Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Do spin feeders spook deer?

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.