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How hard are your deer hitting the protein so far?

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    Not hardly at all. I put out 200 pounds of protein back in March and I just ran out. Last year they went thru about 1200 a month.

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      Just got back from down south. Water still standing in the low spots. No pin bones on the cows. They are rolling fat. Deer are fat and shed well and look slick. All the lakes are full and running around the dams. Creeks are full. Oil field is slow and lots of equipment stacked up on 83. Deer may need a little help in July and August if the rain stops and the heat turns up but right now the new pipelines are grown up and providing a lot. Should be great bean crops and tuna crops and the low spots are gonna keep growing. The grass is as high as the hood of my truck in some places and even in some of the feeder pens. Save your money until they need it. Birds and coons are the main visitors and of course the does.

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        A deer breeder in Brady once told me if you want to see deer reach their most potential then feed protein even in the years you don't think you need it. They will eat what they need and if their is something missing in the native vegetation then they will find it in your protein. If you are only having does eat it then you will likely have healthier does and fawns creating a healthier overall heard and higher fawn survival rate. With the flooded Trinity river where one of my leases is I will be lucky if I can even get to my hunting area for at least a month, however I have seen an increase in deer numbers at my house which is 12 acres just about 1/2 mile from the flood area. I put some small troughs out at the house in my yard where I have been throwing hand corn and started putting a little protein out for them. Now when I get home in the mornings I have deer standing at the troughs waiting for me to fill them up again. It took them about 4 days to get them started on it and now they are going through about 15-20 pounds a day. For the last 2 weeks I can pretty much look out and see deer randomly at any time of day. The does are looking healthy which is good because I have 4 with twins and 3 more with single fawns. My wife texted me Friday before dark and said their were 7 does, one small buck and one yearling doe eating 35 yards from the house before dark. I also have a corn feeder set up about 150 yards from the house just to keep deer around and I need to get my camera going to see what bucks are hanging around after dark.

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          All good points and true. We are just in a different situation. We let the deer patterns tell us and the conditions of the pasture as well. When it rains we have horns and they don't eat the protein. When it gets dry they will come back to it.

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            Originally posted by Cull hunter View Post
            Just got back from down south. Water still standing in the low spots. No pin bones on the cows. They are rolling fat. Deer are fat and shed well and look slick. All the lakes are full and running around the dams. Creeks are full. Oil field is slow and lots of equipment stacked up on 83. Deer may need a little help in July and August if the rain stops and the heat turns up but right now the new pipelines are grown up and providing a lot. Should be great bean crops and tuna crops and the low spots are gonna keep growing. The grass is as high as the hood of my truck in some places and even in some of the feeder pens. Save your money until they need it. Birds and coons are the main visitors and of course the does.

            That's great news! Best year in a long time for sure

            Protein has always been considered "rain in a bag" and this year we don't need any rain, yet, but without a 3/4" or more rain event soon we are right back to a normal summer. The bucks, does, and soon to be born fawns need a consistent and reliable source of nutrition for numerous reasons. A late term doe has difficulty moving and will stay close to a reliable food source near water. A mature buck that has grown up with established and consistent feed locations will use them increasingly out of convenience. If the feed is available, they will use it as they need. The full effects of feeding protein take a generation or two (6-12yrs) to see the real results but it has to be there reliably for the deer to eat it.

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              Originally posted by Peyton View Post
              Oh my! That's pretty much double per day. I hope yall have a lot more acres and deer. What does that work out to per deer/day?
              I don't know how many deer per acre are on this ranch exactly. This place is about 14000 acres. We are filling feeders now and under estimated the consumption last month. We have loaded 32 tons into feeders so far and had DF&G deliver us another 15 tons today with several locations left to fill. Every feeder on the ranch has been completely empty! We did not expect to see this. You have been to this ranch a few times Peyton. We are not far from you. South Texas is an awesome place lots of deer, hogs and tons of quail running around this evening!

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                Peyton. Where in carrizo are u I agree we need to help em the next couple months if it doesn't rain again. It looks like the 100 degree days are coming.

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                  Originally posted by Peyton View Post
                  That's great news! Best year in a long time for sure

                  Protein has always been considered "rain in a bag" and this year we don't need any rain, yet, but without a 3/4" or more rain event soon we are right back to a normal summer. The bucks, does, and soon to be born fawns need a consistent and reliable source of nutrition for numerous reasons. A late term doe has difficulty moving and will stay close to a reliable food source near water. A mature buck that has grown up with established and consistent feed locations will use them increasingly out of convenience. If the feed is available, they will use it as they need. The full effects of feeding protein take a generation or two (6-12yrs) to see the real results but it has to be there reliably for the deer to eat it.
                  I agree with most of that but don't agree with it taking that long for protein to make a major impact. Especially out west where I am and on even a "normal" type year it is pretty dry. I think being consistent is big every year but the decade I have heard from a few folks on seeing the results just doesn't seem to add up on any ranches I have managed.

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                    My deer have doubled consumption in the last week.

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                      Originally posted by 8pointer View Post
                      With all this much needed rain, our deer haven't been needing or wanting that much to do with protein. There is plenty of native vegetation for them right now. We are doing a better job of documenting the amount of protein we are putting out on the entire ranch this year. We have been running 10 protein stations since beginning of March. As of today's filling, (2) feeders needed 250-300 lbs, (3) feeders needed 150-175 lbs, (1) less than 50 and the other (4) haven't been touched. We implemented cottonseed this year in addition to protein, but that has been a non-issue considering they haven't hit it much. I know it will for sure pick up late spring early summer. You won't find me or my wallet complaining too much about this rain.

                      What are y'all noticing on your place?? We are in Schleicher county.
                      I put out 3 different mineral locations in Tom Green Co. back the first part of April. When I went and checked them this past weekend they were basically dried up wallows with deer tracks all over them. I loosened up the soil a little and put out some more mineral. We shall see what it looks like in a couple more weeks. Looking GOOD though!!!

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                        In 2014 through June we fed 6.75 tons.
                        YTD for 2015 we are at 11.5 tons.

                        We had a bad fawn crop last year so we laid off the does. Guess I need to get the skinning knife sharp.

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                          We are at 6 tons since January 3rd between 3 feeder. We have seen a massive increase in their consumption in the last month and a half since all of the river bottoms near us have flooded out. Apparently the neighbors deer decided to come to our high ground. The guys on our place were complaining about how much they are eating but I told them I will keep feeding it as much as possible to try and keep some of them on our place. Should be a great year with all the protein and greenery.

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                            Our deer have been hitting the protein hard the last three weeks. We checked cameras last weekend. Some moisture got in the camera so the dates are wrong, but all these pics are from early to late May.















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                              Your place looks great! Looks like you have a double beam working its way out!

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                                Originally posted by KactusKiller View Post
                                Your place looks great! Looks like you have a double beam working its way out!
                                Thanks Jack! We also noticed that the buck in the last 2 pics has a little drop tine growing off his left main beam. I think there are going to be some beautiful bucks on camera for everyone across the state this year. It's gonna be exciting watching the green screen this year!

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