Antler Development - Best Time for Protein Feed

When looking to aid in antler development, when is the best time to supplement natural food sources with protein pellets? We do not feed corn or other sources of feed during the hunting season but do fill feeders with protein pellets from the end of season until mid-March and again from late September until the beginning of the season. Although this added protein probably helps bucks rebound from the stresses of the rut and adds protein in the late antler development stages / poor late summer forage quality periods, is it really providing protein at the right time to maximize antler development? Curious what the experts have to say about this? Located in SE AL so our bucks don't usually drop antlers until March.

I’m no expert but the woods are void of browse and the deer are run down from rut. Now Is a good of time as ever. Atleast in the summer they have access to abundant browse. Not so much right now

I feed year around. I feed protein pellets at a ratio of probably 60 percent to 40 corn from velvet shedding until April and then go closer to 80 percent pellets to corn until they shed again.
This has worked great for the last 4 years seeing improvements in body weights and antler mass.

i wouldn’t spend a penny on feed unless the ph of all your fields were perfect and nutrients were in optimum levels, this would move the needle a lot more than any bag of feed ever would.

Years ago I attended a seminar at Auburn put on by Purina…..They had several speakers talking about different topics and this was one of them. According to the studies they quoted one of the most important times impacting potential antler growth is the time period around shedding and the start of new antlers……Basically bucks that are in a run-down condition at this time never reach their potential the following year.

We added Durana to our core fields and are going to soil test and lime in the next few weeks. May burn a few spots also. Trying to offer multiple sources of protein without having to rely of supplemental feed only.

Crimson clover jumps in the spring before just about anything else

i had pictures of a acre and a half of red top it was pretty deer never touched it till it headed out was all pretty and red . then in a weeks time it was gone !!!!!!


bout the way it always went when i planted it .

Best time for antler development would be Summer , best time for overall health is now.

Bucks have to close out the breeding season in good condition to maximize antler potential the following year. They need carbohydrates and fats in fall and winter, a tight breeding window (less breeding stress), as little social stress as allowable, and high quality palatable forbs and legumes as early as possible in spring. If you can achieve those things the benefits are greater than throwing feed at them. Feeding is the last step when all the others are right. It’s also the most expensive.

But yes they need protein now through August.

I would make sure I had some clover growing year round. My understanding also is doe health is important to fawn development, so you need to have ample food for the doe's. I have noticed I am seeing alot more activity on green fields since the season closed. Bucks out there with doe's, which probably means they were missed during the first rut.

I have year round food on my lease. While I will plant beans/sunn hemp mixes on some of the plots this spring, most have clover on them. My Bulldog 805 alfalfa came in, so as soon as I get my disk frame back, I am going to lime and disk the field I want to plant it on, and get it going.

There is a lot of green popping up now. Deer will be fine with or without it. They are goats

Yep, people often overlook the perennial forbs actively growing from late January until spring green up.

That is true, all I am saying is what I have seen via camera's is an increase in greenfield usage as we get into February, and if its clover, it will get alot of traffic, and often the deer will come out and feed and bed in the field for a while, then get up and feed some more.

My rationale is simple really. I have to believe that a properly limed and fertilized food plot with a high quality forage is superior to anything growing naturally in 4.8 to 5.2 PH. Doesn't mean the deer can't survive and thrive on it, just means that anytime I get them to eat off one of my greenfields, it has to aid in their growth and development.

So I plant things that attract them and keep them in fields. I am telling you, plant a whitetail clover plot and get it established and hang a camera on it and watch. Deer will hit it multiple times a day. You will see a difference in your bucks, but it takes a few years.

I read something somewhere that the basis for a strong deer herd is the doe. The healthier the doe is, the healthier her fawn will be. The funny thing about that from what I have seen is the focus on forage quality has eliminated alot of the crap rack bucks. Maybe they died. Maybe the neighbor killed them, maybe they were run off, I don't know, but I do know that the quality of what we see now is superior to what we were seeing 5 years ago.

I had deer out in a greenfield the other night for an hour and a half. The yearlings were bedded down while the older doe's ate. That has become common on several of the fields I run camera's on. I never used to see that. Since I can't manage my habitat, managing food plots is my only major tool for improving the herd, aside from a selective harvest. Which we had this year too.

What is the best way to maximize these?

Fertilize?

in reference to lockjaw’s post

^^ habitat / nutritional induced epigenetics. msu released a study on this not too long ago.

The bucks need additional protein and minerals and vitamins when they shed horns to develop new horns, but as important is good protein and minerals for does when they drop the fawns, to help with milk.
If you are able to set out feeders, I would set them out late April or early May and fill them up thru Sept. That would help both bucks and does and fawns.

I don't think fertilizing helps much if your PH is low. That's the issue in Alabama. I got something from Whitetail institute in one of their magazines one time that talked about how little fertilizer the plants can utiliize at different PH levels. When its around 5, its something ridiculous, like 25%. So when you think in terms of Triple 13, and their is only 6.5 pounds of Nitrogen, phosphorus or potash in a 50 pound bag, and you need 100 pounds per acre, you would have to put about 50 bags out on an acre to get 100 pounds the plants could use. That would probably burn all the vegetation in the area for a while.

My soil tests on my lease called for 2 to 2.5 tons of lime per acre. If you are putting it out in pellet form, thats 100 bags to get to 2 tons per acre. Even with a 3pt spreader, it takes a long time to put that much pellet lime out. It is what makes doing food plots in a hunting club a challenge. A lime truck would be the easy way, but they can't just go on any field. A lime buggy would work, if you have a big enough tractor to pull it, and a 3/4 ton truck to pull it from the coop to your lease.

^^ 10% loss for every .5 below 7 as a rule of thumb