What percentage of deer on a property will show up at a feeder at any given time?

[JMalin]

Have their been any studies on this? I'm sure there are a lot of variables such as range conditions, age structure of the herd, buck/doe ratio, population density, time of year, hunting pressure at feeders, acres per feeder, etc. It would be interesting to see the results on a high fenced place with a known population of deer

[Split Arrow]

Like you said, there are a LOT of variables in play. Our place is high-fenced and I have seen anywhere from 0-20% (estimate) of the herd on a given sit.

[Black Ice]

I hunt 550 acres and I may see 50 deer on two stands in a good evening and 60 to 65 on 3 stands at one time. Only way I can tell I'm not seeing all my deer is that certain bucks are missing lol.

[JMalin]

Like you said, there are a LOT of variables in play. Our place is high-fenced and I have seen anywhere from 0-20% (estimate) of the herd on a given sit.

Did that include coverage at all your feeders? What's your acreage and how many feeders do you have?

[Split Arrow]

Did that include coverage at all your feeders? What's your acreage and how many feeders do you have?

I can't hunt more than one stand at a time!

I imagine that a good number of our deer show up at feeder locations (often located on food plots and other typical gathering spots) during the rut.

[millman]

I was reading thru one of the TAMU studies and was pretty surprised how many deer never came to a feeder. Not that I thought all deer do all the time....just surprised about their findings on how some never come even when they are very close. And then how some only showed from time to time at different areas etc....

We are not HF, but last year I was really surprised to see how many of our deer moved/rotated their location through the year. I plan on paying a lot closer attention this year.

[Bobcat]

Great question. Yes a lot of variables there and one of the most important is range conditions and forage/browse availability. The harder it is to find food the more dependent a deer is going to become to consistently find food at ta a feeder. The only answer to that specific question that I can provide is that during the late fall and winter after cattle have grazed through their habitat the deer have two choices. One to leave the area. Two to use the feeders. In that case your resident deer are going to be consistent visitors or very hungry.

[BanderaCntyAxis]

I have noticed one doe that has given birth to a fawn where the feeder is located. The total acreage is 250 acres and that doe wont let anything come to the feeder in the a.m. As for the axis, they stay located about 50 acres away and don't seem to like the feeder much right now. They were coming in every day but I think it has a lot to do with that doe being protective.

[gonehuntin68]

way to many variables and every property will be different. My place is low fence and 600 acres. I would say only about 50% of the deer hit the feeders. I think the Two main reasons only 50% of the deer hit the feeders are we have lots of pigs and usually plenty of other feed for the deer. Now I hunt another property that is only about 100 acres but loaded with deer and we almost never see a buck that we don't have on game camera. In fact I can only think of one buck in three years that I saw that wasn't on camera at a feeder.

[drop dead fred]

54% bob

[HappyM]

Tough to tell % of visitors when almost impossible to tell how many deer you actually have on the lease. I have seen deer on cameras at feeders that we have never seen from a stand, seen deer at stands that we're never seen on a camera, and have seen deer then have them disappear for a year or 2 and then show back up. We also had one deer that would change feeders if we put a camera up. several years ago my son and I tried to separate out all the bucks we had pics of and compare to our spot light census, way more bucks at feeders on cameras than the census would imply. All that said, my gut tells me a high % of deer will visit a feeder. Some regularly, some occasionally, and some rarely but most will make a stop if nothing else just chasing a doe through the area.

[Jamesl]

The way they kill the protein, I would say all of them show up.

[hammer63]

My deer seem to ALL come to feeders. If a deer eats 2-3 pounds of protein a day and they're eating 100# per day, that would lead me to believe that there are 33-50 deer eating from my 2 feeders on 400 acres. I also imagine that some of these mouths may travel in from beyond this 400 acres or my deer density is way too high.

[GTXHUNTER88]

looking through trail cams vs our estimated herd numbers about 18% of the herd will be on food sites at a given time. Now corning roads probably increases the number. I'd have to check the observation logs but they are at the ranch headquarters and I'm at home with a bum foot...I'll tell you our oldest group of bucks will travel 8miles across the ranch as the crow flies from a feeder to a food plot or other feeder, young doe and 3yr n down bucks do not move nearly as much talking 1-2% actually move feeder to feeder. Mid age bucks seem irregular some like to travel some don't.

[GTXHUNTER88]

I'm only looking at feeders at one side of the ranch vs the other side of the ranch, guess next thing would be to log every deer at every feeder and find the average distance the age groups like to travel.