Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: sightsee on May 14, 2017, 06:51:00 AM
-
So what do you think mature bucks will come out during daylight to eat in Nov, Dec, Jan?
I'd like to hear your thoughts on natural food sources and also man made type food sources like what plants to plan in a food plot?
Does it change between November and January much?
I'd like to know both so when I hunt out of state I'll know what to look for during a hunt and back home where I have time, I can plant something that will be effective at attracting the deer.
Thanks for your wisdom and I just love getting on this website after work and reading all the info that you folks come up with.
-
My cousin swears by Big Tine 3006 Fortified Feed (http://www.bigtine.com/products/Big-Tine-30-06-40-lbs-p57253558). Not sure if you can or want to hunt over bait. We do not, but we do use it as a supplement for our herd to keep them healthy, to promote antler growth, and to improve the quality of the meat we harvest. According to my cousin, he fed this to his herd for two years straight and harvested a doe that ate it daily (he has cameras on his feeders) that he claimed was marbled like beef.
Will a mature buck come out to eat this in the daytime? In the middle of a field, no. Tucked up in a small clearing in some thick brush, quite possibly. We put it out in established feeding locations and then hunt the trails the deer use to go to the feed/food plots. We also have food plots in the vicinity. Honey Hole food plot mix is a good choice for quick and easy food plots, especially if you don't have the time to invest in plowing and clearing land.
-
Around this neck of the woods.....what ever is available. Food sources around the foothills of the Adirondacks in Dec are bleak. Corn fields that have left some standing, some Oaks and such. Not many plant food plots to any degree.
-
In my area the deer really come in to late persimmons well late in the year. Can't speak to man introduced food plots.
-
Where I hunt, nothing. Slim chance if you find a oak dropping in a thicket but that's about it. Best chance is to find one with a late doe or he's cruising for one. No food source, try and find a good creek crossing or some other funnel and hope you get lucky.
-
If you have privet hedge on your property, deer will feed on it. It is one of the few things that remains green over the winter. If you notice that they are eating cedar, then you will know the food situation is grim.
-
greenbriar
-
What Terry said and honeysuckle
-
For food, like has been said, whatever is going to give them the best nutrition with the least amount of expended energy. What bucks do and eat varies greatly in Early Nov from Dec or Jan. Winter months following the rut when bucks are running low on fat reserves, no matter the food source, is always best in really cold extended periods where it saps too much energy from them to move in the night. They will use less energy to feed during those times, by moving after the warmth of the day in the evening...in order to take advantage and burn less energy. An extended deep cold period right after rut, is something I seriously get excited about. When it happens, and you've done your homework.. bachelor groups of multiple very large bucks yields big dividends, giving you a choice of which one tickles your fancy. Here in Kansas lately, I can't BUY any real cold any more it seems.
-
Whatever they can find since there's usually snow by then. Corn fields get pounded, as well as cedar in the swamps.
-
In the far north deer tend to yard up due to snow. It's not alwYs the food source aa it is the cover. They seek out south facing slopes for warmth and less snow which makes digging easier. Once food sources dry up the will eat bark even though there is little nutrition. They eat the ends off a lot of saplings too.
If there is a logging operation they will move in and feed off the tops of fresh downed trees, even while the chainsaws are still going.
Ag fields like soy and corn that haven't been picked or left a lot behind tend to bring deer in also.
-
Here is it corn and beans maybe alfalfa if still green. Depending on the severity of the winter I've seen them bunch up in groups of 100 or more on a single quarter (160 acre) field.
-
Alfalfa, unless there is snow and then uncut soybeans can be dynamite.
-
Thanks, good info, I wasn't aware of cedar being that edible.
Hope to apply your tips on my next hunt.
-
greenbriar and red oak acorns if there's any left.
-
Japanese honeysuckle, green briar, rye grass, chickweed
-
Where I live in the mountains, that time of year the gun hunters will have pushed the deer into the cover of the thick laurels (the only green cover left on the mountains). They will try to find some of the more acidic acorns that are left like chestnut oak around the edges of said laurel.
