Hello

What could I try to feed a small group of deer in that comes through my yard about everyday. I live in the middle of a small town.

Something nutritious.

They will eat corn and some apples and bananas. the later I can't get much of. I tried horse sweet feed but they don't eat much of it but maybe I need to give them more time to get used to it.

I'd give them an arrow and then donate the meat to a local homeless shelter. Helping them both from starving to death.

It is a thought

Peanuts, peas and beans. See what you can buy at low cost in your locale.

Hello ForrestB sir

That sounds good thanks

Do you still build custom guns on mauser actions?

Wildlife Artist,

I am trying to figure out the same thing.

There are a couple doe families that visit my back yard quite frequently. I have also found the tracks of several bucks and saw one big fella that had a rack approaching 140 inches. I'd like to have these deer visit enough so that my children can get a chance to see them.

The deer have enjoyed our holiday pumpkins as well as acorns. I am going to try to offer them a more attractive variety of foods...

Firstly, a trip to the local feed store and see what sort of options they have(corn, grain etc.). My neighbors have horses so I am thinking that 'horse carrots' might go over well. Lastly,I am going to try a mineral block I found at Cabela's

Mineral Block

This will likely be enought to get us some regular visitors....

Regards,
Dave

I saw a 6 pt about 15 feet from my front door last night. He is breeding the does we have. we have a very big buck every year working the town. Friends of mine that know what they are talking about have seen some in the 130 to 140 class.

The night before last there where 6 standing about 15 feet from the front door of my taxidermy studio.

Its fun to watch them and how they react to humans. You can learn a lot from that to use while hunting.

Just keep it simple, a salt block and corn. I tried the nutrition route a couple years ago mixing up all kinds of grain, but they like corn, like a kid likes candy, and it's cheap. Around here, they can use the carbs in the cold weather. Also found out they don't like those brown mineral blocks, they like plain white salt blocks best.

Keep feeding the deer and one day, when the rut is on, that six point will put one of them in you. And if that happens don't call the local game warden. Any feeding that attracts wild critters to close proximity with humans is just flat wrong, and I am not talking about birds and squirrels. Pretty soon they become pests, dangerous, or both. Here in Arizona we have idiots feeding bears, javelina and coyotes, and here in arizona we have folks getting bit by bears, coyotes and javelina.

DavidC--I had one of those "rocks" given to me by a friend and I put it out on our lease with a standard livestock salt block about 100 yds away for comparison. Couldn't tell any differnce after about 4-5 months, and they both are still in the same areas.

Feed deer in the yard? Not me--Go on line to the San Antonio Express News paper and search for Hollywood Park Deer. Really a firestorm around here.

prestone

what I do is spend about two days planting a garden water it pull weeds ect.. for a couple of months and then let my wife leave the gate on the deer fence open. fattens them up real quick.

Nosler Partitions, lovingly loaded over some 4831 and delivered with care in the boiler room.

all you need to do here is plant flowers or a garden--- this seems to give them a nice salad bar buffet!

subsonic .22's at night, up close and personal- head shots of course.

Of course, you could import some town bears, to feed the deer to.

Grizz

There are so many deer in town in Charleston, WV, that there is an organized urban bow hunt ... with a limit of 7 per person per year (and they don't count against your state limits)!

So ... Muzzy broadheads are good.

Get some deer protein and mix it 50/50 with corn.

After they eat the mix for a while, you can go to straight protien.

I was going to suggest lead......

Just stop mowing your yard...

Rich

The town where I live has a "no feeding law" for deer. However, I think I know of two places where the residents are feeding deer anyway. One of the places is very close to where a motorcyclist was recently killed in a collision with a deer. My point is that the deer feeding may have contributed to drawing more deer to the area which could be viewed as contributing to the motorcyclist's death. Just a thought.

I use corn and apples they love them both.


If you really want to give them a treat try peanut butter. Not unlike giving it to you dog


Cal30

And some people wonder why towns and cities have Wildlife problems??????? You're not doing anyone a favor by feeding them.

