Do spin feeders spook deer?

I have read and have buddies that say the spin tripod feeders spook deer. Especially big bucks. I have a bunch of trail cam pics and have seen plenty of deer feeding on them. What are yall experiencing with them.

It seems to vary widely depending on the area. In East central Alabama, they have been very very wary of them. I think already mature bucks that are exposed to them usually avoid them. Bucks that are exposed at a young age will continue to use them when they mature, although mostly at night. They have not been legal in Bama long enough to see this play out but it was what we saw in Florida when they first became legal.

I think part of it has to do with where you set then up and how often you go around messing with them. A lot of folks put them out in the center of food plots, put cameras on them, and then constantly go around them. I'd say that's a sure fire way of having mature bucks become leary of them

That is what I hav heard - what daylight is saying - If you raise a buck on them - then you may be able to fool them. When I use to hunt in Ark - Tex and FL - all those states fed and those guys would say electric feeders spook Mature bucks. The electronic or mechanical sound is not natural to a mature wary buck. That is what I hav seen - I hav heard if u raise them on it - u may hav a chance

Also.....shooting deer off of feeders is another sure fire way to get mature bucks spooky of them. You never know when that old buck is just sitting back there in the thicket a little ways watching and listening

I would say it takes a while for deer to get used to them. Many places I have hunted in Texas, where they have been used for decades, you are just as likely to see mature deer at the feeders as you are does.

Placing a new one, it may take several years for the already mature deer to get used to them. If you put it out, plan to run it year round, not just during the season. All the places I have seen that the bucks cam around them fed year round.

Thinking back now - One of the places in TX had mature deer hitting theirs but it had been out for Many years and the pressure was low

Hell no , if it spins while they standing there they will back off a little .

They dont want their eye put out

Some won’t have anything to do with them some will lick the corn off the spinner. Mine are a mix of the two

Some folks like strippers kicking them with high heels. Some don’t.

Very good advice Uncle Huck. I had been running feeders year round in Henry and Barbour counties. I had plenty of pictures of mature bucks feeding around them. Due to Covid and USN base access travel restrictions and my job, my feeders ran out in March and I have been unable to travel there to fill them. My brother went up and filled them up for me and placed cell cams on them last week. The deer are not going near them (just as they did when I first put them in place). Apparently, I am going to have to start all over due to missing 5 months of having them spin feed out.

Agree , if you keep em running year around & the bucks have been exposed to them for years surely helps . However it may takes years to get mature bucks to a feeder . Most will not come around them

The woods are full of lush, green vegetation right now with all the rain we're getting and deer are spread out. That probably has a lot to do with low sighting s at new feeders.

I set one out last year for the first time. Zero pics of big bucks. Lots of does and little ones. My gravity feeders and where I hand spread..... does, yearlings, and some Big Uns!

I never turn mine off. I'll reduce the time it spins, but it runs year round.

My observation is no it does not.

Both really. It scares some and doesn't bother others.

Most things like this with deer are “learned behaviors”…..They’re not born with the fear of feeders….Now bucks may be naturally wary but that’s different. Of course deer are gonna be individuals but I’d say that most pf the deer that don’t come around feeders are likely a result of a negative experience they’ve had with them. You may have shot a doe off of one and never knew that there was a buck lurking in the shadows….That negative experience leaves him skiddish of them while others who have not experienced the same thing may not show any effect. The more you associate the feeder with negative experiences or associate them with humans and humans with negative experiences…..the more the deer will likely be reluctant to use them.

I think timing is about 95% of the equation.

I’ve had some good bucks eating from one of my spin feeders in the past few weeks, and it’s only a few months old.

I make sure it goes off at no later than 2 hours before sunset and 2 hours before sunrise. The deer hit it going to and from their bedding areas so they likely never hear it enough to be spooked anyways.

Why would a deer be spooked by the sound of a deer feeder? I see deer bed up 20 yards from the road and have diesel trucks roar by…..neighbors kids learning to play to trombone…….me hammering, sawing, and running an impact remodeling…..dogs barking…..etc…..etc…..Deer aren’t automatically spooked by sounds such as this…..their spooked by sounds they associate with danger…..Just like when they start associating hunters with 4-wheelers. It’s a sound associated with something they have learned is a danger to them.

This just my opinion but if I were gonna set up a spin feeder around a food plot…..I’d cut a lane back into the woods maybe 40-50 yards deep or more and set it back off the food plot but to where you could still see it down the lane from your stand or shooting house…. I wouldn’t shoot any does off of it. If I wanted to kill does, I’d do it somewhere else.

