Protein Question

[MIHunter]

Sorta new to feeding regularly. Been on a lease for a year now, and have been feeding both corn and protein year round so far. I cut back on the corn from March till now but was still throwing 1x a day.

My question is, for those who have done this for a while, do you stick with 1 brand of protein, or just use what you can find? I haven't been picky, just using what I find. Talked with the guys from Double Down Feed at the Hunters Extravaganza, and they got me thinking. They said whatever brand you use, try to stick with the same brand.

Thoughts?

Who has used Double Down, and could you see a difference in using it?

I also started feeding fortified cottonseed early this summer as well, and the deer are hammering it. I'm sure the lack of rainfall helped in pushing them to it, with a lack of natural feed sources.

Thanks for the input.

[Sippy]

You need to pick one and stay with it, just like dog food.

Double down has great marketing. If you go with them I would use the pen and pasture.

[TexasTK]

I would strongly advise to not switch protein brands during antler growing.

[BlackdirtCowboy]

Not sure I’d be worried about switching brands as they are based off DDGs and are all pretty much the same. Basically just different packaging and marketing.

On a related note, has anyone tried feeding a straight commodity protein source? I’ve fed whole cottonseed and canola meal pellets in the past, but I didn’t stick with it long enough to monitor any results. It would be far cheaper to put out a commodity versus the blended protein supplements.

[Cull hunter]

All proteins are not the same and ingredients vary.

Stick with one until new antler growing season.

Best advice is to have the analyzed.

[RMW]

Not sure if it matters, on our 6000 acre pasture lease members feed different brands of protein. Deer seem to do fine

[BlackdirtCowboy]

All proteins are not the same and ingredients vary.

Stick with one until new antler growing season.

Best advice is to have the analyzed.

I didn’t say all proteins are the same. I said all protein supplement are based on DDGs and are basically the same. The rest is minerals, filler, and some contain flavorings to attract deer. But the protein sourse is almost always DDGs.

[Sippy]

I didn’t say all proteins are the same. I said all protein supplement are based on DDGs and are basically the same. The rest is minerals, filler, and some contain flavorings to attract deer. But the protein sourse is almost always DDGs.

Not quite.

[Jmay]

Not sure if it matters, on our 6000 acre pasture lease members feed different brands of protein. Deer seem to do fine

This.

I generally feed L&E and the guy that has a protein feeder about 800 yds away feeds Double Down. We have pictures of the same deer hitting both locations on a regular basis.

[doghouse]

Feed what ever you can afford during a drought. Any thing beats nothing. Corn is better than nothing.

[brrdnk]

We feed only Record Rack, after they are hard horned we cut back on the number of protein feeders but still feed year round. We also feed the soybean and corn mix in our corn feeders. We run some year round and hunting season we increase the number of corn feeders.
I will add if you change feeds do it after growing season. That way you can see if what you switch to has better results the next year.
We have always used Record Rack and that’s what the breeder we bought from used and we like the results and have had no reason to change.

[Grayson]

I change often (forced change depending on what local feed stores are carrying) and they have no problem eating whatever I am feeding at the time. No + or - change in consumption.

[Voodoo]

I have the answer for ya.

You feed Golden Deer Nuggets and Record Rack wildberry blocks until Sept then you stop. The rest of the season you bring some out with you when you go to the stand. A chunk off the block or a zip lock bag of nuggets.

When I hunt highway medians this is immediately successful !

[Spiderpig1776]

I don’t think it matters as much as people think. On my place lots of guys feed different feeds plus I don’t think deer outside a pen eat enough of one single thing to make significant differences. Bottom line is protein helps in certain situations but it’s never one thing that makes a deer have big gains.

[Voodoo]

It matters after the season starts…

Might as well get them hooked like a crack addict !