Has anyone here ever fed cottonseed instead of protein pellets? I've been reading up on it, and it appears to have some advantages. Higher protein content, rain doesn't affect it, varmints/hogs don't really care for it. Disadvantages are availability and usually have to buy in bulk, cattle will eat it (but they pretty much eat everything), and bucks are sterile while eating it (have to stop feeding it at least 6 weeks before the rut starts).

The feeders I've seen are homemade and easy to make. Take a section of hog wire, wrap it in a circle about 18-24 inches in diameter. Drive a t-post into the group and put the round section of hog wire over it. Pour in the cottonseed and let it fall out. Simple as that.

Anyone have experience with cottonseed?

Also consider corn and and roasted soybeans


The plus is you can use it in your spincast feeders

I used a corn/soybean mix in my spincast feeders last year from March - September. I plan to use that again this year. I know it's better than using straight corn, but I'm not really sure how much extra protein the bucks are getting from that. That's why I'm looking at a protein supplement this year. I have some good deer that could be really nice with a little nutritional help.

Anecdotal only but my experience in feeding cottonseed was with Spanish meat goats. Brought in 10 tons one fall and fed nannies overwinter mid-Nov to May 1. They did well, no problems with them eating it. There was no decrease in kidding rate from the gossypol but I started feeding after the nannies were bred in October. It did not cause any problems with embryo development. Body condition in spring going into green up was excellent so I continued to use it for probably 8 years. I think it is a very good feed and well accepted by animals. Certainly most years it is more economical than any type of pellet and the ease of feeding can't be beat. Other rancher friends had warned they experienced a decrease in breeding with both goats and cattle so I never put it out where billies could get to it. Having said all this I would be wary of feeding it to deer long term. There are studies which show the sterility can be permanent, not temporary, in up to 25% of the group. We had too many dern deer anyway so I figured that might be a plus. Deer certainly ate it well but I never noticed a decrease in population so who knows if the studies are right.

We just started putting cottonseed out this year. Agree with most of what has been posted already, and the plan is to phase in protein in mid July and have the cottonseed gone come mid-August to avoid the sterility issue. I've been putting about 6000lbs/month in protein this year due to the drought, but i know a lot of the loss has come from pigs and raccoons. I'll be interested to see how the cottonseed fares!

I have only found Cotton seed in 50# bags. How many bags would it take to fill up a 8' x 24" feeder? What is the going price? In Victoria they are charging $16.59 / 50# bag.

I can also get roasted soybeans for $24.95 / 50# bag. Is this price about right?

Just getting started in alternative feeds besides corn.

You should not feed corn in hot months. Corn is only 6% protein and is high in carbs. Also in hot months you have the risk of aflatoxins in the gut from corn. Corn is great when they need carbs in cold times. Winter can be corn protein mix. Summer protein only.
I have helped managed 3 large ranches and have used cottonseed for three years. We are stopping the cottonseed and going back to protein pellets 20% for summer months starting this year.
On my own ranch I feed 20% pellets/ corn mix from October to March. Then switch to 20% pellets during hot months.
Also use peas in mix as well.
All used as a supplement. Range management and proper carrying capacity for the range should be your first goal, then use supplemental feeding to develope potential.

What ttha says I much agree. Feeding protein of any type is not the magic bullet. The ranches I was involved with on the cottonseed had to much invested to even take the chance of causing sterile bucks. That is why they have stopped it.
Population densities, age, natural food availabilities of browse, broad leafs, and forbes and proper range management are the key to growing healthy deer.
Supplemental feeding should be just that....."supplemental", not to try and make up for poor management of the range and herds.

Damn i do a ton a month or 70 acres. Starting year 3 right now but definitely positive results

redass1876 said:

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Damn i do a ton a month or 70 acres. Starting year 3 right now but definitely positive results

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That's a lot of feed! I would do a lot more but the logistics of having to drive 4hrs plus and then pick up 2+ tons of feed is not easy. I would love to bump our number up to 4 tons but our genetics are almost tapped and I doubt we would see a 10" difference in bucks unless the average rainfall stays the same as it has the last two years.

Anyone have experience with peanuts/peanut hulls or peanut grass?