Outback nailed it.

All feeders spook deer at my house. If it ain't on the ground, they won't touch it......

The location of the feeder and how you hunt it makes all the difference weather you pull in mature bucks or not. They get used to the noise.

Heck now. We've got a field within eyesight of our camp, mainly just for us to watch deer in the evening. We usually have three or four deer standing under the feeder the moment it goes off (set at 4:30 during the season). That ranges from does to spikes to eight points.

Corn poured out on the ground gets way more mature bucks on it than feeders. A old wise buck usually stays clear. Not saying they won’t feed on it they are just more comfortable eating off the ground away from a feeder

Does and fawns, no. They quickly condition to the sight and sound. I often see them running to it when they hear the spinner motor activate. Others already there look up in anticipation and stand under the feeder as corn rains down on their back. Mature bucks? They’re often offput by motorized day-time feeders until rut. But during rut, there’s a good chance a conditioned doe will drag one to it. And, on your schedule...

I call BS on all the feeder spooking deer stories. Deer are spooked when they feel threatened. You can run a bulldozer next to a big buck if he is used to it.

It spooks some and some it dont bother..got a lot to do with how the deer have been treated historically...if they get harassed alot...it may take several generations and alot less intrusion on your part. If your deer freak out easy..a spincast feeder is probly gonna freakem out...that bein saidso will troughs sometimes...what usually dont freakem out...pourin it on the ground. I think dog run deer are the worst when it comes to bein skiddish....dont matter if its corn or a green field....they are perpetually freaked out an it will probly take years to cure.

Id also like to say that....if you continuously feed your deer corn...itay take a decade or longer..but they will eventually become basically trained....not easy to do here in brown its down bama...but it can be done...if you got the time,money,and patience...if you ultimately even care about that...its kinda borin...but so is huntin an not seein nothin

Folks will say that it doesn't matter but it does.....Coyotes are pushing deer around and harassing them all the time now and it can have an effect on behavior if its being done with enough frequency

Nah running dogs don't hurt , Imo,,,, it helps .

Also

Coon hunting has the deer moving more in day light .

big spooky bucks usually wont go by them

Mature bucks don’t wonder around much in daytime for any reason except to breed. Feeders will keep the does coming to an area on a regular basis and the bucks will frequent these areas during the daytime during the rut. My .02.

In about in the same manner that hunters walking around your property jump shooting at deer would help…..Sure, they may run one by you and temporarily help your situation but the long term impacts are gonna mean that deer move less and reduce their range size. It’s actually not a complete black and white issue of whether is does or doesn’t …..It depends on the frequency of occurrences. A hunter walking through the woods jump shooting at them two or three days out of the season probably has little influence……Someone doing it two or three days a week is a different story. Same with dogs and yotes…..A little harassing only effects a few deer a few times in their lives…..A lot of harassing starts effecting every deer in the herd over time…..Its a learned behavior…..A reaction to something they perceive as a threat……A predator pursuing them....They react to all of it the same....move less....reduce range

CNC,,,, most deer I killed at home came from miles away .
Back then I put a good many of their nice bucks in my freezer.

And with dog hunting around may cause more deer to stay on your land .

I'll never be convinced that legal dog hunting will hurt the next guys hunting

Yes.

I’m not really talking about legal dog hunting…..illegal dog hunting…..or what have you…….I’m simply talking about how a deer (and eventually the deer herd) will react to being pursued by a “predator”….human, coyote, dog, etc…….Its a natural response for them to decrease movement and decrease their range……Its simply a matter of them not exposing themselves as much when they feel threatened. Like I said in the other post…….What is and what isn’t a threat to them is a learned behavior. The frequency of them being threatened dictates to what degree you see it having an impact.

Its what we’re seeing happening right now with coyotes. Coyotes have learned to take down weak and wounded deer and they’re harassing the herd as a whole to pick out these weak and wounded ones. The more frequent this behavior becomes the more impact it has on the deer’s reaction to it and their behavioral changes. Some people may not being seeing a dramatic impact while other may. Places where yotes are grouping up in packs and harassing the deer will likely be the worst. Running dogs is no different except for the frequency is much less. You’re not out there 24/7 running them…..you’re turning loose for one or two runs every few weekends or something. Now, stray dogs roaming a property that’s more like the yotes….Like I was saying its not just black and white….it does or doesn’t…..all or nothing......It's situational

Does this answer your question?
[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/MgcXq6_061s[/video]

Deer were very skittish when feeder was first put in woods then became used to it over several weeks.

