Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Does Corn Hurt Deer

I keep 4 feeders going and only set it for 2 seconds twice per day. I'm not interested in feeding deer, just attracting them. I attract more coons at night than anything else.

No way I could afford 7 seconds.

Hey DD1,

That's kind of what I was thinking to. At 7 to 10 seconds I would have to have a ATM near my hunting stand!! That's a lot of corn, unless like esshup said depends on the feeder!

It depends on how many critters you're trying to feed. Turkeys love corn if you have them and often travel with deer. Density & coverage of corn from spinner is also determined by speed setting.
If deer are cleaning up everything each day, set a little higher; if corn is left-over each day then cut back. In Texas, a 2 sec spin would last about seconds on the ground!
Agreeing with esshup; no 2 feeders are alike in output. Play around with them until you get it tuned...not rocket science,just common sense.

Just curious; if you're not interested in feeding the deer you enjoy attracting, who will?

My research into feeding deer corn shows mixed results. Waiting for Feb or March when the deer are already starving is too late to start. You need to be feeding them the corn from fall on. The reason is as has already been mentioned. Deer cannot adjust quickly to new foods because they are ruminants and need time for their stomachs to adjust to a new food source. With corn prices these days, it can be quite pricey. Just randomly slinging some corn out here and there can do more harm than good. Especially in areas where deer don't have access to corn in their diet from waste grains as their stomachs are not already adjusted to corn digestion.

If you are going to feed the deer, especially in the north where winter kill can be an issue. You really need to maintain your feeding. If you don't, the deer may stay in an area not necessarily fit to their winter survival. When you cut off the feeding, the deer are then not prepared to utilize native food which in the winter is mostly browse in many areas of the country.

I am a fan of feeding whole soybeans as well as corn especially during the warmer months when deer aren't carb needy. From Sept to Feb, it's 100% corn. March is 50/50 corn/soybeans, April through Aug, 100% soybeans. At first our deer in PA didn't have a clue what soybeans were and we had to work at getting them to eat them. Now they suck them down almost as fast as the corn. The soybeans are super high in protein. Exactly what you want your deer feeding on in the antler growth months of April-July.

There are several things you can do for your deer that will help them through the winter months that is fairly easy and far cheaper than buying bags of corn and soybeans. Cutting tree tops of high preference browse species is great for deer. The tops of trees are the most nutritious and more easily digested. I like to pick out species like maple(all species), sassafras, oaks(especially deformed and under performing ones), and tulip popular are my favorites where I live.

You can also do hinge cutting on smaller trees. You only cut about 2/3 of the way through pole sized trees and bend them over. They stay alive, often for several years but the tops and all new growth is now within reach of the deer. You can make thickets for added cover doing this as well.

I also like to fertilize wild growing vegetation. Although not a native species, Japanese honeysuckle where it is found which is most of the southern 2/3 of the US is a top choice for me. You often find it growing wild in many areas. Opening up the forest it is growing in to allow more sunlight to get to it is a big help. Adding fertilizer in early spring and then again in early fall will improve growth and increase protein % from an average 6% in natural soils to as high as 16%. You'll definitely see the deer flock to fertilized honeysuckle. Other wild plant species I will fertilize include briars/brambles and wild blueberries. The deer will flock to these thickets to feed and take cover. Even fertilizing your woodlots where your mast trees like oak and beech can increase their production and we all know acorns are king when it comes to deer.

In my area ticks are a huge issue especially in summer the deer are absolutely infested with them. A friend of mine who is a deer farmer gave me this idea and I have used it for a few years now. They make medicated mineral supplements that have tick killing additives. I had provided minerals to my deer before this, but the new minerals with tick killer in it has really helped.