We feed Buck Ration soy/corn mix (16% right now). They also have a 22%.

We'll start protein pellets in March - The feed store I buy from is already pushing the 22% but I don't see the need for that now.

Buck ration is great stuff and works fine in the spin feeders. Will convert our larger spin feeders to gravity fed once we move over to protein only

Also - I've had deer come up to the truck and even follow me from a distance just from the odor of buck ration

That's very high. I just paid 230 for a ton at the cotton gin, key is to buy in bulk but at a bagged rate that still seems crazy high to me. I'm not familiar with the Victoria area

Similar price at Mummes. It's always $3-4 more than antlermax a bag.

Have a buddy of mine that manages a property that raises deer. Big deer. He has corn feeders, pellet feeders and also has roasted soybean only feeders. Says that the big bucks will go from one to the next, but his soybean feeder will empty first. Only problem is soybeans are not cheap.

With any free choice feeder the biggest issue is non target animals cleaning it out. Feeding straight roasted soybean is a waste because I think the crude protein is in the low 30's and I've been to been under the impression that's more than deer can absorb

Also any varmint that can eat them WILL so you will be feeding lots of coons and squirrels.

This is where cottonseed really looks good to me as the other animals won't hit it

Our deer stopped eating the cotton seed over the last season for some reason. Seems like the only thing eating it now Is porcupines.

Lots of great information. I appreciate the responses.

Our family ranch is 425 acres located in the Lockhart/Fentress area. We are low fence, but our neighbors are about 600 acres and don't hunt on their property (a number of deer come from their property to our feeders). I'm aware that protein feeding on a low fence property is paying to feed someone else's deer, but luckily we don't have a lot of hunting pressure around us. I think it will still be beneficial to our herd. I haven't had anyone fly the ranch or do a deer study, but based on cameras I have set out, we have 10-12 bucks and probably 20-25 does/yearlings. The county I'm in will only allow you to harvest does during bow season or with a land management permit during rifle season. That limits our harvesting ability. The deer appear to be healthy, although this past year it seemed like our fawn survival rate was low. I just didn't see very many fawns on cameras or while I was in the stand. We had a lot of coyotes this year (much more than usual). I'm not sure if that's impacting the fawns a great deal or not. We run cattle on the property, but they aren't able to get to the feeders.

About 7-8 yrs ago a landowner about 1/2-mile to the south of us had a number of big deer get out of their high fenced property. Nobody in the area ever killed any of those big deer(if they did, they didn't tell anyone), and we've seen the genetics of the herd improve over the last 3-4 yrs. We're starting to see bucks with more width and height to their racks, and in the last year or so I've started to see some better mass to antlers. At this point I want to try to give the bucks that extra nudge to get them from a 130-40 class up to possibly a 150 class deer. We had two deer in particular this year that are in the 3-4 yr old range that we designated as off limits. If we can get a few more years on them with good nutrition, I think they can be really good deer.

I wasn't aware that corn in the hot months wasn't good for deer. I fed corn/soybean last year because I couldn't find soybean only bagged feed. I live in San Antonio, and I was getting the corn/soybean mix in New Braunfels. Does anyone know where I can get soybean only bagged feed in the SA area?

I'm going to head out and get the feeding pen built in a few weeks. I'm still not sure if I'll go cottonseed or straight protein. I may do a little of both and see which one the deer prefer.

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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redass1876 said:

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Damn i do a ton a month or 70 acres. Starting year 3 right now but definitely positive results

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That's a lot of feed! I would do a lot more but the logistics of having to drive 4hrs plus and then pick up 2+ tons of feed is not easy. I would love to bump our number up to 4 tons but our genetics are almost tapped and I doubt we would see a 10" difference in bucks unless the average rainfall stays the same as it has the last two years.

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yeah, they really like to eat. My small place has about 20 regular bucks and 7 doe that show up about daily. Not the largest numbers but can't complain based on the size of my place

This year i'm going to have to start to cull 8pts that are 3.5+. 3 years ago when i bought the place i was lucky to see an 8 and now half are 10pt+ already. Nice seeing what the genetics truly hold. Didn't have good rain the last 1.5 years though so more water could help as well

Good stuff! Always fun watching the deer herd improve.

