feeding yet?

[walleyehunter80]

Anyone putting out any types of feed for the bucks to get their energy back from the rut to help them through the winter? Dont have any food plots planted for them yet.

[fr0sty]

No, I just set out some mineral licks a couple weeks back.

[sportfish]

Our food plots are cleaned out by new years . We start feeding corn slowly this time of year with a timed feeder , about 7 seconds in the morning and 15 sec. in the evening . Then in Feb. we turn it up more and by March we set it at 10 sec and 25 seconds . We feed in to april and go through 4000 lbs.

[Musky Buck]

I'd hope in our area the deer are fine, like last winter way mild, if snow depth becomes an issue then we'll feed some but likely not, all the deer I've seen lately though it hasn't been many seem to be in really good shape. It's January 8th and we've plowed/snow blown once. If deer are struggling at all it's their own fault lol.

[B. Amish]

the winter has been about as easy as they get so far for the deer. i wouldn't worry one bit about them right now. they know how to survive without a feeder.

and adding corn unexpectantly to thier diet in the middle of the winter can do more harm than good. they essentially will switch to the corn but they can't digest it and end up starving themselves.

[Musky Buck]

Yo Amish just wondering I've heard that about corn feeding also but the book I was reading last night said feeding forest land deer corn is a huge no no but not to worry about deer in ag areas as they've been eating corn off and on since mid-september and their guts can then handle supplemental corn feeding ? I've noticed the deer in my areas have been digging up corn since that big snowfall ? It's part of their route every night at least for a few hours.

[B. Amish]

deer are browsers by nature. they may be hitting a cornfield but they are also browsing on twigs and anything and everything else.

but they can also be lazy. you give them an easy source of food (feeder of corn unexpectantly), and that might be all they eat. they stop browsing and their gut might not respond to the full on switch to mostly corn.

there is lots of stuff written about this on the internet. but, they need different bacteria in their stomach to digest different food. in the winter, their whole digestive system switches. if they are suddenly exposed to something they aren't used to eating, they will eat it, but that doesn't mean they are able to digest it and absorb the energy from. so yes, they may have a stomach full of corn, but they aren't getting the energy and they end up dead.

[Musky Buck]

Right on, no doubt on the heavy browse route they go on, when I used to live in town they come eat my birdseed 1st which was millet,cracked corn,and black oil seed, then they'd go to the mountain ash berries, then to the cedar trees then back to the birdseed again and they'd make these rounds until the cars kinda would spook them off, they'd also dig for a few acorns under the oaks. They definitely like a mixture and what you said about the corn makes good sense, even the deer hitting corn every night are browsing their way there and back, got a lot of wood cutters behind the barn lately and this is not wintering grounds really but the deer sure made the trip to eat the tops almost like they know the chainsaw is music to their ears.

[walleyehunter80]

Man you would think my deer would get a clue, they are in the corn field every night by the dozen. What would be a better feed for them once the winter gets rough?