Curious to what your thoughts are on with feeding protein throughout the Summer? Reason I ask, is we are contemplating starting up 30 feeding stations on our lease of 6,000 acres and will be feeding roughly up to 9,000lbs per month at these sites. I am on the fence with the idea and think we should invest this money elsewhere to better the habitat and plots. Have any of you recognized any noticeable benefit to summer protein stations?

I’d better the habitat before I did anything else. Majority of the deers food will come from the habitat not the feeder.

It takes @ 4-5 years of feeding protein before you can realize the benefits of a protein feeding program. You can't just put your toes in the water and abandon it after a year or two because you haven't seen any results.

Sounds like a ton of work. I'd rather plant a bunch of crops and do prescribed fire with my dollars and time.

If you can afford it then it's worth it and you will hold a lot more deer on your property. It will take a lot of work to keep that many feeder full.

me too

Are y'all adding more members to cover the cost??....I'm in the no boat but if your also adding members then it's helllll naw!

Uh, No.

I know of a hunting club in north east Florida that does just that, and they grow some big deer. Not a single food plot on their 7000 acres. They do extensive burning and timber management, and have been feeding for 20 years. They grow really big Florida deer. 130-140” and 200lbs.

Only if you let them get old enough for it to matter

It is to me.

If you are going to feed on that large of a scale you’re going to financially obligate yourself to tens of thousands of dollars annually and what benefits are you hoping to see? Can you measure them quantitatively? Are you just going to guess if it’s eorking? Do you have preprotein data with antler measurements and weights to compare to after feeding begins? If you do have data I think you’re going to be disappointed in the results in a free ranging herd given what it’s going to cost you.

There is no way to tell what that buck would have been without feed... just like there is no way to tell what that buck would have been if you didn’t feed..... all I can say is over the years, we HAVE seen an increase in body size, herd health (may be to coyote trapping), and seem to have put bigger bucks in the skinning shed. May just be a few years of luck.. I don’t know. But that’s also like saying that soybean fields don’t help deer? I’d have to argue that as well. I use to hunt property in evergreen Alabama that surrounded 120 acres of ag property, they rotated crops of corn and beans almost every year. We killed some really fine bucks!!! They sold that piece to cow farmer ... it was never the same.

Unless you're at a place where money doesn't matter at all, the cost to benefit ratio of bagged protein feed is too low to me. Habitat improvements, while work, are much more valuable to the critters on a place than anything you can pour from a bag, IMO. I do feed corn when they are prone to eat corn. It's like Ice Cream, its not really good for them but deadgum they like it and it keeps them coming back through my place regularly because they are lazy and it's easy to access. Since deer browse and don't graze, I feel it's my responsibility to try to give them other things on my place that they like and are good for them and I can afford. Those are either native vegetation or food plots. Now I get food plots come from a bag, yes, but that 40-50# bag of seed multiplies the amount of food, where as the 50# bag of pellets has a finite amount of food. When the pellets are gone, they are gone till you come back. For about 10 gallons of diesel fuel, I think I can do way more good for a deer and turkey, squirrel, song birds, than 1-2 bags of protien feed.

I just can't afford it enough, nor do I have that type of acreage where I REALLY couldn't afford it to "test" it out. I can almost guarantee that without a multiyear program ($$$$$!!!) you aren't going to see any real results. I finish to say to each there own and do whatever you/y'all are comfortable with.

Age. Age. Age. Natural habitat . carrying capacity of said habitat. Land management. Age. Age.

Ok so this sounds very similar to my thinking on year round feeding. It sounds as if you’re implying that there won’t be much difference in antler growth or body weight due to the protein. I agree. I do however believe that the deer need protein more in the summer and carbs more in the winter which is why I do protein and corn (mineral licks) on top of my plots in hopes of holding doe groups on my property, maybe even a buck or two. Is that an achievable goal for running feed?

Mbrock is the expert on here, and his opinion mirrors what I have heard. There is no substitute for letting deer reach maturity, and adding high protein feed to their diet will make only a marginal difference in antler size and body weight. You will not see a measurable difference until the second generation after a program begins on your property reaches maturity. A LOT of work, cash and patience is required.