Sounds like an awesome place to hunt! Low fence feeding is always a risk to feed a buck someone else shoots but same goes with management. Take the leap of faith approach and hope you can convince your neighbors to follow.

In regards to not seeing many fawns, are all of your feeders (cameras) fenced in?

I had a lack of fawns the past couple of years on camera but when I switched to video, I capture a lot more than I thought, scurrying around the pen. Our dawn numbers still haven't been great but better than I expected.... I know you said you didn't see many in person either, just wanted to note my experience.

Our spin cast feeders are not fenced in. We don't have too many issues with hogs or varmints getting the corn before the deer get to it. The cows come up to the feeder and stand around it, but the corn is dispersed enough on the ground that they can't eat it. I have the tripod legs anchored to the ground well, so when then decide to use the feeder legs as scratching posts, it doesn't damage anything. I think the pictures I'm seeing at the feeders account for most of the deer in the area, although I'm sure there are some in the area that I've never seen.

I'm really beginning to think the coyotes are the primary issue with the fawn survival rate. I've seen numerous pictures of coyotes and deer together at the feeder. I've even seen up to 6 coyotes at the feeder at the same time in pictures. I've never seen the coyotes bothering the deer in the pictures. However, I find it hard to believe a coyote wouldn't go after a newborn fawn, or even one that is only a few months old. I plan on spending a few weekends this Spring trying to eradicate as many yotes as possible using my call. I don't make it to the property often enough to use snares.

Regarding feeding pens, I've heard a circular pen is better than a square or rectangle. Any thoughts on the shape and minimum size of a feeding pen? I was thinking about a circular pen with a minimum diameter of 30 ft. Is that too small?

I was blessed with the privileged to have worked with Dr. Inglis of TAMU Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries during my time there on a predator project in south Texas for a semester. In his findings it was determined that predators, specifically coyotes, do very little to effect deer populations if they are kept in check. For a healthy herd, predators play an important part in the balance.
Range conditions, food availability and environment play a much greater roll than predators on fawn crop and survival as long as there is not an overpopulation of the said predators.
Drought conditions, summer heat, and even excessive rainfall and floods can have a great effect on fawn crop/survival.
In most ideal conditions a whitetail doe will have two embryos.......typically one buck and one doe. However if range conditions/food availability, extreme heat or drought or high population densities exist in their range they typically may reabsorb or abort one or both fetuses.
In a continuance of the above, they may give birth to twins or a single fawn but if range conditions decline to poor carrying capacity levels, the doe may actually kick off one or both of her fawns so that she can insure her survival.
Bottom line is, if left alone, mother nature knows what she is doing.
Keeping predator numbers in balance is important for sure and in most instances necessary, but it has also been my experience in managing our ranches as well as others that fawn crop/survival and fawn per doe ratios is much more linked to range conditions/environmental factors than over predation.

Listen to Gunny... he has good advice.

Pen size, read this (posted on here several times) http://counties.agrilife.org/gillespie/files/2013/02/Using-Fences-to-Exclude-Feral-Hogs-from-Wildlife-Feeding-Stations.pdf

There is another study cited in here regarding protein feed pen size. I didn't google it but I am sure you can find it. The bigger you can build it, the better. Use hog panels...

Bulverde Feeds carries buck ration if you're ok with the corn/soy mix.

Thanks for the info about predation and the fencing article. Going to take a look at it in the morning.

I read the article about feeding pens. I'm surprised the 28-inch high fence was completely effective with keeping hogs out. I figured at some point a hog was going to get desperate and lunge/jump/roll over the top of the fence.

We run cattle on our property, so I think the higher the fence the better. I was thinking about using hog or cattle panels. Since hog panels are only 34" tall, do I need to run a strand of barbwire around the top to keep the cows out, or will the hog panels be tall enough to keep them out on their own? I've seen cows do some pretty crazy things when it comes to getting food. The last thing I want is a cow to get stuck in the pen and die due to a lack of water.

Hog panels work very well. Once a pig is big enough and learns the reward for getting into a pen, they're hard to stop unless you kill them.

