Feeding doesn't matter, habitat management doesn't matter{but should always be done), but with NO pressure, deer will lay in the wide open and feed any time of the day. But that is not a hunting situation so I will go with what you said.

80% of the land we hunt here is timber company land. We own the other 20%. They don't let me cut or burn. All my plots are old loading decks.

A lot of hard work liming and spraying and mowing goes on. It's getting easier after years and years. The deer are no doubt benefiting more from all this clover and chicory than any feeders I could fill up.

And good fall plots, done right has been a huge benefit.

We used to spend a lot of money on feed to

AlabamaSwamper, I've got 8 acres of beautiful fields on our 700 acres. I'm trying to talk them into another 2, but it's like pulling teeth out of a pissed off bull dog. 8 acres of plots on 700 acres isn't very good "habitat management". Food is only one piece of the puzzle. The rest of the property is 9yo pine thicket (other than a brand new 50 acre cutover that they'll spray this summer) that is quickly shading out ANY light from hitting the ground, which is about to create a 692 acre desert. With the amount of work I've put in this place, I hate to give it up. So I'm gonna exhaust all efforts into keeping deer and turkeys on it, and feeding them was/is try number one.

I keep 6 out on a little over 1000 acres. They are out year round and are just off major foodplots. We do not shoot does off the foodplots, and try to only harvest 3.5 yr old + bucks. We have 5 hunters on the place and try to hunt 'smart'. The feeders are just that.....a supplemental food source that does not care if it rains, freezes, have a drought, or whatever. They can come there and eat quality food.

I think it helps us.

But, if I were depending on them to be able to kill a buck over, I don't know if they would help or not??

I've never understood why people use corn as the go to on a supplemental feeding program. Other than high in carbohydrates what nutritional value does a deer get from feeding on corn all the time ?

If your deer are not getting the most nutrients out of your feeding program , why do it?

Nothing better than carbs this time of year I don't think. If people are feeding corn year round, I bet 6 months out of the year it sours. Most people will swap over to some type of protein in spring.

I am convinced that supplemental feeding has helped our deer as well. We see more deer and it's increased body weight and horn size. We plant green patches too but for the life of me I can't see how supplemental feeding could make a deer herd or a hunting situation worse. But to each his own.