They will absolutely scare a mature buck that has never been exposed to them as will a lot of other mechanical objects, coon huntin' and such. They are all individuals, a few may tolerate them quicker than others. I think Uncle Huck nailed it. Y'all go back and reread his post.

Do you think it's so much the feeder that spooking them or all the scent of the critter trying to kill them that's associated with it thats constantly reaming fresh from checking cameras and filling it up and just seeing if it's working, et ....If that feeder area constantly reeks of human scent they're gonna be looking at it as if it's an ambush spot and hell yeah they're gonna be leery of it.....The smarter ones or more leery will avoid the ambush spot altogether. Now go out there and put a 55 gallon drum full before a rain and have it set to last 6 weeks or so with a solar charger.....then leave it the hell alone......I bet you'll see a big difference in the reaction to it. Imagine if you have 6-8 feeders spread around on your club with hunters constantly screwing around with them......now you've got 8 places for them to link feeders to predator ambush spot.....the little spinner going off for a few seconds and day ain't the issue

I've had them stand there and let the corn hit them, waiting on the feeder to stop.

IMO, deer get conditioned to what the sound means. We converted our gravity feeders to spin feeders to save on corn costs and other reasons mentioned below. I couldn't tell any difference in what came to them and what didn't in my cam pics.

In general, in places where browse is abundant, and corn is not their primary source of quality food, I believe it's harder to kill big bucks on a feeder. In places, like some places in TX, where the natural browse may be abundant (or may not) but it's not high quality browse, I think it's probably much easier to see big bucks on feeders, or corn piles, etc. When I hunt the hill country in TX, we put out corn at noon the first day, and the deer (rack bucks included) are on it within a couple of hours. I never see that behavior in AL. They will find it quickly here, but usually in darkness if they have a choice. Which is another reason why we switched to spin feeders to try and make the deer eat in daylight. I've seen deer come up under one and hit the spinner with his tongue. When a 1yr old spike does this only a couple of weeks after the feeder is placed, it tells you that they don't take long to learn what's what. I can't imagine that they suddenly get scared of them, UNLESS they are there when other deer are shot on them.

When I started in SC clubs years ago, a native told me: " Get a Boat winch and hang your feeder in a tree. Make sure it has the power to fling the corn out there pretty good.
It is MUCH more likely to be eaten that way, than piling up and spoiling under a 3 legger. Leave all the scents and other crap up at Walmart where it belongs.
Keep that feeder going, and sit back and wait".

He was right. SC Deer know exactly what a spin feeder sound is.
But they will come on THEIR schedule. Not yours.

Those SC bucks had probably been exposed to feeders since they were fawns.In other words they were conditioned to it since birth. They still might be a little shyer than does or younger deer. For older bucks that are there when the feeder is first put out would be a different story .

How is a feeder any different to a buck than all of the shooting houses in the woods?? Do you think he sees them as a feeder and a shooting house or sees them as a big black box and a small black box??

Been my experience they don't come high tailing to a shooting house either. Even if the house has been there for years.

Exactly......because it's associated with the predator that's trying to kill them.......reaction to 4-wbeelers over time links the object to the predator trying to kill them.......without the experiences that caused the link then it's just another inatimit object .....

Now deer usually approach any feeding situation with caution and check it over before committing and letting their guard down some to eat. Bucks very well may choose to eat somewhere other than the main food sources because the concentration of deer on those places may be drawing in coyotes or humans as well. He may seeknoit a secondary feeding spot where few other deer are using and free of predator scent.....If you want to use a feeder to kill a buck then don't just set it up and watch for him to come to it. Instead....find a location that gives you a strategic advantage over him and use the feeder to draw him by you on his way to it. Get it at least 100 yards or so away from you just depending on the habitat..... The buck is gonna stop a certain distance out from it and he's gonna sit there and check things out for a minute or twenty..... he's also likely to circle and approach it from downwind or stand around until the wind shifts to him.....You want to try and identify where you think he'll hold up to check it over and set up somewhere around that spot and farther away......

I like it! Nothing better to enhance an already productive feeder, than to have stands favoring different winds and hunting pressure.

It's not rare for a Spike or Doe & Fawn to set up housekeeping. I usually drive them away during my sits.
Spikes can be especially annoying at this.

