Having a debate with a buddy whose land we hunt in Crockett, TX. Around 250 acres.

He is saying it's not worth it to run a deer feeder the whole year and we should only run them August-January.

I think we should run them year round and decrease how much corn it throws during the off season.

The neighbors do hunt and we believe they shoot anything with 4 legs. Legal and illegal...

Thoughts?

TIA

I wouldn't run all your feeders year round, but leaving a couple running year round is a good thing. Does it necessarily hold the deer on your 250 ac. property? No, but it does help keeping deer coming back which will increase your odds come hunting season.

Just decrease the time to run for 1-2 seconds. It's better for the motors too if they run regularly.

I decrease the time they spin for but do keep them running just because I think that's one less change for the deer come hunting season.

I want to run mine year round, but too lazy to fight the mud to go refill them.

Ideally I'd run very little corn from March through September and primarily feed protein during those months, supplementing with corn in the colder months where the carbs are better for the deer and you don't have the concern with aflatoxins that you do during the hot months.

I just refilled mine and lowered the time from 5 sec. spin to 3sec spin. Says it will last 65ish days.

Habituation is real.
Yes do it.
Add deer cane at the sucker pile. Incredibly effective.

FSGuide said:

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I run my hog feeders year round and then Nov-Jan I shoot some deer near them.

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this

Turn them down to 2-3 seconds each morning and the cost is minimal.

Year round. Hogs!

I just reset mine for the spring/summer season for 2 seconds in the evening. If they run out of corn, no worries but I prefer to keep them semi-active.

AggieFabricator said:

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What's giddings say?

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Thinking over the fire with Busch Lite.

We do run our feeders year around and don't lower the amount of time we feed.
We only use corn at about 50/50 from October till February due to supplementing some carbs. Rest of the year (warm and hot months) we feed either straight 20% protein or protein/ peas mix as peas have about 16-18% protein. We also feed about 5% milo year around in the mixes for turkey.
Straight corn should never be fed in warm to hot months and other than supplying carbs when needed corn is barely 6% protein at best.

Realizing that deer "feeders" is the accepted term...a 2 second motor run is definitely not feeding your deer (who share the "2 second" corn with coons, squirrels, crows, hogs, doves, etc).

The motor spin rate isn't always a good measure on the amount of corn you're throwing. Motor type, power (6V/12V), type of spinner plate and the gap between spinner plate and funnel, all impact how much is thrown per second.

I have feeders that throw for 4-5 seconds, twice a day and blow through 300lbs in 6 weeks. Others at 8-10, twice a day that throw the same exact amount. If you have a spintec feeder, 30 seconds = maybe 3 of a normal feeder. Those things suck...

Feed them, and they will come

We always run year round.

I feed corn from September to February, then move to protein post-rut through the summer

We run year-round. Why not get them used to coming to that specific spot on a regular basis? Then again, I don't have to pay for the corn, so it's easy for me to say.

Out in Far West Texas, I run them year round and have a water guzzler for supplemental water. Best way to keep the critters around.

dave99ag said:

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Out in Far West Texas, I run them year round and have a water guzzler for supplemental water. Best way to keep the critters around.

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For some reason, your post made me think of this...




Anyway, carry on.