I have been on my current low fenced Harper deer lease since 1990. We are about 600 acres with 4 paid hunters but very family friendly with most wives also hunting but allegedly off the paid hunters tags. Our size and numbers seems to cycle a bit every year. We are surrounded by mainly farm land that is lightly hunted. I am trying to discuss with my land owner the possibility of putting in a nicely fenced protein sanctuary in a non hunted area. We do not currently feed year round do to sheep on the land during non hunting times. This area would be between my two stands but preferably in a non hunted location. My thoughts are to feed from season end till September when we start feeding the stand feeders. Does anyone do anything similar and any advise on equipment and protein selection.
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If you want to add 50" every year you should get DD! -
DD?Comment
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I don't know that I understand the "sanctuary" part since we hunt all of our protein stations. We feed year-round but we do throttle back during hunting season. So, you're going to train your deer to feed at one location, then cut them off and hope they come to your corn feeders. Not saying that won't work. But, if it were me, I'd have my protein feeders in close proximity to my corn feeders. JMO
As for number of feeders, think about it - if you have a deer per 10 acres, you have 60 mouths to feed and do you think that 60 deer will have a chance to get their share at ONE feeder? Probably not. One feeder per 150 - 200 acres is more realistic. Of course, you know better than me what your deer density is. That was just an example.
As for goals, what is your goal? How many deer are you feeding? Can you afford free choice or will you be on a budget? A deer will eat 2-4 pounds of protein a day. Do the math. 60 deer will eat a ton a month easily...at least where I hunt. If you're on a budget, you'll need to think about how to ration your feed with a timed feeder of some sort.
As for feeder capacity, go large if you're going to feed much. Fuel is also a part of feeding expenses, so a large feeder will actually save you fuel between feeder fill-ups. Pearland to Harper is a bit of a hike.
As for protein selection, go with a proven brand 20% pellet that is convenient for you to pick up.
Hit me up if you want more of my opinion and how I feed.Comment
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wait, you believe in chemtrails and government assassinations but don't believe the DD hype?Originally posted by BBBGP View PostComment
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Hammer63, I read an article on sanctuaries was my reasoning on a non feeder location.. i have about a 100 acres I hunt that is kinda separate from the others.. My hope was to pull more my way since I am seeing less deer than the other 3 hunters.. They are not wanting to participate so my plan was to place in close proximity to my feeders with hopes that when we begin feeding they will naturally gravitate to my feeders. If that seems strange I am not opposed to basically fencing in near my feeder and putting the protein there. In the past I have been able to give the ranch owner a little cash and he has a helper put the protein in for meComment
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Truth be told, I asked a question about chemtrails, Never mentioned government assassinations unless your talking about Wheeler. Also, I do think DD works well but have no first hand experience.Originally posted by jshouse View Post
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Not saying that a sanctuary would be wrong if that's what you want to do. I wouldn't be a bit surprised for you to draw in more deer with a protein feeder. Very important - make pen large enough for deer to feel comfortable in it. My smaller feed pen is 15 panels and my large one is 23 panels. I've had as many as 23 bucks and 12 does in the larger one at once, never as many in the smaller pen.Originally posted by xtrm-hunter View PostComment
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If nobody else is feeding free choice on your place and you want to see a lot more deer in your area I would give Hammer63 a shout. It's amazing how he trained his deer to come to the his timed protein feeders. I'm sure he can hook you up as well.
Hanmer63 show him the pics of deer in feeder pen waiting at the buffet line.Last edited by RMW; 12-28-2016, 11:40 AM.Comment
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There are actually a lot of guys on our 20K acre low fence lease that use the same device as me and have the same results as me...lots of TBH'ers.Originally posted by RMW View PostIf nobody else is feeding free choice on your place and you want to see a lot more deer in your area I would give Hammer63 a shout. It's amazing how he trained his deer to come to the his timed protein feeders. I'm sure he can hook you up as well.
Hanmer63 show him the pics of deer in feeder pen waiting at the buffet line.
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I would just feed heavier than your leasemates. Lot's of alfalfa, blocks, corn etc.Comment
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I've been feeding protein on small low fence central texas places for 10 years with good success. Here's my "long-story-short" advice based on my experience:Originally posted by xtrm-hunter View Post
1. Feed protein year round. If you shut it off during the season, the deer/bucks will disperse as you've forced them to alter their feeding pattern.
2. Feeding protein is not for "tight" hunting budgets. I spend about $2k per year in feed for my one protein setup, so know what you're getting into. (we have a lot of deer on our place - your costs might not be that high, but still something to consider)
3. You need to have a big feeder unless someone can fill it weekly - my deer would eat almost 1000lbs a week from one free-choice feeder in the summer.
4. I think the timed protein strategy is definitely the way to go on low fence places or where you're competing with other hunters. If you run protein only during the hunting or daylight hours, the deer learn when the protein is available and hit the feeder during the day, which is to your benefit. If you run free choice, the bucks can "go nocturnal" and just hit the protein at night (and then potentially hang out closer to another hunter's setup during the hunting hours). That's "feeding the neighbor's deer". Also your loss to coons will be a lot less, you can ration the protein to meet your time/budget, etc. running timed. I'll link a thread with more info.
5. If you go with a timed protein feeder (like the ones Hammer63, Krivoman, or others make), put it in the same setup as a corn feeder. It will most likely be an awesome setup to hunt, and you will have the benefit of two feeders there, so that in case one is empty when you go out to hunt, there is a chance the other isn't, so you don't have a disappointing hunt. Also, there is a beneficial dynamic created by having a timed protein and corn spinner in the same setup, discussed in other threads.
Here's my "long story", FYI:
http://discussions.texasbowhunter.co...1&postcount=71
Here's what it looks like when the deer are waiting for the timed unit to open at my setup in August-September:
here's a video
[ame="http://vimeo.com/190190795"]https://vimeo.com/190190795[/ame]Comment
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advice on protein sanctuary
My previous post made me think of the buck I shot this year. I had a lot of time watching him this summer/fall/winter. He liked to bed down on my neighbors property, and I saw him running does over there mid-day during the rut as well, but he very regularly came by my timed protein feeder / corn spinner setup first thing in the mornings. So in some ways, he was more "my neighbor's deer", but I had lots of hunting opportunities at him because his pattern included hitting my timed protein setup.
I hunted most of the season for an ancient buck that was really going downhill fast, but the last trailcam pic of him was the week before archery season, and we haven't seen him since, either someone else got him or he laid down and died. Either way, I had my 6 year old with me on thanksgiving weekend and decided to take this guy, made my little girl's day!
Last edited by 686; 12-28-2016, 04:18 PM.Comment
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I do think sanctuaries are good idea... We have what I would call two areas that would qualify.. No hunting and nobody goes into hardly ever. Deer need a safe place. Personally I wouldn't hunt over my protein feeder.Comment
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