Opinions will vary on the feeder spook deal but u made a comment Tree Dweller that struck a cord with me. I hate scaring deer out at end of hunt and big bucks want give many spooks before they Only nocturnal. The place I am on now - I can’t set up my stands where I can leave them where I am undetected so I try to keep my pressure Way down and always hunt the wind.
I hav been on properties where the land allowed me to move my stand away from the feed point/field So I could leave undetected with deer still feeding - I hav killed some of my best deer on spots like this. If u always hunt the wind and are able to have set up where u can leave undetected - it’s like u never hunted. Love those type stands

Guess it’s a conditioning thing

They won’t come near feeders on my place

But I can pour it out 50 yards away and they’ll eat it

Or they’ll eat in clover all around it but never get within 50 yards of the feeders

Does live under them. Could be part of the problem.

I think it’s wishful thinking to have a 5 plus year old buck come feed out of a feeder whether it’s gravity or spin during hunting season. The idea is to keep the does and younger bucks around, which in turn, could lead to an older deers death.

well said

You will notice that Deer always have a guilty look on their face when eating corn at a feeder.

The best bucks I have on camera will come to a gravity feeder without much issue. Now, it took them 2 to 3 weeks to get to that point, and would only eat corn off the ground during that time frame, but they eventually got used to the feeder. You won't see them in the morning, or during the day, but in the evening, either right at sundown or just after it the bachelor group comes on out and feeds until about 3 or 4 in the morning, then skeedaddle till the next night. Gravity feeders will still make noise too when the corn settles, and deer will give the feeder the stink eye every single time that happens. But it doesn't scare them away. Couple hundred pounds on the ground and fill the feeder up and they will get it.

I just put the feeder back out again after having pulled it before turkey season. I've re-positioned it to a more central spot of the property in front of a shooting house at the base of a food plot. Same story as last year, everything is spooky about it again and will only come feed on the corn underneath and around it for a short while. The bucks will figure it out eventually. I know this year has been super wet compared to last year so I imagine the deer are having no issue finding tender browse in the surrounding woods and don't need to fool with a new feeder yet, but they eventually will.

You couldn’t be more wrong. It’s absolutely possible to get mature 5yo deer to eat at a feeder. You just have to start when those mature deer are yearlings. I have 4.5 yo deer at feeders regularly but those same deer have been eating at feeders for 4 years now.

To say I’m wrong is a little out there. Anything could happen, that’s what makes hunting fun. Playing the odds it won’t happen though. How many 5+ year old bucks did you kill over your feeders last year?

Oldest buck I have killed at a feeder was professionally aged at 7.5 years. I have killed 6 that were over 4.5 in the last few years that were at feeders of that were eating from feed spread in the previous 1-2 hours, and I have seen 40+ bucks over 4.5 years old at feeders, just not deer I was allowed to shoot as a guest on that club.

Again, it's what they get used to seeing/hearing. I do not believe that you would have a good chance killing a 5 year old the first season that a feeder is in operation, but once it has been running for 5+ years, they are used to it. The key is year round operation. I never let mine stop running, just adjust the time down when feed starts to build up.

I have also killed mature bucks within hours of filling a feeder, but it is in areas where they are used to feeders being filled, as well as after using a road feeder on my way to the blind.

Texas?

No, spin feeders won't scare deer. They get used to them, just like they get used to hunters coming and going, vehicles, tractors and other stuff.

Mature bucks also will come to feeders.

Yup, for the most part. Also in South Carolina.

Texas is the acid test for what mature deer will/won't do, as they have been running feeders longer than any other state.

I am attempting to duplicate this behavior on my place now.

I think it depends on how long they've been exposed to them . Put one out in the hardwoods where deer haven't ever seen one this fall and expect to stack up mature bucks standing under them waiting on breakfast and you'll be disappointed .

Mature bucks avoid the middle of food plots you been killing every doe that steps out on. If they are avoiding it, it’s because you have it in the wrong place for the most part.

I like to buy the feeders that you can hang, and I generally put them high in an oak tree, nearest I can to a thick spot, where there is already a trail system I know bucks use, and that I can access using the prevailing wind I plan on hunting the area to access undetected. This scenario is usually a good trail crossing a saddle on a south facing ridge. They are usually crossing from East to west or west to East. I try to approach from the south on a north or northwest wind. If you put your cameras on the south side of the trail, the only time you have to put your scent where you are feeding is when you have to add feed to the feeder.

Hang your feeder about 10’ up in the air, as close to the base of the tree as possible or up amongst other branches.

If you do all this, you’ll see more bucks at your feeder.

