How many feeders on how many acres?

[meatGrinder]

Me and my lease buddy were on a new place this year and it was tricky getting the deer figured out. We had one large feeder pretty much in the middle of 160 acres. All of our shooter bucks, about 3 or so, came between 9pm and 5am. Only twice did we have one at the feeder during shooting time. We tried setting up on trails hundreds of yards from the feeder to intercept them traveling, but no luck. My partner is convinced that we need more feeders to pull them off the neighboring properties, which I'm certain are hunted and also have feeders. I think our one feeder was too much in the open and deer did not feel comfortable coming to it.

Deer traveled and bedded on the north side in that timber on the north end.

How many feeders do y'all run and on how big a property? Do you think we should run more feeders, closer to the north end next year?

 

[bill allen]

I see successful hunters on this site with their feeders right out in the open and big deer coming in to them in daylight hours. I wish mine would do that but they don't. The feeders I have placed out in the open are only rarely visited by shooter bucks and never in the daytime. In my area, you need to have your feeders very close to cover. We put most of ours back in the woods and mostly on small food plots where there is lots of cover and structure all around. The big guys are still mostly nocturnal but they do show up in the daytime some. Both me and my partner scored big bucks this year back in the woods close to a feeder.

If that red dot is your feeder, yes it is in the wrong place.

I believe most nocturnal shooter buck problems can be improved by simply taking out a significant amount of does every year.

 

[Valhallajack]

If they come out between dark and dawn they most likely are coming from a long ways off. It could be possible that their are so many does on your place the pressure applied to bucks means they have to leave the area. Does bed close to the feed and corn. Bucks like to be further away. I think doe harvest also helps next year's chances at bucks. Feeder location, access to stands, the wind all plays a part. He had a good idea about stand location. ^^^

 

[bill allen]

This has been my experience also.

I don't run feeders until sometime early in the season. I don't want to attract the does from the neighboring farms any more than I have to. Believe me the does will be on your feeders very soon after you get them going anyway but hopefully fewer of them.

 

[retrieverman]

Dale, I‘m pretty sure you already know that I run my corn feeders year around and have for 20 years, so I attribute that to why big mature bucks come to my feeders in the daylight. They’ve grown up with them.
My plan this year is to keep my protein feeders running all year to see if I can hold more deer on my place through the summer.
I have 6 corn feeders (only 5 running) and 2 protein feeders on 360 acres.

You should easily be able to get at least another feeders or two on your 160 acres. I have a hard time looking aerials and really getting a feel for a place, so I won’t be able offer any recommendation on where to put them without being on the place and looking around.

 

[rickm]

This is how you feed deer,

 

[undeg01]

With the limited cover you have, you would probably be limited to no more than 2-3 feeders. I’d suggest putting one in that open, circular area of trees on the NE corner of that pond. Deer like to have at least a little cover and it amazes me how much they will use a small line of trees like an old fence row, similar to the way that area appears.

If you could put a green food plot on the opposite/NW side of the pond, you would likely see the deer travel a little more.

Be cautious about how much corn you put out at a time. If you dump a gallon bucket of food every evening just before dark, the deer will know that there will be corn there through the night hours so they have no reason to rush to get a few bites.

I run 6 feeders on 80 acres, but they are heavily wooded and two of my main hunting areas have two feeders each. You can see both feeders from one stand location but you cannot see one feeder from the other. I set the timers to compliment one another. One feeder is set closer to the heavy timber/bedding area and throws corn about 20 minutes earlier than the other in the evening and about 10-15 minutes later than the other in the mornings. Each time running no more than 3-4 seconds.

 

[Parks 788]

While not new to deer hunting this was my first year on our new 45 acre property. The reality is we only have about 20-25, maybe 30 acres for actual hunting as our homes are on the front 35% of the property. I run three Fieldpro feeders on mine. The large food plot is the most isolated and had a ton of deer come to it that is sitting over about <1 acres of Buck Forage Oats. One real nice thing is this foodplot and feeder is right next to some very thick and heavy brush that has a ton of game trails running through it. This thick area is approx 8-10 acres. I shot one of the three shooter bucks on this plot this rifle season. We had a metric crap ton of spikes, forks and does with fawn on this plot. I was exceptionally happy this being my first year developing a plot and having the feeder on it.

My second food plot and feeder is only about 140 yards off our main house back-deck and also pulls in a ton of deer. Sits about 250-300 yards from the first feeder. This plot was carved out of a pasture that is close to where more trees and brush start on our property. Shooter bucks, spikes, forks and does/fawns. Mostly the same one you see earlier or later in the evening from aforementioned plot. THey will travel back and forth.

THe third feeder is not about 150 yards off another side of my house in some brush hogged area that is at the head of a draw. It is fairly productive attracting deer but didn't hunt it this season. Probably will move this feeder to another spot next year that I've seen a lot of deer travel and sort of inbetween the first two feeders.

My Father in Law who's hunted for the last 60 years on his 1000 acre lease had 3-4 food plots but never put feeders on them. He'd stick them in lighter brush/treed travel corridors and they attracted a lot of deer. We shot a lot of deer this way too.

As much deer as I saw and how small my hunting land is I feel I'm pulling in deer from all around due to my three feeders and how well the BFO and Winter Wheat did. My neighbor who runs 100 head of cattle on his property and has been finishing them since September has told me he's seen many many deer go across the back of his pastures, hop the fence onto my property.

 

[dennishoddy]

I run four feeders on 1000 acres.
Firm believer in not putting them in wide open areas.
Mine are adjacent to wooded/brushy fence lines where deer normally travel. Preferably where fence lines intersect so stands can be placed to play the wind.
Game cams pretty much confirm my placement especially during rut when bucks don’t feed but I see them traveling by at all times of the day and night to check if does are in the area.
As already mentioned, I don’t put out a lot of corn on the two feedings. A pound in the morning feeding because the corn is going to be around in daylight all day, but only 1/2 lb two hours before dark.
Both of my bucks this season were taken in the morning.

 

[Okie4570]

I don't think of it in terms of feeders per acre, but as feeders per those particular bucks range. The more feeders you have for bucks to visit within their normal range, the greater the odds they may go to a different feeder than the one your sitting at that particular day. I have two places a mile apart where I dump feed starting in about August. I can only think of a couple of times where I've seen the same bucks on both cams and that was during the rut. There's been a couple of times where I've seen a Hoddy buck and he's seen one of my regulars and those cams are a little over a mile apart. I've never been sitting in one stand and had a buck show up at another at the same time. I'm not a fan of giving them options, I want them to come to one stand every time if possible. That's worked pretty well over the last 25y. I'm in pretty open country, both feed sites are in the edge of timber. About 45 miles away, I've got another actual feeder that's on the edge of a small food plot but not far from the timber. Couple other guys occasionally hunt it also, both have feeders, and it's a random crap shoot on when bucks will show up there at mine, it's anything but consistent. Just happened to be there at the right time this year though lol.