I dont think the big, old, smart ones will hit a feeder out in the open very much, Might make a little difference if they been feeding at it since they were born.
Getting them out in the open is pretty hard but my theory is, if you have the does, the bucks will be there, and when they are in full rut, with competition from other bucks, they tend to do stuff that they would not normally do, I think that's how most of them get killed.
That leads to another question that I have. We have all kinds of open ground, plum thickets, and mature tree forests (but small acreage).
Would any of the trophy bucks perhaps be more likely to go to a feeder that is not in the open, but is actually in pretty thick cover?If so, I have lots of "junk" trees that I can clear to make some narrow paths into a deep cover feeder and also clear a few shooting lanes for the deer's most like approaches.
I already have two feeders out in the open that draw plenty of smaller deer for my nephews and buddies to harvest.
