Our family has around 500-600 acres. I’ve had one timed 2000lb protein feeder on my portion of the ranch going on 5yrs now. I feed roughly 2-3 tons per year.
Cameras have allowed me to determine how much to throw per feeding. During these past 5yrs my deer numbers have skyrocketed. Does are fat and healthy and twin fawns are not uncommon. This coming year I really need to focus on removing a few doe, they usually get a pass .Our bucks are fairly small and haven’t made much of a jump, but I have noticed young bucks that would normally be spikes would be fork horns, much more young 6 and 8pts and even a couple of 9 and 10s. The past couple of years the bucks have been really young and have gotten a pass from me. Seems like fewer “roaming” bucks come through.
This past year I had several hunts where I’d have 15-20 deer feeding morning and evening. While this may be common for some, just 10-15years ago on this property I was lucky to see more than a couple deer an entire season.
Feeding protein on my place will never produce the quality of animals some people have, but it’s completely changed our deer density. I enjoy feeding our deer and as time has gone on I get just as much enjoyment watching them being silly curious deer as I do putting one in the freezer.
Cameras have allowed me to determine how much to throw per feeding. During these past 5yrs my deer numbers have skyrocketed. Does are fat and healthy and twin fawns are not uncommon. This coming year I really need to focus on removing a few doe, they usually get a pass .Our bucks are fairly small and haven’t made much of a jump, but I have noticed young bucks that would normally be spikes would be fork horns, much more young 6 and 8pts and even a couple of 9 and 10s. The past couple of years the bucks have been really young and have gotten a pass from me. Seems like fewer “roaming” bucks come through.
This past year I had several hunts where I’d have 15-20 deer feeding morning and evening. While this may be common for some, just 10-15years ago on this property I was lucky to see more than a couple deer an entire season.
Feeding protein on my place will never produce the quality of animals some people have, but it’s completely changed our deer density. I enjoy feeding our deer and as time has gone on I get just as much enjoyment watching them being silly curious deer as I do putting one in the freezer.
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