How can I keep deer feeding on my property?
Filed under: Hunting Tactics
I enjoy watching all of your videos and have learned a lot. Behind my house, I have a bedding area, a watering source, and about 2 weeks before season a start putting whole shelled corn out and usually quit at the end of the season. During season they always have a food source (corn) and still travel to other neighbors properties to feed. i was thinking about ways to keep deer coming to me more. The ways I came up with are planting using a bow a season to keep from spooking deer, and planting a year round food source such as clovers. My question to you is what can I do to improve my property and keep deer coming back to me. Also I am wondering what steps I need to take to plant clovers.
God Bless,
Colby
Colby,
Deer require food, cover, and water daily. They tend to use the best of each of these resources within their range that they don’t associate with danger. This means they may pass using some quality resources simply because they’ve associated that area with danger.
Deer are also extremely selective feeders. For example, they will almost always abandon corn, etc., when acorns become available. Are there many oaks in your neighborhood?
Deer often learn to associate bait (corn) with danger if hunters use stands nearby. There are recent research projects that show hunters have lower success rates when hunting near corn than non baited areas because deer rapidly learn to associate such areas with danger.
I recommend you analyze the quality of food, cover, and water on your property compared these resources within the neighborhood and the amount of hunting pressure. I suspect this analysis will provide valuable insight to deer patterns in your area.
Enjoy creation,
grant