If someone parked a truck in your kitchen last night, when you woke up this morning and eased down the hallway, you reckon you’d notice it and be suspicious? Same way with a deer and a gigantic corn feeder stuck in a plot all of a sudden right before hunting season opens.

I’ll add this, the smaller the plot, the more intimidating the feeder likely is to a mature deer.
Put it in the middle of a big field, they will still avoid it likely, but they may still come in the plot and feed. I’m talking about acres versus 1/4 to 1/2 acre plots.

I have mature deer trying to eat the corn out of spin feeders when it hasn’t spun out as much as they want. They come religiously every day at all different times. But we don’t shoot deer off of feeders. Maybe they feel comfortable. I don’t know.

I say yes as to mature bucks. Why take the risk. Ive converted my feeder to gravity style you can poor a buck pile off to the side where they don't have to be exposed. That said I don't really like to hunt over corn, its a pain, it attracts hogs, theres the added cost, and having to feed up all the time puts me and my truck in my hunting areas too much, not to mention the loss of the challenge. Bait on!

I’m not saying it’s not possible I’m just saying it’s not typical. I too get pictures of them all the time at night on spin feeders. Hunting season and daytime are a different story, but then again I got the same when you weren’t allowed to bait.

Yes.

No they do not.

This one wouldn’t get near a feeder last year but this year he’s getting braver. He still won’t get too close and no daylight pics this year which is way different then last year with no feeder.

So this year it took about a week and a half to get any mature deer on camera at the feeders. Pretty well lines up with what I saw last year. They let the young ones try it out for a few days first and they eventually will break down and get some of that corn.

Here's a bit more evidence of what a mature deer will and won't do during hunting season near cameras and feeders.

This is on a low fence ranch in Texas, and they are actively hunting the property. All these bucks are known to be at least 5 years old, and all the pictures are within a few yards of the feeders. One of the pictures was taken by a camera mounted on the leg of the spin feeder.

Yes they do.

I guess it just depends on the bucks.

Some yes some no

Deer act different On either Side of my property
On one side I got deer (Bucks) sticking their snout up in gravity spout (Feeding)

Other side and I never pulled the trigger on that side of property - the deer act scared of the feeder and this is it’s second year out - just took camera off that feeder to try to help it

I remember going to the third Alabama Deer Expo and listening to a presentation by some Moultrie guy. At the time, you had to have feeders out of the woods 10 days before hunting. He made the point it was illegal to hunt around a feeder, but wasn't illegal to have a motor in your pack. He would pull his feeders before hunting, but would take a feeder motor and battery to the stand with him because he felt the deer were conditioned to the sound and would come hunting food.

I prefer spin feeders and have several pictures of deer around them at all hours of the day. But I can also tell you it is rare to have a daytime picture of a buck around the feeder. I do think it depends on the cover around the feeder, as well.

Mature deer will feed mid day at a feeder if they are not heavily pressured as I’ve stated before

After the pics I and others have posted of obviously mature deer at a feeder in full daylight during hunting season, I'm not sure how anyone could still think that feeders "scare" mature bucks.

Put some in acreages where deer have never been exposed to them and see what it does to mature bucks during hunting season.

Read all my comments. I never said that a newly introduced feeder wouldn't impact deer. What I have said multiple times is that continuously run feeders will NOT scare or impact deer, once they are accustomed to them. I do NOT turn mine off. I run them year round.

I do the same thing with ground blinds. I set the last of them last weekend, 4 full weeks before GA gun season.

Everyone knows a new ground blind spooks deer. That's why folks set them early. I have done the same with the feeders.

I will be the first to say that a new feeder installed a week or two before deer season will impact deer. That's why I never turn mine off.

So, spin feeders do spook mature bucks.

New ones could, yes. So would smoking a stinky cigar in your tree stand and playing the ball game on a radio without headphones.

It's not a permanent condition by any stretch. Refer back to the many pictures posted here of mature bucks at feeders. I have shot at least 12 mature bucks in the past 5 years hunting near legal spin feeders. Oldest was 7-1/2.

only if they hear the safety click off......

How tall is that feeder at the lid? looks low? I want to put one at the new house, but I can't get a truck to where I'd put it, so I'd be filling it from the ground. Most of the ones I've seen are too tall for me to fill it without standing in the back of the truck, but that one looks manageable.

Lid is at about 6’.

My All Seasons Stand&Fill is about 4-1/2 feet to the lip. It holds 300 lbs of corn.