What can I do to attract more bucks and keep them around?

[GarGuy]

I swore I wouldn't partake in all the vanilla hype when it started. I might do it next weekend for your humor haha

Im not trying to hype vanilla. Just trying to help. I have four feeders running right now with lots of does and a few yearling bucks. I have four vanilla corn piles out within 400 yds. I have over 20 different mature bucks coming to those regularly. Not one of those bucks are on the feeder cameras.

[muzzlebrake]

Will you humor me a little? Pick one of the trails into your woods. They sound perfect for a sanctuary. Put up a camera facing into the thicket very near the edge. Put out 50lbs of corn right in front of the camera and then spray it with a spray bottle filled with 1/3 vanilla and 2/3 water. Spray it pretty heavy and just leave it alone for a week before you check it. Just humor me.... I would bet you have bucks on camera you didnt know existed.

I have done this and saw bucks on camera that never ever visited a feeder.

[goose48]

Early season food plots help keep bucks around, also, if you have places to do that and enough water to get them going.

[muzzlebrake]

I've been hunting a chum line well away from my feeder and any camera and am seeing different bucks every time I go out. Most mature bucks on our place stay away from the feeders and if they do visit it's at night right around midnight.

[ultralite09]

Im not trying to hype vanilla. Just trying to help. I have four feeders running right now with lots of does and a few yearling bucks. I have four vanilla corn piles out within 400 yds. I have over 20 different mature bucks coming to those regularly. Not one of those bucks are on the feeder cameras.

I've been hunting a chum line well away from my feeder and any camera and am seeing different bucks every time I go out. Most mature bucks on our place stay away from the feeders and if they do visit it's at night right around midnight.

I greatly appreciate it! Gonna give it a whirl, i already have a camera up on a trail that had a bunch of rubs and scrapes along it, its been out all season. Gonna dump some corn on it with vanilla and see what happens.

[lovemylegacy]

Protein is a very small part. Use a part of your property as a sanctuary, cut it, increase your natural browse, increase places for them to drink, have at least 3 mineral sights. Give the deer every reason to stay. Just remember, the money you spend on protein can really be used more beneficially somewhere else. Food plots is one way to accomplish that.

[Capt.Bryan]

I fed protein and corn all summer and fall. I had small bucks and tons of does on my little 12 acres of heaven. Once deer season started and the rut activity picked up my numbers of deer fell off. I could see the deer out in neighbors pastures but they wouldn't come home. So week before thanksgiving I started filling my protein feeder back up and hand corning with the vanilla corn knowing the acorns and browse were getting slim. Bingo mature bucks started piling in. Had 14 bucks in the yard in one afternoon.

Also if you only have one set up they are likely patterning you and staying clear of the area. Once your scent has drifted through their bedding location you are done for the season in that blind. Being on smaller plots of land you really have to pay attention to the wind and know where the deer are bedded before approaching. I witnessed what garguy called the corner effect in his thread on "pressured deer are easy to pattern", in fact next to my house is a 40 acre pasture and when I walk out on the porch and see what direction the wind is blowing it pretty much tells me what corner of the field the deer will be coming out from. Also when the wind direction changes I can step out on the porch and watch them move around the edge of the field and reposition themselves no matter what time of day. If you are approaching your stand in the mornings from an open wheat field I would believe you are blowing all the deer in the field out and letting them know your location. What the vanilla corn does is lay down a nice cover scent in the area allowing you to also use the same spray bottle to spray yourself down before approaching your stand location.

[JW]

What can I do to attract more bucks and keep them around?

Only feed "buck" corn. [emoji12]


Like GarGuy said. A sanctuary is critical to what you are trying to do.

[Swampa]

Make your feed pen like a Chinese buffet! Little bit of everything. Cotton seed, protein, corn, mineral blocks, etc

[CoolArrow]

Interesting stuff. Always learn something new on tbh!
Thanks

[bowhuntertex]

Make your feed pen like a Chinese buffet! Little bit of everything. Cotton seed, protein, corn, mineral blocks, etc

I feed 6 seconds on my corn feeder year round and then weekly year round I put out 1\2 bale of alfalfa, 1 bag horse and mule, 1 deer block, and 1\2 bag of rice bran at every one of my feeders. And then every three months I put out a 20lb bag of mineral lick in 4-5 spots near my feeder but away from the feed pen. I have never been skunked while sitting at either feeder in over 15 years.

[2good2Btru]

Very good info on here

[lovetohunt]

Food plots. Attract as many does as you can and during the season you will have bucks.

[Passthrough]

I'm afraid 160 acres in that part of the world isn't big enough to hold much.

[10132297]

Will you humor me a little? Pick one of the trails into your woods. They sound perfect for a sanctuary. Put up a camera facing into the thicket very near the edge. Put out 50lbs of corn right in front of the camera and then spray it with a spray bottle filled with 1/3 vanilla and 2/3 water. Spray it pretty heavy and just leave it alone for a week before you check it. Just humor me.... I would bet you have bucks on camera you didnt know existed.

........this will work, we use the vanilla made in Mexico because it contains no alcohol...good luck