Grain overload on deer. Opinions please.

[Swine]

Need some help from the hunting community to give some input to grain overload on deer.

Close friend who is new to hunting, gathering info and analyzing it... read this article and has a strong opinion on using a feeder year round.

http://www.deer-library.com/artman/publish/printer_65.shtml

My first question is how much corn or grain must a deer digest for this to happen?

 

[dennishoddy]

From what I read, this is a problem for captive deer herds.
My observation of wild deer show that deer eat what they need to eat to survive.
Lots of times, they won't even clean up corn that the feeder has thrown. They will eat a little, and then browse the food plot, or native food sources. The trick to feeders is to only throw enough food for them to clean up on a daily basis.
Excess will just sour on the ground.

 

[Tyson C.]

This reminds me of a reading in the last buck master (or before that one) them talking about how to slowly switch the diet of the deer and what to use. This helps them be able to approach the seasons with proper nutrients and proteins. I will have to dig it up and see if i can't get it on here or something. I found it interesting because i never thought of how important (at the time) a deer’s diet is to it.

Besides i also think like Dennis said, if they are a captive deer they do not have to burn off as much energy to get to a food plot. Your wild deer tend to travel up 1mile or greater at times to get to your plot.

On a side note:
Dennis i don't think you will have a problem with your ground going sour if anyone happen to catch a picture of all his pet raccoons.

 

[Mark Munkres]

I think you would only have a problem if other foods weren't available. Deer are browsers. They feed or nibble on one type of food for a while and move to something else. Twigs, leaves, green grass, bark, acorns, etc.

 

[dennishoddy]

On a side note:
Dennis i don't think you will have a problem with your ground going sour if anyone happen to catch a picture of all his pet raccoons.

Another side note: Talked to the land owner today, and told him about the numbers of coons in the area.
I will be setting out traps in the am, and will be running them for the next two weeks. Also found a beaver den in a remote area while bird hunting last weekend, so they will get some traps as well.

 

[Swine]

Thanks everyone... basically forced him to call Oklahoma wildlife and talk to the actuall people managing in the field. What Mark stated is exactly what Oklahoma wildlife told him.

 

[osugrads]

I would hardly say he forced me to call the osu extention office.

 

[dennishoddy]

Hmmm...I can see a little altercation developing?

 

[osugrads]

Hmmm...I can see a little altercation developing?

We've been friends way to long for that. I will just prove him wrong on someother project.