Feeder or no feeder

[Triple 7]

To all of the East Texas hunters. I got on a new lease here in Nacogdoches. I have never had much luck with a feeder in east Texas. I am thinking about just hand Corning when I go out there. I am gonna do a food plot and a pile of rice bran. Am I making a mistake not using a feeder?

[bryan sandlin]

you will get a lot of wildlife if you set up a feeder. well worth it.

[kruppa24]

I would put up a feeder and hand corn away from it. This way you hold deer in the area all the time.

[txhunter007]

Use a feeder

[sqiggy]

Early season, best bet is fine the food source. Find that right oak tree and you won't even think about a feeder.

[Low Fence]

You ain’t missing anything but hogs and coons. I now only run one away from where I hunt. It’s there for hogs only. It’s like a “pay off” and seems to be working. Give them their area and they seem to leave my plots alone and I can hand corn when needed and deer seem to get 99% vs 2% at feeder.... and those are doe fawn and sub 2.5 bucks

My EAST TEXAS deer hunting has improved 100x since leaving the feeders. It’s honestly the best thing I’ve done. I still hunt corn on occasion but it’s hand corn or food plots if I’m hunting a food source

[Drycreek3189]

You ain’t missing anything but hogs and coons. I now only run one away from where I hunt. It’s there for hogs only. It’s like a “pay off” and seems to be working. Give them their area and they seem to leave my plots alone and I can hand corn when needed and deer seem to get 99% vs 2% at feeder.... and those are doe fawn and sub 2.5 bucks

My EAST TEXAS deer hunting has improved 100x since leaving the feeders. It’s honestly the best thing I’ve done. I still hunt corn on occasion but it’s hand corn or food plots if I’m hunting a food source

I'm with this, but most of my hunting is an hour away and I just can't make that happen three days a week. Best I could do to thwart the hogs is fence mine. Hogs hardly ever come around them now.

[Sleepy]

Never ran them really. I’ve always focused more on natural deer movement through certain areas. However, this year we are trying a different tactic with protein feeders feeding corn in pens. We won’t hunt them, but they will be there to possibly hold deer in the area and create movement throughout the property. We’ll see how that tactic works out this year.

[Native Texan]

Early season, best bet is fine the food source. Find that right oak tree and you won't even think about a feeder.

Yep. I'm on a lease with 13 guys that have fallen into the feeder rut. I hunt mostly white oaks and see more deer in one sit than the 13 others combined see all weekend.

Still have a feeder up for hogs and late season does.

[Antlers86]

Hand corn hand corn hand corn! I have feeders just for a little extra something on the place to hold deer. They do get hit but mature bucks stay back. Pour hand corn and every deer I have hits it. If your hunting over the spot then no feeder IMO.

[AntlerCollector]

I like to use a feeder the deer can't see. What I mean is a 6.5 gallon bucket pulled up in a tree with a long rope. I throw a line over a limb, and pull the feeder up about 20'. I set it to throw 2-3 seconds only, and only in the morning. This helps keeps the hogs away. Deer will find it, and usually have the corn cleaned up before dark. The feeder will last about 10 days or so before running out. This will keep deer close by. You can hand corn also when you are actually hunting. I have had a lot of success with this set up. Bucks will feed under it that normally won't go near a feeder. I also do good just hunting game trails between food sources and bedding areas. I will hand corn those places just to get the deer to stop. It takes time and scouting to find spots like that. If you just got on the lease then I would suggest a feeder high up, and out of sight. Learn the lease and pattern the deer to ambush them next season.

[flywise]

Hand corn is all you need.
I go to my in laws place 1200 acres just outside Nac 1 or 2 weekends a year. They don't have feeders and I don't use feeders. We hand corn and have plenty of targets to choose from.

[AntlerCollector]

This guy was a regular visitor last season under my bucket feeder. If you do it right they will never know it's there.






The bucket is doing the hand corning when you're not there!

[Rubi513]

I have hunted East Texas my whole life. I have never killed a good deer under a feeder in East TX.
I am a firm believer in hand corn.
However, I do still have feeders. I just don’t hunt over them. I use it more to keep the doe around.

[SwineAssassiN]

This guy was a regular visitor last season under my bucket feeder. If you do it right they will never know it's there.






The bucket is doing the hand corning when you're not there!

Yessir I’m with you on this. I’ve found using a bucket feeder 12ft up on a tree limb really works good for bucks. They don’t even know it’s there. I’ve been doing this for 6 years now.