"Deer Maintenance"
Question:
>>As long as you’re not hunting while it’s out, you couldn’t find a better
attractant than corn. Cracked corn will last longer. Be sure to move your bait site around to avoid bringing the deer to the same place all the time. This will help avoid spreading disease in the herd. Gawd don’t let me sound like I’m criticizing baiting on any ethical, moral or biological grounds, because I truly don’t feel that way. But on purely aesthetic grounds, wouldn’t it be much more satisfying to put that money into food plots that benefit the deer and other critters year round, rather than into a pile of corn on the ground? Not really a criticism, JMHO. Steve Jones
Response:
>….Kinda like hunting > with a camera. What should I do to feed/attract deer. The only thing > that I have done is spread about a hundred pounds of corn (hey, that > stuff is really cheap!). Any other ideas, the fields aren’t used for > much other than space. Thanks > Vince Woods
As long as you’re not hunting while it’s out, you couldn’t find a better attractant than corn. Cracked corn will last longer. Be sure to move your bait site around to avoid bringing the deer to the same place all the time. This will help avoid spreading disease in the herd. If you want to plant something to attract them in the summer, try ladino clover. Plant it along your timber edge in a strip 50 – 60 feet wide. Be sure to mow it when about 1/3 to 1/2 of the patch has flowered. You want it putting its’ energy into vegetative growth rather than flowers. Do this as often as it tries to flower. If you are looking for some good winter cover to supplement your timber, plant switchgrass. Check with you Wildlife Department or Extension Service to find out which cultivar is best. A good source for seed and advice about planting and suitable cultivars is John Osenbaugh of Osenbaugh Grass Seed in Lucas, Iowa. His phone number is 800/LUCAS-88. By the way, switchgrass is also excellent winter cover for a wide variety of grassland birds. If you plant this, be patient and follow John’s advice. It typically takes 2 – 3 years to get established but is worth the wait! Rifle Association (www.prairienet.org/isra), The Wildlife Society, USPSA/IPSC THIS year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future! Adolf Hitler – April 15, 1935 THOSE who trade essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin FIREARMS stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence…A free people ought to be armed. George Washington – January 7, 1790 Illegitimi Non Carborundum
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Hello all, > I am a North Carolinian and recently discovered a large amount > of deer on my property. I have about 200 acres of mostly woods and > streams. I found out my neighbors were hunting there (with out my > permission) and asked them to stop. That went just fine but I > discovered that I had a bunch of Stands and I absolutely loved to go > out and hunt. I have since spent a lot of time in the stands and seen > quite a few deer. Now I was wondering what I could do to really > attract more. Since its out of season, I am just as happy to go out > there and photograph the deer or other animals. Kinda like hunting > with a camera. What should I do to feed/attract deer. The only thing > that I have done is spread about a hundred pounds of corn (hey, that > stuff is really cheap!). Any other ideas, the fields aren’t used for > much other than space. Thanks > Vince Woods
I would put up a salt lick. My grandpa had one one his farm, & you could sneak out there and watch the deer almost every night of the week. And if you are not using the fields for crops at all, you could do worse than to plant some alfalfa. They seem to adore the stuff, much to the chagrin of the sheepherders up in the northern part of my state (CA)…. have heard them bitch about it no end. If the alfalfa will not take, see if barley will grow there. It is a hardy plant & should do OK. Also, deer which feed on grains of this sort are fat & flavorful. A couple hundred acres with some nice deep blue alfalfa AND a salt lick would pretty much be deer nirvana. Only way you could improve on it is if you had a creek running through the place.
