Growing big horns

[hyperflow]

Im in a location with bairily any deer. I have maybe 5 deer staging up on my property for the winter (northern canada). We use to have lots of deer but they are just starting to move back in the past 5 years or so. Well now i got some on my land. I know there is 1 big buck, 1 spike 1 doe and 1 fawn. There might be other deer that i dont know about but theres not very meny. Im going to feed them alfa bails all winter, with a mix of clover bails and corn here and there. They feed in the big clover field we have all summer long.

I was wondering what else i can feed them or supplement them here to next fall to make them grow bigger horns. Also keep them where i want them.

Another question i got is that them having a good healthy winter does that matter on horn size? or is it just what they eat in the spring time? Here are winters are pretty brutal, we allready have 3 feet of snow or more.

[rhine16]

We feed a protein feed called Deer Chow throughout the spring and summer months.

[Ravin R10 man]

you want huge antlers top dress the corn with a good 2 to 1 mineral all winter long.

[dogdoc]

yep---keep them fat and healthy during the winter then they will spend more energy on horns and not having to rebuild their fat supplies.

[SoybeanMan]

Oneida, do you feel that the mineral mix keeps deer from overeating? I have seen cattle farmers do this in a bunk feeder. Makes sense to me. I keep salt blocks out all winter, but don't know how much they get used. I would say genetics has a lot to do with what potential you have in your area, followed by their diet. I have hunted 3 different regions of our state, one is pine country, hill country with hardwood and pastures, and ag production with hardwoods. The most consitently large deer are in the ag areas. Larger bases and overall inches. Hill country next followed by the pine tree areas. I know there are exceptions to all, but the availability of high quality year round food helps tremendously. This is where food plots help a lot in my opinion.

[TexasDeerHunter]

Corn and grain work well for wintering deer, but to help boost antler growth they will need protein starting early spring thru fall. Corn and other grains do pretty much nothing for the deer other that act as a filler and carb. Mineral and protein sources boost the antlers alond with age and genetics. I would reccomend using food plots high in protein or supplenment from a bag. Be careful and do not pay high prices for bagged protein that claims a high protein level. Studies show that deer can really only effectively breakdown and process about 10 - 12% of the available protein from supplements. Don't pay for bagged goods that cost more and advertise 14% or more protein. All studies show that Age, Nutrition, and Genetics are the three factors that make big bucks, but everyone does not agree on the order. My personal experience says Nutrition, Age, and then Genetics. Also, tests have shown that the previous years nutrition contributes to the current years antler size more than the current nutrition does. What they had last spring and summer will affect next years antlers more than what they have now. It takes about three years to start seeing results ao hang in there and don't get discouraged. Good Luck.

[Leo]

Supplemental feeding is THE way to go IMHO. Food plots are at the same mercy of the weather as every other food source out there. And quite honestly you can't get even close to the same amount of consistent yield with a single plant food plot as you can a supplemental feeding program. Once a single plant food plot is ate up it's gone, end of story. These kinds of plots are nice they attract deer but they are in reality a very short term benefit to the herd.

Consider this. How much corn would you have to grow on your land to equal one 50lb bag of cleaned kernel corn? Or how much hay would you have to grow to equal one full bale of hay? The majority of places I've seen, the entire acreage they have devoted to flood plots on their land isn't even close to enough to produce one bag of corn or one bale of hay. The sad truth is all that money spent and hard off season work on these tiny food plots really doesn't help the herd a whole lot. They can help you harvest a deer but the window of their effectiveness for this kind of aid is typically only a week or two at the most. I mentioned the majority of the places I've seen with food plots are this way because I have indeed seen exceptions. These places have what I refer to as MEGA plots. These MEGA plots aren't practical for the majority of folks who just lease a property to hunt. You need real farming equipment to plant them and they are truly expensive to do. By my definition a MEGA plot just barely qualifies when it's about 20acres in size. To a lot of people that seems ridiculously huge. I have honestly seen MEGA plots as big as 200 acres planted just for deer. Yeah, those dudes had some serious serious cash. They probably spend more on food plots in one year then I have spent on hunting in my life (yes I'm including my recent trip to africa last year). The really big monster plots aren't planted with just one food plant. They are taylored to produce different foods for a couple of months. That takes several different plants, that will grow together to pull off. They have the earlier growing stuff that as it gets eaten gives way to some later growing stuff, and so on and so on. Sometimes the initial growth stuff actually helps protect and prepare the field for the later growth stuff. The fast growing early yield stuff sometimes leaves behind woody stocks the deer don't like while the slower growing and later blooming stuff grows under this "protective" cover. Or sometimes the first growth stuff actually puts nutrients back in the soil the next blooming stuff needs. The soil conditions (ie. PH and fertility) must be exactly right or there will be a major gap in the food plots yield. If you discount the importance of PH and fertility you run the risk of not growing a darn thing except an ulcer in your stomach over all the money you just wasted. It is in reality a very complex thing to keep going. Just throwing out a bag of some mixed "Whitetail Magic" seed blend is a ridiculous joke and waste of money. If you're lucky such "magic" blends typically only produce about 30% of what was in them that could actually grow. The truly sad thing about "magic" blends is that what does end up growing is often just plain old rye grass. It's looks great and green but deer really don't like it a whole lot. If you've used these mixed blends in the past and been successful with them, you're lucky. In spite of marketing hype, they really don't work great everywhere.

