Summer Feeding Program?

[rhine16]

Since everything is getting slow, I thought i'd ask what everyone does to supplement their deer during the spring and summer months. Food Plots? Supplemental Feeding? or nothing?

We have 4 sites set up throughout the farm where we feed Deer Chow.

[Texan_Til_I_Die]

I've got 6 free choice protein feeders out, but with all of the rain and the new plant growth, the deer are barely touching the protein. I fed 7 tons last year during the drought. Hopefully this year's feed bill won't be quite so high.

[wtnhunt]

There is an abundance of food available for deer here now. Got a few perennial plots we are maintaining, spring/summer plots here may not work out this year with the drought. We do put out corn at one of our cams, but it is not a significant amount.

[kidd]

i use the full potential by biologic

[BIG_COUNTRY]

SUMMER, WE PLANT CORN AND SOYBEAN. HERE ARE SOM PICS SO FAR.

http://stonewallsocialclub.com/smf/index.php?topic=311.0

[SaskMan]

Nothing............I just always hope the deer find enough good grub in their natural environment, they seem to.

[MichiganHunter]

I put out 50 pounds of Deer Cane (mineral sup) in 10 diff spots if i had a digital i'd take a pic of the biggest but it's prob 5 feet accrost and about 1 1/5 to maby 2 feet deep and as soon as i put it down there will be fresh prints in it the next day but my hunting prop in 40 minuets away so hard to go check it every day...but i get out one every other week and i'll put another 20 pounds out two weeks before deer season and it will keep the deer comin back to the area.....but the farmers ALL around the 500 acer wood and field i hunt put down enough food

[Doc]

In our area, it is hard to imagine any of the deer suffering from lack of nutrition. I think that if I was into deer feeding, I would probably save my money, time and effort for a more "needy" time of the year.

Doc

[PAstringking]

there is a lot for them to eat right now but i have a mineral lick out along with a clover and chicory field. the mineral lick as seen some action but they havent touched the clover chicory yet. they soon will.

[Sam16]

It is illegal to feed in Illinois due to CWD... but i do plan on planting a couple of plots for the fall. Thats when they seem to need it more anyways.

[Tom2008]

I have been testing out the Deer Cocaine products with the deer in my backyard here in the suburbs. I can't these deer, but I like to get trail camera pictures of them often. They seem to like the liquid mineral that you pour into the ground. I recently boughta time saver mineral blcok by deer Cocaine and I'm just waiting for the minerals to leech into the ground to see how well that works. I noticed a buck that hits my mineral site often had significant growth in his antlers after only 2 days.

[Rhino]

12 of our food plots have been planted in alyce clover and cowpeas. Together they total 23 acres of plots, which is a little less than half the acreage we plant for the fall. Lack of rain for a period had us concerned but we finally got some rain early this week. I'll check them this weekened to see if we lost any during the drought period. We also have 21 mineral licks spread around our club's property.

We also tried a protein feeder to see if deer would use it in our area. We've had mixed reports from others that tried them before. Put one out back in February with a mix of protein and corn and topped it off again in April. We put a trail camera on it and left it there for 4 weeks. 544 pictures of nothing but coons climbing up the legs to feed followed by hogs coming in to clean up behind them. Not one single deer picture. Bummer but at least we have an idea what to expect without going into the expense of buying a number of protein feeders. We will move it to another area and give it another test before we punt on protein feeders.