Are the gains in feeding fee range worth it? Im not talking high fence or those that have large tracts they manage. Let’s say 40-80 acres. 2-3 feeding stations. How much benefit will be gotten from providing a quality high protein/fat feed through the off season? Natural browse is plentiful now. Can you make a difference?

Imo yes

Wouldn’t even consider during a normal rainfall year

I don’t think it’s worth the money

Natural browse does not have the maximum protein that a deer needs. Yes it looks pretty, and yes it does contain a lot of what deer needs, but if you want to really give the does what they need to produce a great supply of milk and the bucks a lot of protein to help with antler growth then high protein feed can help. It doesn't answer every need, but the good kind with vitamins and minerals added is a great supplement to natural feed. Use 18% to 20% protein feed for best results

by the time Deer season gets here, Corn is going to be 20 dollars a bag. You may want to save up for that! I have a feeling there will be a lot less corn put out this fall.

Everyone will forgo the free choice feeders and just go with spin feeders, and sling just 5 kernels of corn, twice a day. Hunters in this state are addicted to baiting deer. Always have been, long before it was legal.

There’s several native plants with 20-30% protein and feeding small scale on 40-80 acres is not going to produce any noticeable gains. For the money spent on feed on a tract that size you’re far better off improving habitat through TSI and burning. Way way ahead. Deer spend most of their time on native vegetation. Not feed sites.

Great advice - I've always thought that

I used to feed year around. I’ve cut back and will feed protein from about July to September then cut back to rack attack and corn though the season into the spring. It held the deer on my land bucks and does but when the rut came in a lot of the bucks I had living on my property chased a girlfriend onto the club next door and some got shot. After the rut the ones that were left came back home

I fed pretty heavily the last year and a half. After no bucks using the feeder just does and yearlings I didn’t waste the money this year.

Fertilize natural browse

I do feed on our private place. Its a smaller place. I feed the cheapest protein pellet i can find. Generally 13-14% protein for $11 per bag. Have been for years and these deer have become accustomed to the feed being there. I have as many as 9 deer with head in trough at one time and they can go through some pellets!! . Plenty of browse around and some thick cutover, but these deer love this feeder. I feed from time the corn runs out of the spin feeder after deer season until i start running it again in late Sept.

Deer have survived for eons producing fawns drinking milk and bucks growing antlers with the natural browse available around them.

Anything supplemental is merely money spent to make yourself feel good about "doing something" for deer. If that trips your switch to provide something with 20+ percent protein, have at it. They don't need us to help them unless there's some extreme circumstance.

Unless your property is devoid of natural browse, the deer and other wildlife will be fine. The money spent on supplements would be best used on soil testing so you could properly fertilize the native vegetation and increase its yield.

Minerals and supplemental foods are merely easy money for companies to make.

I totally disagree with you, but everyone has an opinion. Many Many studies by people and organizations much smarter than me agree deer do not always get all they need from natural browse. Protein feed and minerals do help improve a deer's health and does help with milk and rack production. Other things like fertilizer and certainly soil samples are important as you pointed out. Green fields with the correct kind of browse is also very helpful in giving the wildlife what they need to grow and be healthy.

I agree with a lot of what has been said. I’m more of a good food plot guy, I like spin feeders to keep the deer near by. To get them to eat on the fields. My feeders drop a minimal amount of corn daily at noon. I’m sure there are benefits with feeding, but my question is how much does it really make? I sort of agree a lot with what Clem said. I guess what I’m getting at is this.

If you use quality feed in a free range situation, are the gains noticeable? If you put feed out, in a years time. Do you go from 100 class deer to 120 class? Are mortality rates improved? Can you sustain a larger herd? Deer have done pretty good for thousands of years without us. I know there are benefits, but are they that noticeable? Can you truly get enough quality feed to see a difference? If so, what is the threshold? 10lbs per feeder per week, or 1000lbs? I focus on year round plots. I have couple mineral licks. I might buy a bag or two of protein feed here or there over the course of a year. Mainly to change things up. See what they like and don’t like, but what would it take to make a noticeable difference?

I don't see much gain or benefit in supplemental feeding during the offseason for small properties. I feel like if you don't have enough property to keep deer that you're just pissing your money away. Even then, to do it right you will need some VERY deep pockets to correctly establish a 12 month program. After about two years or so of dumping all those funds into it, your gains will most likely still be very meniscal. Now instead take that money and invest it into bettering the native habitat and getting your food plots right. That is where you will reap the most return on investment.

Supplemental feeding and minerals are nothing more than ways for someone to make money.

They're unnecessary in normal settings. In a setting with a deficit, they can help.

It's fun to put out something and see what wildlife does via camera. I put out some white salt each summer. I don't hunt over bait or anything else but it's neat to see the deer drop by a salt lick. I don't have the money nor the inclination to do anything more. The deer I see on my cameras are healthy.

The people doing the studies about natural browse also are being "sponsored" by them. Many who write stories for pay or work for magazines and sites have a financial stake via advertising. There always is a financial stake somewhere down the line. Deer survived forever without Buck Nasty Antler-Blaster RackMaker feed-seed-mineral stuff.

In a normal setting with normal vegetation, deer and other wildlife have survived forever and will survive without mankind doing anything "helpful."

But, whatever floats the boat.


fr8 -- I've considered what you've asked, "how much of a difference," on my current small turf. I honestly don't think that throwing $$$$ into protein would help them significantly. By significantly, I mean going from "Hey, nice buck!" to "OMG, what a BUCK!!!" or even anything in-between. If so, I'd have done it. But now you have my curiosity up and I may try just for the hell of it as a test.

If the controls are there, like high fencing, the results are huge. I like having good palatable plots. That’s sort of my thing. I personally think trigger control is a better management tool for big bucks than lots of protein. That’s my main managerial practice. Selective harvest. Dead little deer don’t make live big deer. I realize every bodies circumstances are different. There is not a one and done perfect plan. I’m just curious. I want to do the best that I can for my deer and game in general. Other than the novelty of a preferred feed, I don’t see where an average person can make a difference. I’m sure it helps, I’m just curious on how much it does.

I am ready for Aug-sept to take some inventory from the camera

Think I got to go to a spinner at least on one of my leases - buffet style too expensive - prob want start till late sept in Clarke feeding - had my minerals out for months

I letting Mother Nature and thinned timber feed in Clarke - lot of green