Purina Deer chow has Antler Max in it and it really will help grow horns and put weight on the deer. A feeder spitting out this stuff twice a day is more practical and less complicated to keep going. It really makes the most sense for those who have little land to devote to food plots.

IME, deer practically ignore mineral licks in cold weather. If you want them to get the minerals put these out for them while it's still hot outside.

Dicalcium Phosphate is a good mineral supplement for deer. You can usually get the feed grade or fertilizer grade at a Feed Store. DO NOT use the Feed Grade Dicalcium Phosphate for deer, it upsets their stomachs and they won't touch anything that has DiCal in it for quite a while if you make this mistake. Strangely the fertilizer grade stuff doesn't seem to have this effect. Mix two parts water softening salt to one part fertilizer grade Dicalcium Phosphate in a hole and you will have an instant mineral lick. Between 150 and 250yds is about the right distance to put these licks from a water source. Too close and it will get leached out, too far and the deer need to go too far to get water. Don't put licks right out in the open either. Deer like a little security cover.

Hope this helps.

[SoybeanMan]

I agree on the high protein. I plant soybean in the summer and feed soybean in the winter. Soybean is much higher in protein at 36 to 46% depending on the variety, compared to much lower %, more expensive store bought products.

[hyperflow]

Corn and grain work well for wintering deer, but to help boost antler growth they will need protein starting early spring thru fall. Corn and other grains do pretty much nothing for the deer other that act as a filler and carb. Mineral and protein sources boost the antlers alond with age and genetics. I would reccomend using food plots high in protein or supplenment from a bag. Be careful and do not pay high prices for bagged protein that claims a high protein level. Studies show that deer can really only effectively breakdown and process about 10 - 12% of the available protein from supplements. Don't pay for bagged goods that cost more and advertise 14% or more protein. All studies show that Age, Nutrition, and Genetics are the three factors that make big bucks, but everyone does not agree on the order. My personal experience says Nutrition, Age, and then Genetics. Also, tests have shown that the previous years nutrition contributes to the current years antler size more than the current nutrition does. What they had last spring and summer will affect next years antlers more than what they have now. It takes about three years to start seeing results ao hang in there and don't get discouraged. Good Luck.

Are you saying there is no protein value in corn? We feed corn to are cows in the winter because of the protein value in corn. where i hunt shich is about 3 hours from here they wont eat anything in bails unless theres snow. Alpha bails will just rott there. But they will hit the corn full blast.

[Leo]

Corn has some protein value but it is in fact one of the lowest protein content feed grains there is.

[dogdoc]

hyper---i would think that you would feed corn to cows in the winter for the carbs--not the protein. Whole corn only has about 6% protein--not very much. It is a great winter food as the high carbs provide lots of energy and heat during the stress of winter. Like stated it is a very poor warm season food for deer--the deer during the antler/fawning season need a higher protein that you will fine in supplemental feeds or high quality food plots. That is why we really like plants such as soybeans, cowpeas, clover, trefoil, alfalfa, and chicory during this time. In the winter I like to plant several acres of cereal grains such as wheat/rye/oats which will still provide some protein but more importantly the carbs in these cereal grains help the deer handle the stress of winter and rut.

todd

[Ravin R10 man]

beanman...I only feed a limited amouint of corn with alfalfa hay..the mineral I topdress is to replentish the deer's body back to where they need to be to maximize antler growth come spring, putting mineral on the corn insures they eat it..Ive seen remarkable growth since I started doing it

[Ravin R10 man]

started topdressing mineral today...got a ton of small bucks hanging around...

[Buckeyenut]

Oneida,

How many mineral sites would you recommend for 165 acre farm? The farm is in eastern Ohio, if that matters.

Thanks!