If you are wanting to hold and maximize the doe groups on your property then run a lot of feeders that throw out a little bit of feed spread out across the property.....You've got to look at "social carrying capacity" …..Doe groups do not like to pile in on top of one another and they'll compete for a limited resource....You can put out all the feed in the world but if you're only doing it in one spot then you're going to be limited on the doe groups using it.....They compete for bedding and feeding.....What you are trying accomplish by putting out more feeders throwing a little bit feed....is you're creating as many spots for another subordinate doe group to fit in or a place for them to go if they are pressured off of another area....They're gonna need bedding and water close by as well.....Ideally you'll like to have something like every 20-30 acres holding its own doe group.....Don't focus too much on the spefic numbers or any of that though....just think about the overall concept I'm explaining.

20 or 30 acres won't hold a doe group...

This is great information and I’ve been doing this unintentionally. I have automatic feeders that spit out a little food just after daylight and just before dusk on various areas of my property. I do 60 acre blocks though mainly just to manage the cost and work.

I just threw out numbers for an example....but that's probably pretty dang close to what I've had going on around me for years during the peak of winter. That not saying they never leave 20 or 30 acres.....it's more like a density measure of a certain area....When I say around me I'm cutting about 100-150 acres and calling the doe group concentration of that one spot. Outside of that area the variables needed to hold that many change and you don't see the same numbers. What you would want to doi if you're wanting to maximize the other areas is to replicate the same habitat quantity/quality and food quantity/quality as the area that's holding the higher concentration and spread it out spatially.....also hunting management practices would be considered of course

Put in a crop of soy beans for the summer plots. I think youll see alot better results. They are high in protein.

You dont have to fill feeders and it will be a lot cheaper in the long run, as well as hold deer on you.

My hunting buddy does that on his place and he packs in the deer, and shoots a good one every year.

Wow 9,000 lbs per month ? That’s ~ $1800/month It will make a difference but genetics make a far more significant difference. For that kind of investment I would look at how to influence those first. At that kind of feed and lease investment you can get into some fantastic hunting if you are willing to travel.

Can you guys grow Alfalfa down there? I planted or had planted two alfalfa fields for this purpose. I also have a farmer cut it 2 to 3 times a year and he pays me for the hay. To me it is my food plot to him a hay field

There is a club in Santa Rosa County, Florida, near my house, that has been doing it for years. They kill some giants in an area where we are not known for big deer and antlers.

Trying to control the genetics of a wild deer herd in Alabama is akin to pissing into a strong wind.

Supplemental feeding is very expensive when done correctly. Will cost over $200/deer annually to feed. Keep in mind...
Feed year-round, not seasonally. Bucks, does and fawns can benefit from the energy and nutrition.
Make it available free choice in trough or gravity feeders. Caution...this may turn a mild hog problem into an epidemic.
Maintain 1 feeder per 100 acres
Deer will eat 1.5 - 2 pounds of protein feed per day. Varmints will also eat over and above that. Trapping hogs and raccoons may become a necessity.

Here is a conservative cost estimate to feed on a 1,000-ac property with a herd density of 25 deer/sq mi.
10 free choice feeders (1 per 100 ac). Should be available 24/7/365.
Herd = 39 deer (25/sq mi = 1 deer per 25.6 acres).
Daily consumption = 78 pounds of protein feed. (2 pounds/deer; does not include feed eaten by varmints).
Annual consumption = 28,470 pounds (570 bags)
Annual feed cost = $10,260 (570 bags @ $18 ea.)
Cost/Deer = $263/year not including labor and feed lost to varmints.

My advice is to put your resources into habitat improvements.

Hence the travel comment.

you can cut that $18 a bag price near in half. I pay $10 a bag for Buck Booster by the ton. Changes total from $10,260 to $5,700...pretty big savings.

Genetics is the LAST thing you can change and worry about in a free-range deer herd, so forget about even trying. (See Mississippi State study on Nutrition and Genes... it's all about nutrition!). Supplemental feeding (SF) is just that... it's supplemental. I am so frustrated with my hunting club as they think SF is the answer to our lack of killing 140" mature bucks. We've conquered the mature buck harvest goal as we're killing mature bucks that are 4, 5 yrs old and even older, but our antler scores aren't getting any higher or they've reach a plateau in antler score and we're not happy with our "glass ceiling".