Grizz

Another thread back from the dead....

What a range of responses...I love it!

Best,
Dave

a trail of corn right into the walk-in deep freeze!

we had a very big deer feeding in the girlfriends yard a few years ago, one afternoon a .22 mag barrel came out of the kitchen window........ Later that day we had backstraps......

The first thing anyone wanting to supplementally feed deer or other wildlife needs to do, is contact their state Game and Fish dept.. In some places there are strict laws forbidding such activities.

Wild animals, whatever the species that begin to associate humans with food can and do become dangerous really fast.

Depends on how much you want to spend....

For 21 years I fed the deer in our front yard "All-Breed", a 13% protein mix available at most feed stores. I gave them a 50 pound bag a week. That would feed 7 deer each day, on average.

I watched them have their fawns, watched the does train their fawns in grooming each other, staying when told to by their moms, babysitting for each other, how to safely cross the highway in front of our place, and many other things.

There were bucks I got to know quite well,too. At the turn of the 21st Century, there were two particular Columbian Whitetail bucks born on our front lawn two consecutive years and raised there, about 20-40 feet from the front door. We had a little orchard on the other side of that, between the lawn and the highway, in which they used to lie during the hot hours of the day.

One of those bucks grew to be a 7-pointer (western count...16 pointer eastern count)!! His little brother (one year younger) had one point less each year for the years I watched them. They were both killed by poachers shooting from the road toward our front bedroom, while standing at their water tub about 12 feet from my front door. The same bastards killed my 30-year old Holsteiner warmblood standing in his run at the barn a few weeks later. Gutshot him with a .22 at about 1.20 a.m. one night. He was a great horse...had been a member of the U.S. equestrian team before I gave him a retirement home. He was the most gentle, friendly animal I have known, even though 18+ hands and heavy enough to get his own way if he had wanted. He had competed internationally in both Gran Prix Jumping, and when too old for that, Dressage.

Anyway, All-breed is a good pelletized food for cattle and deer. Most feed storees also have a similar generic food that will be either 11% or 12% protein, for substantially less money. A block of salt, and fresh water each day, are all they need in addition.

BTW, I had never ben able to keep our plants safe until I started feeding the deer. I tried everything else, bloodmeal, sprays, netting, alarm guns, etc. As soon as they started getting food, they layed off the decorative plants, just as if we had signed a contract. Poor animals had just been hungry. And they never ever threatened ANY of us, not once.

(I also fed the valley quail, the wild turkeys, a family of 'coons, a pair of skunks and the elk.) Wish I still lived there with my animal friends. Not one of them ever did ANYTHING unpleasant in my presence, including the skunks, who used to meet me daily at my shop door.

A/C-

The house we lived in before this one, we kinda had a similar arrangement.

The deal was that if you hung out in the back yard, you got a pass during hunting season.

In regards to them eating up a garden, I planted a row of sunflowers once and one night a deer came along and ate all the flowers off them while the plants were still small, no more than a few inches tall. Well the sunflowers still grew to over 7 feet tall, and it was funny seeing this row of towering sunflowers and not one of them actually had a flower.

many states prohibit feeding for good cause, if the deer are starving it is for reason...too many. Wait till one of your kids or friends get one through their car windshield....leave them be.

I live 3 blocks off Main street in the historic section of Fredericksburg, TX. We have 2 creeks that flow thru town. The deer travel up them, we get lots in our yard during fall/winter, they run up & down the street during the rut, one pretty decent 8 pointer last year. Drought hasn't helped either. Lots of folks here have "brush" guards on their vehicles, even saw a Mercedes the other day with one. A deer broadsided a motorcyclist 2 years ago. Neighbors would probably shoot me if I started feeding them.

Deer digestive system changes in winter to less feed and you can over feed them and it can be deadly..I fed a small herd a handfull of alfalfa a day and they did well and they sometimes didn't clean it up..

My bioligest with the Game dept program warned me not to over feed, saying most people meaning well feed deer to death!! ????

A hand full of alfalfa per adult deer works well in cold climates..