-
If your looking to ag crops for food plots or hunting fields you need to see what grows in the area the deer are targeting all year if you plant something they have never seen before they more than likely wont eat it . When they started raising soybeans here it took a couple of years for the deer to start feeding then they really went after them and as soon as they turned yellow they quit now they eat on beans as soon as they emerge and don't care if they are ripe yellow or not they go from the green foliage to the bean. They still don't like editable beans like pintos and black beans. It seems as they always like corn, on the cob or spread out. They eat a great variety and wont gorge on anything . Our state is a giant food plot corn ,beans ,barley, wheat, sunflowers and many other grains they are very fat in the fall but may starve to death in the winter. In Dec. here it is corn .
-
One farmer here has red clover that pops up with fall rains after his last cutting on his grass/weed fields. In thicker patches of the stuff, deer will paw through snow to get at it.
-
If looking to do food plots, get a good paperback book or two on growing food plots. I have one by Ed Spinnazola from Michigan that is very good, because it discusses using hand tools and small plots (no till methods), quad runners and then actual farm equipment. A couple of things to consider, depending on where you're at and climate. First, if you're in need of keeping deer in the area, a larger plot is what you'll need because a small hunting size plot will get grazed over in a week. Two items that hold deer even after snow is sugar beets(hard to grow-need the right soil) and brassica's. Brassica's don't attract deer until the first frost turns the leaves sweet with starch. They'll eat it until it's gone even in snow. Make sure you're getting soil tests and fertilize according to the recommendations of the seed store (the soil test should include what your preferred seed(s) is to plant and they will recommend application amounts of fertilizer and lime. More is not better on seed or fertilizer.
As far as natural food and late season hunting, sometimes it requires boot work. One year we got some early December, light/fluffy snow of about a foot. My normal areas and travel had no deer. I took a many mile hike and found the deer were bedding in a block of thick pines that was about 1/4 mile from a hillside that had beech trees. Beechnuts don't occur every year, but when they do, they're a preferred source. When I walked up on the hillside (which typically doesn't have deer in the fall if no nuts because there's no undergrowth for cover with all the mature trees) it was like a barnyard. Everything was pawed up in a foot of snow. As I said, this doesn't happen every year, so some investigation is in order.
Finally, my best winter spots have good access to them and there's only a few spots I hunt on the family farm in the winter. Deer like to move as little as possible in the cold and when there's a foot to foot and a half of snow. We have a couple of apple orchards that are close to cedar/swamp bedding areas. No more than 200-300 yards. On the trails leading to and from I've got a couple corridors that I can use to sneak in and out of the travel area. You can't be on the food source and you can't be too close to the bedding because you'll spook them coming in or leaving and then they're even more nocturnal. I use ground blinds more in this time frame as well. I can slip out a lot quicker if I'm exiting a ground blind then I can lowering my bow to the ground and climbing down a tree and make much less noise doing so. Deer are super spooking in my neck of the woods right after gun season and with no foliage on the trees and still air of a winter night, sounds are magnified immensely. Also, being on the ground in a popup blind or in a blow down with some wind break is a whole lot warmer than being up in a bare tree with any amount of wind.
Here is one blind that was put into place in early November right at the end of a swale that leads to an apple orchard. I didn't hunt until one month later but it's on an annual exit route when snow flies.
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/shrewshooter/20151206_132231_zpsuumnu263.jpg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/shrewshooter/media/20151206_132231_zpsuumnu263.jpg.html)
Here's some deer in the evening in a transition zone. The beginning of a long narrow apple orchard is about 50 yards from here and wraps around a hill out of sight for a quarter mile. I can drop down out of an orchard plateau that's out of sight so my entry and exit only has about 50 yards of travel where I could alert deer visibly.
(http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/gg617/shrewshooter/creekbottom3_zps675e0e6c.jpg) (http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/shrewshooter/media/creekbottom3_zps675e0e6c.jpg.html)
Here's my daughter walking out with me from the spot with the deer are on the camera. This is above the area where the deer are at and out of site. They don't venture up into this orchard because their is no food there in the winter.
-
Apples work well in Oregon.