Our property consists of too much mature hardwoods (river bottom and they probably won't ever be cut (flooding) and too much mature pines (we have begged the landowner to cut those mature pines) with waaay too many gum trees growing and waaay too much pine straw on the ground! It's approx 3000+ acres and we basically have very little browse! RE: we don't have enough sunlight reaching the ground!!! Mature tree canopy, gum trees and a thick layer of pine straw!) Our members think that we can overcome our issues with SF. I, personally, would like to burn and do habitat enhancement and fertilize our natural browse, which would be a lot cheaper and I think it would produce more tonnage of food for our wildlife. We do have some recent clearcut but too much of our property is basically, browse free. My members don't see our woods as a browse desert, but it is.

But, SF is sexy!!! Oh it sounds like the answer to our ills!

You'd be much better off burning and fertilizing your nat browse. HOWEVER, if you can do it all, that's even better. But SF takes a lot of money and time and more of it is money.

Regarding letting the bucks mature.... I'm assuming you're already doing that. Sadly, you have some (too many) people that thinks that every 5 yr old buck is going to be a monster, and that's just not the case! As the MSU study points, it's about nutrition, nutrition, nutrition! (Given that you're letting bucks mature AND... does need nutrition too! Good luck! Oh, planting a sufficient acreage of food plots helps... especially if you plant how you should. Green doesn't mean good (rye grass "looks" great, but don't be fooled) and the best thing I've found is planting clovers that explode in the early spring.

As in most of life’s decisions, the best way for a man to make a wise decision is to ask other men who have been highly successful in fulfilling their own identical goal that you own, by the same means to which you are questioning them. Too philosophical maybe, but proven. Here are are a few bullet point facts that are indisputable concerning supplemental feeding:

- HIGH protein feed, such as roasted soybeans, (up to 46%), allows the average daily protein intake from browse, summer plots, etc. to be substantiated to the optimum level of the needed 18%. (See recent Mississippi State study from deer taken from their three regions of the state.)

- Free choice feeders reduce and nearly eliminate wasted feed, time, and ultimately cash.

- A complete management plan with nearly all of the aforementioned methods is best. Roasted soybeans .23/lb. bulk! (Genetic manipulation by culling in a free-range herd is an effort in futility. See articles written on the King Ranch in Texas.)


An “Alabama specific” short story may bring some here to believing. I will focus on another man’s successes here, though the story involves me personally as a witness. About three years ago a distant friend of mine killed a fantastic deer in one of our “red dirt” counties in east Alabama. Without naming the county, to completely protect this individual’s identity, it is a county with very few entries in the “Alabama Whitetail Records”. I had previously owned his farm for about fifteen years. It was a big enough farm to manage and I did my absolute best in total land/deer management, or so I thought. The largest deer we ever put eyes on with game cams or in-person was MAYBE 130”. Riding back toward the house from taking a few newbies hunting that last day of the season in 2018, we were dropped their does off at the processor. Stepping up to the pile of last-day deer and dropping our tail-gate, I looked down to see one of the largest racked bucks I had ever seen come from the area. I recognized the name on the tag and got the entire 411 from the processor. The deer’s antlers had some perfectly recognizable unique features that I had only seen from my old farm, so I knew the story was legitimate. I took some pictures and did some rough scoring. I figured him to be in the high 150’s. I waited a few days and then texted my friend and asked if it would be okay to call him and pick his brain about his management program. He agreed, I called, and the first words out of my mouth were “where on the farm did you kill him?” He had killed him in one of my old plots, which I had created from a jungle clear-cut years ago. We discussed various points such as the size of the racks at the time he had bought my farm, body weights, farm changes, etc. “What made all the difference on this deer”, I thought. Before we could get to the subject of his recent kill, which had 11 scorable, he told me he had a larger one on camera that was only an 8. I asked, “better scoring deer?” He said, “most definitely!” The one he had just killed scored 164+” and was all I would ever want in an Alabama buck, but he had one larger on film?!! His secret and what I had missed all those years was supplemental feed in free-choice feeders. He told me that it took four years to get those results. He also plants spring/summer plots, uses 30-06 mineral, practices QDM, the whole mix; just as I had. I wish that I had known then what I know now, right? I have been using his feeding program advice for several years now and the pay-off is here. Good luck to all of y’all this season. Grow ‘em big!