See recent example below:

I finished the feeding pen a week ago. It is a 40ft circle. I used 48" welded wire (12 ga.) with t-posts spaced at 4'. I setup a cottonseed feeder, filled and overflowed it with cottonseed, then put corn around and near the cottonseed. I checked the setup and the camera this past Friday (5 days after I put the cottonseed out) and nothing has jumped the fence to eat it yet. I saw a few deer on the outside of the fence, but they didn't jump the fence. I sprinkled some more coin outside of the fence very thinly (so the cows can't eat it). The deer in our property have never had to jump into a pen to eat, and it might take them a while to do it. I'm going back in two weeks to check it again. Hopefully by then some of the deer will figure it out.

I did shoot 2 big hogs at my spin-cast feeder last Sunday evening. The small one was about 150 lbs, and the big one was between 250-300 lbs. I'm trying to thin out their herd a little and had no use for them (and none of my friends/family wanted them) so I tied them to my truck and drug them off. When I went back to check my feeding pen on Friday I also drove over to the area where I left the hogs. I expected the hogs to be half eaten, but still very recognizable. They were completely gone. I found the rib cage of the small one about 50 yds away. It was cleaned to the bone. Absolutely no sign of the big hog. I even searched around for about 30 minutes.....nothing. I know I've seen more coyotes this year, but I was amazed at how quickly they devoured those things. The next time I shoot some hogs I might stake them down and put my camera on them. I'm really curious to see how crazy the coyotes get with the dead hogs.

48" sounds tall (?)

Mine is 32" - I used woven/field fence (12.5ga). $129 for a 300' roll

I don't have to worry about cows but so far it's kept the pigs out

texrover91 said:

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48" sounds tall (?)

Mine is 32" - I used woven/field fence (12.5ga). $129 for a 300' roll

I don't have to worry about cows but so far it's kept the pigs out

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While they absolutely can jump that fence, you might cut some spots down a foot or so. If they start jumping it, don't worry.

If they don't, or only a select few do, cutout a 2-3' long and 1' down section. 2-3 spots around the pen should be fine. Monitor from there.

When I got done I thought it might be a little high, but I am really concerned about keeping the cows out. If I don't see any deer activity in the next few weeks, then I'll look at cutting a few sections down 12-16 inches. I'll cut the sections in view of my gamecam so I can see whether the deer are using the cutouts to get in.

I was also thinking about cutouts for fawns. Does anyone put in cutouts below 32 inches to allows fawns to get into the feed pen? By the time fawns drop I should have cottonseed only in the feed pen so I'm not too worried about hogs getting to the pen. I just need to make sure I keep calves and young cows out of the pen.

I went back and checked the cottonseed feeder on Saturday. All of the corn I threw outside of the feed pen was gone. However, it didn't look like anything hit the corn or cottonseed inside the feed pen. I went ahead and cut out three spots in the fence about 3 ft. wide. The fence is now 34 in. high in those three sections. I'm hoping that helps some of the deer feel comfortable jumping into the pen. I didn't see any evidence of the cows trying to get through the fence, so I was pretty comfortable cutting out those three sections.

I pulled the card out of the camera and took it home to view. It had 1600 pictures on it for the week. However, about 1000 of those were due to high grass blowing in the wind. I need to cut that grass down in front of the camera. I did see a number of deer on the outside of the feed pen, including my big and older bucks. I was surprised to see that a number of deer did jump into the pen. They were all bucks, no does.....and they were all of the smaller bucks and spikes. None of my big or older deer jumped into the pen. The small bucks ate a little corn and sniffed around the cottonseed, but it doesn't look like they ate any of the cottonseed. They also didn't stay inside the pen for more than a few minutes each time. It's seems fairly obvious they aren't comfortable with the pen yet. It might be another month or so before they become really comfortable with the feeding pen and the cottonseed.

One other thing I've noticed.....it doesn't look like any bucks have dropped their antlers yet. I even happened to catch two bucks fighting right outside the feed pen inside the view of my camera. If antlers were getting soft I would have expected one of those bucks to drop an antler during that fight. Seems like they should start dropping soon.....we'll see.

Yeah, lowering the panels should help.

Where you located? Our bucks historically drop between 1st week of March - Last of March.