How often?

So how often is acceptable to most to fill a feeder and check a camera? I have six feeders on our lease. 3 with timers with solar 2 gravity and 1 trough. They are “strategically” placed in fields, thickets and open woods as far from the stand as possible yet still easily accessible by atv. We fill them and check camera every 4-5 weeks year round in hopes of getting the deer in a routine of seeing or hearing us at them. Does it work? I dunno but i enjoy doing it and we usually have deer at them at some point day and night year round. Now a feeder isn’t a guarantee we will see a deer while hunting but I don’t think it hurts our chances. Sometimes we see 10 sometime nothing. Too many variables to pin point the reason why some deer come regularly and some only come on Tuesday night. So far the only thing I’ve learned is that our deer don’t like rice bran.

Personally we use all cell cameras and spin feeders. We hunt strictly by wind direction, stay out of the woods and go straight to the stands. We kill mature bucks every year but we are very selective on what we shoot and we don’t kill does.

We are about once every 6-8 weeks on both. Don’t run feeders but 2x
Day at 3-4 seconds. Cameras are cudde link with extra battery packs. Filled feeders and did cameras last Thursday while we we were fertilizing the fields. On this particular lease we won’t mess with them again till after the rut.

I fill mine when theyre empty and check my cameras when i want to. Theres grown deer coming to them every day, or night rather. I have no idea how to get a bunch of deer to come out in the middle of the day. I figure thats the real question behind the question here. I think its just a little too populated with people where i hunt. Around here alot of deer will come out late in the evening. Quite a few will linger around the first few minutes after daylight. Some will come out for a bite in the daylight hours. Only pattern ive noticed around here is more deer move when its quiet. Usually, if youre gona see bucks out cruising in the daylight around here, itll be right after the bus runs and everyone has gone to work. Theres a couple hours of quiet time before the people who stay home during the day usually get out. Thats when ive seen the most buck movement during the day, other than that its just low light times. I have no idea how it works in the big woods.

I can’t go any longer than 2 weeks on my spin feeder and I have it set to feed twice a day for 10 seconds. The deer and coons have figured out how to spin the plate and get corn. I have another section of legs for it but I can’t fill it with them installed.On my gravity feeders it’s about a week and a half some don’t last that long.

I check mine every week. If I don’t they get stopped up, battery dies or run out of corn.

Totally agree with jwalker. I'm hunting small parcels in Geneva county. All of them are close to paved or dirt roads with fairly busy traffic. Obviously, when the rut is wide open, I have the best chance of seeing a decent buck during the day. Otherwise, first light or just before dark are the best times. My cameras back me up on this and, what they record, doesn't change much whether I check them every few days or every couple of weeks.

I think I've screwed up my best 2 deer by going and feeding...hoping it's just the weather but they been every night consistent until the last time i put corn out

Seems like the only solution is to do all feeding and camera operations at night.

Thats when I do mine....I've walked right up on them at nite and it dont seem to bugger them up too bad and it dont associate me out there in the daylight...

They are just being deer.

Probably a good idea......

That's when I put mine out last time lol

I think when they get use to a feeder , it’s like ringing the dinner bell for them when you fill them up . When I first started hunting a former players dad carried me to his family farm in Paint Rock Valley . He put me in a lock on high in a tree and preceded to put out 100 lbs of corn . He hadn’t got out of sight before deer came from everywhere! Before the feeding frenzy ended their were over 40 does and fawns under my tree . No shooter bucks but it was a crazy afternoon for sure !

Could just be dead and have nothing to do with putting out corn

I try to fill mine during the middle of the day. Usually not any deer there then to scare off. If I go after dark I’ll scare them off. I have all feeders where I can drive up to them and fill. I’m not quiet at all. As a matter of fact I make more noise than I have to. They eventually learn to stay close to a feeder and they associate the noise with food and like said earlier when everything goes quiet they will come looking and it’s usually pretty quick.

Na these 2 bucks r old n stay close...they alive I promise u, if it were January I might agree...

Ya hayman I try to be loud coming in and leave the car on so I don't catch em off guard...

As much or as little as you like. When is up to you. Enjoy your hunting.

I have a cell camera on mine and when you set it up and tell it how much corn is in it it tells me how long until it's empty.

It has a shocker, so anything that wants to mess with the spinner plate is going to be in for a surprise. I'm thinking I need another one.

Don't do the feeder thing. Pull my cameras before season starts.

I have 4 big gravity feeders and cell cameras on each. I’ll add feed whenever they are low or empty. I do try to use the electric or tractor to fill them.

You gotta be careful what kinda corn you feed with. I’ve got info from solid sources at the DCNR that indicates a large percentage of DEER CORN is being treated with a mature buck repellent.

You say that jokingly but I have bought corn that deer wouldn’t eat for whatever reason.

I don’t know that this is feasible, but the people that I know that kill deer over 120 inches over corn every year don’t use feeders.

They go in at lunchtime and put out 2 bags with some other attractant.

They then watch the cameras and get a time of when the deer are coming in and wait until after Christmas to start hunting it. They’re also not feeding on fields or roads. They do this in places at least 150 yards off the road, normally thick and close to a bedding area.

It’s not feasible because if you work every day it’s hard to be able to feed like that every 2 or 3 days, but it works for them.

We had some like that last season and went back and looked at the bags and there was mold on the inside, guess the corn was wet when they bagged it. Deer wouldn’t touch it, crows ate 100% of it.

I think as a whole, many of us have forgotten it’s about fun.

I fill mine when it’s empty which is about every 5 days or so. (Gravity) I like to get pictures of deer from my cell cam. I enjoy watching them. Have shot 2 deer in 10 years or so, and missed another one or two with my bow. My kids go with me and keep the freezer full. They’ve managed to kill a couple of wall worthy bucks over the last several years and we have a good time doing it.

Don’t forget, hunting is supposed to be fun. If your fun is hunting and killing mature bucks, do that. If it’s filling the feeders with kids, watching a few deer and killing one when opportunity exist, do that. If it’s killing 2 spikes, a 6 point and 14 does, provided the resource allows, do that. Just remember, there is a lot in this world that ISN’T fun, don’t let hunting be one of those things.

My spin cast feeders I’ll fill them up about once a month but the troughs on my land either gets filled up weekly or every other week. I can fill the troughs up and normally it’s not long and deer are standing there eating.

I do weekly in Clarke cause that when I run out - I always try to do it in middle of the day - between 11-1. My deer seem to slow down in coming to the fields when I bump the from hunting when I leave - not with feeding mid day

My places - especially Clarke county should be really fresh. Tomorrow will be a week since hunted Wilcox county and over 2 weeks on Clarke - just waiting on cold weather

I feed multiple times/week in Wilcox county at mid day (never scared a deer out) - I run out feed after 4 days - I saw mature buck there for 45-55 minutes last time I hunted it last Monday

My spin feeder was filled Friday was a week ago and it ran out this morning. I guess I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow. This crap is getting expensive but I am trying to attract all the deaf, blind, dumb and can’t smell deer so my bunch might be successful. My boy has been wanting a certain deer and here he was wondering why the feeder didn’t sling corn this afternoon. He always comes while I am at work.