoffa]

Any nutritional value to the deer eating so much corn?

Just some basic carbs.  I don't think they eat enough to really have that much impact.  Usually they hit the pile once or twice a day for a small visit (1/2 hr) and then head off to eat all the other stuff in the forest (other people's bait piles  ).  Be like eating a donut or two a day in addition to your normal diet.

[huntnnw]

big differences in west and east side deer... Apples are king for whitetails here...sweet mix is too... corn is 3rd on all my set ups...winter comes I go to falfa they love it, pumpkins and corn. Never had a coyote eat a apple and we have a ton of yotes. Bad thing with sweet mix and apples in the summer is bears here..tons of them and the spot is ruined once that happens

[baldopepper]

Don't know if they'll have it again this winter, but Bass Pro had the deer corn most of last winter for 9.95 for a 50lbs bag.  I set my feeder to go off for 10 seconds at 7:00am and 10 seconds at 3:00pm.  200 lbs of corn lasted about 6-7 weeks. We probably had between 100-150 deer around us all winter, they'd come in and grab a little corn (usually one or two would take command of the immediate area and  run a lot of others off, but still plenty would come in)  and then feed off into the field around us.  I just put out one 50lbs block of salt about 30' from the feeder and they knock that down in about 2 months. We had a mix of both mulies and whitetails coming in and turkeys would pop in for the final clean up. (the deer would not allow the turkeys to come in while they were there).  Apples and anything sweet brings in the bears in the summer and since the feeder is only about 50' from my house I don't want them hanging around the area.  Batttery on my Moultrie 200lbs feeder lasts at least 6 months on that twice a day feed schedule.  During the summer months we have only 4-5 per night coming in and I change the feeder time to 10 seconds at around 6:00 pm only. Wife loves having the deer around, but we pay a heavy price in any plants we try to grow.(only thing they wont eat is lavender)  Bucks have also killed several small trees we planted when they rub them in the fall, amazing how much bark they'll take off a small tree in just one night.

[nwwanderer]

If you must use corn, a low protein, high energy, poor mineral balance feed, at least try to buy it right.  The current market price is less than seven cents per pound.  Get a group together, support a local producer, and buy what you need during harvest in the basin.  Pay a big bonus for dealing with a small quantity and you still save a bundle and support local production.
Try northwest beef from Wolfkill feed and fertilizer to replace salt and expensive vitamin/mineral deer products.  It is balanced for our region and supplies the little things in the correct ratios and again saves dollars.
Be very careful with high energy feeds like corn.  Little ruminants like deer need weeks to adjust.  A belly full of corn equals a dead deer.
Try to use what is available close by.  Wheat, barley, oats, peas, garbs, canola might be a good fit.  These, like corn, will cause problems without caution.  You are feeding a fermentation vat (rumen).  All changes must be slow and consistent.  When you quickly alter the chemistry of a deer stomach the stomach and deer die.

[CP]

I’d love to buy corn & hay from a local producer but I can’t find one.  The only feed store that I’ve found around here sells corn for .30 cent/lb – alfalfa for $12/bale –

[Wacenturion]

baldo.....that's pretty much the schedule I was going to implement....two feedings, one early and one late for about 10 seconds.  That way the small amount of corn that is spun out should not have a negative impact on any deer since it's more of an attractant small snack rather than a pile to feed off.  May mix in some other product.  I picked up a couple bags of Buckola, which my terriers would love to get into based on the somewhat sweet smell through the bag. Also and more importantly, as you mentioned, the feed lasts for a considerable amount of time.

Have lots of turkeys on or in close proximity to the property so I'm expecting them to keep things cleaned up if anything is left.  Elk are also present.  In addition there are lots of quail, a few pheasants and obviously grouse.  So they too should benefit somewhat.  I also have no doubt that there are bears in the immediate area. 

Next year food plots are on the menu as well as some sharecrop farming.  I closed too late on the property (end of May) to get a early start.   Coupled with the hot weather, farming or plots were just not in the cards.  I will be planting a good number of trees this November when things are going dormant so they can develop some root growth over the winter and into the spring.  Of course I'll be using t-posts and wire to make sure they survive any deer/elk damage the first several years.

[baldopepper]

The hot dry weather you get on the eastside makes food plots tough when you are not around on a constant basis.  We use the Melnor  4 outlet, battery operated water timer to keep things somewhat watered down when we are gone for extended periods.  Actually one of the best attractants you can use this time of year is to run a timer hose to a half of a barrel buried to its tip in the ground and keep it full of water. Just keeping a fairly small nice green area brings in the deer and the 3-4 handfuls of corn a 10 second run throws is just a small snack to keep the deer interested.  We put the timer on the well, but have also used timers on 50 gal. barrels and even a 250 gal. water  tank to keep water to some of the more isolated trees we've planted.  Quail, grouse and turkeys love that water source (along with the other small birds, chipmunks, squirrels etc-just make sure the barrel is buried to the tip because things that fall in drown if it's not at ground level so they can get back out-wives hate that)  If you have to haul water I'd suggest you get an old waterbed mattress-fits nicely in the back of a truck and you can haul about 200-250 gal. at a time. cheap 12 volt pump empties one in a hurry.