Questions on Axis deer

[RiverRat1]

ok I bought 3 blocks. 1 pure salt, 1 brownish red mineral, and one goat feed/mineral. I plan to put them all in the same location to start and see which one the animals hit most.

Also will be placing alfalfa in the same area.

[Tony Pic]

Good luck...Hope it looks like this soon .

[RiverRat1]

I'm halfway there usually have at least 8 at all times minimum.

Hoping to have 10-15 deer, axis, and hogs all in the same hunt..maybe a fallow deer also..Seen one of those about a year ago.

[jmiles95]

our place is low fence and axis are very inconsistent - that is unless range conditions are very poor. then they will hit feed with some regularity. One year we had a sudan hay field my dad had planted that didn't make enough to bale, but was green into August and they were on it like clockwork every night.

they were pretty good at the protein the couple years my brother and i filled it, but still the big bucks scattered once they went into hard antler. Same for some corn feeders they are regular at...once May rolls around, and they are close to their rut, the big boys are hard to pattern.

i haven't tried the sweet feed, but like said above, for sure alfalfa and corn if they are going to come to feed. the greener and more leafy the alfalfa the better, but hard to really pick...you will be at the mercy of the quality your feed store has received. they also make alfalfa pellets that aren't bad.

I have seen the bucks just pass by the feeders on nearby trails when i've been hunting before too - particularly if green. they are just passing by to check for does, not really interested in the feeder sometimes. If you are seeing that many does then it's just a matter of time before you see a good buck moving through if there's one in the area.

We had 3 pretty nice axis bucks regularly visiting a corn feeder Jan-April this year and since mid-April have maybe had 3 times that we got pics of them. Of course I was lucky enough to be hunting by that feeder one of the times we got pics of a good one!! ;-)

[ATXBowhunter]

I see you hunt in San Saba. We are on the South end of San Saba County near Cherokee and Pontotoc. Never seen any in out part of the county...but would love to start seeing some! What part of the county are you?

I also hunt in the same area as you - specifically in Cherokee next to Pontotoc. We have 2,500 acres and have never seen any sign of axis...have seen a few on the side of the road heading south to Llano but that's it. Like you wish they were in the area

[RiverRat1]

ok, I put up 3 blocks. One pure white salt block, one brown mineral block that's mostly salt, and one goat feed block (brown). The deer were all over the goat block right away. In two nights it was around 20% gone.

I also took two 8' pieces of panel and bent them in a "U" maybe closer to a "V" and hung them and filled with alfalfa. About 10 minutes after I hung the first one deer were under it. Any alfalfa I put on the ground was gone by each of the two mornings. They were not reaching up to get it yet. I have it high enough where they will need to get on their back legs to reach it.

Didn't see that axis again. I just hope to get him on camera again at some point.

[In-Yo-Grill]

ok, I put up 3 blocks. One pure white salt block, one brown mineral block that's mostly salt, and one goat feed block (brown). The deer were all over the goat block right away. In two nights it was around 20% gone.

I also took two 8' pieces of panel and bent them in a "U" maybe closer to a "V" and hung them and filled with alfalfa. About 10 minutes after I hung the first one deer were under it. Any alfalfa I put on the ground was gone by each of the two mornings. They were not reaching up to get it yet. I have it high enough where they will need to get on their back legs to reach it.

Didn't see that axis again. I just hope to get him on camera again at some point.

In my experience if it's too high then they won't eat it. I had to cut 12" off of my alfalfa gravity feeder and they started hitting it real hard.

[RiverRat1]

In my experience if it's too high then they won't eat it. I had to cut 12" off of my alfalfa gravity feeder and they started hitting it real hard.

That's fine. If I lower it they will eat it all in one night. If nothing eats it at all I will slowly lower it until they eat some.

I'd prefer the bigger deer or mainly axis to reach it. When they pull some out the others can have some.

And at least I have the smell of alfalfa hanging around now.

[tsnksmith]

I've been told Axis love cotton seed hulls! Has anyone tried it? Not sure the delivery method...

here is the way we feed cotton seed, axis will empty all of it in over a week.



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