Even where our family land is in PA, the hunting pressure is intense and few deer see their 3rd birthday. So we have to do the best we can to make the bucks reach their potential as early as possible. There is little agriculture in that area so the deer are very reliant on native browse as winter food. The added corn certainly helps and so does killing a pile of does to keep the deer herd numbers in line with the carrying capacity of the land. Where we hunt in VA, it is extremely heavy with agriculture. There are acres and acres of soybean and corn fields with mixed fields of winter wheat, beats and sunflowers. Food is not a limiting factor there so we don't even worry about feeding our deer there. We focus totally on habitat work, providing cover for the deer. Just a few small food plots are used, but these really are not for the benefit of the deer, it's just to get them into areas where they are easier to harvest.

Dan, I've planted oats which the deer have pretty much ignored. Around Bowie I find that they only freeze out about every 3 to 5 years. Last year we had a huge acorn crop which let the deer ignore corn and everything else.

My cameras at feeders show interesting results. I generally run feeders from 9/1 through February or March. This year mature does and bucks ignored them. Lots of young bucks and yearlings hit them as soon as they went off. I tried the high protein peas from Nocona and no deer would eat them; even when mixed with corn. The hogs seem to have no problem eating them. One of my neighbors tried protein last year and the deer ignored it. I paid 1/2 of the feed bill and seemed to be a waste of $.

This year I appear to have mostly fattened crows during the day and coons at night.

My nest goal involves neighbors dogs.

CJBS2003, I noticed you feed soybeans. I have been feeding Whole "Roasted " Soybeans for the past eight years. I was told that roasted soybeans are much easier for deer to digest. I only mix a little corn in because of the price of roasted soybeans, which is $18 for 50lbs right now. I keep my plan pretty simple. I plant oats in the fall/winter and soybeans in the spring with Iron/clay peas a little later. Like Dave said, last year the acorn crop was unbelievable, so most supplemental food went untouched. I have noticed though that fresh sprouts of soybeans are like "crack" to deer. The deer don't seem to like the peas until summer though.

Dave, I'll probably be making my annual trip to Texas in late March. If you need a hand thinning things out, let me know. I can bring my "reach out and touch 'em" gun.

I doubt that I have anything that will need thinning but the latch string is always out.

My Grandson and his bow hunting buddies will probably keep everything away.

Heating soybeans inactivates trypsin inhibitor which naturally occurs in soybeans. Trypsin is a major intestinal enzyme that breaks down proteins into amino acids so the body can use them. Trypsin inhibitor interferes with this process.

Thanks again all.

Thank you for taking the time to explain that. That is interesting.

Yep, I read it, thanks!

I am far from an expert on this. However, I think that CJBS accurately makes the point for this area of the country.

I believe that the effects of feeding deer in the normally frozen and snow covered areas of the country are a whole lot different than in those areas of non-frozen warmer climates in the southern part of the country.

For anyone up north, including in our area where the ground is frozen and snow covered, I would have a real hard time suggesting that anyone feed the deer in winter, unless it is done as consistently and meticulously as would be done for cattle. Plus, way too much of the cheap corn sold in this area for deer feed has been rejected as animal or human feed because of the high levels of aflatoxins.

Just my ramblings ...

Don't they use that stuff for Moonshine around there?

Sorry, it is a show on TV that I kinda like, but the key guy is probably busted by now.

The only feed I have ever been responsible for deer eating, is when they eat my garden

I have found a remedy for that.

I watched it a few times too. From what I read, he really wasn't making moonshine. The show alluded that he was, but he really wasn't. Popcorn had passed away, and the videos of him were taken from a DVD/VCR that he made to show the younger generation how to make moonshine.

I enjoyed watching it. From what I know of it, it was kind of authentic. I believe the guy is the fire chief of the little town they live in. According to friends, the prices he was selling it for seemed to be quite a bit more than local prices.

No such thing as a "reality" show. The guy would now be doing federal time if it were real.

Corn isn't going to hurt the deer.

You can also usually have some fun gathering acorns. We used to have a few spots where we could fill up literally half a dozen big trash cans with acorns. Deer love them.

Deer will also eat bread. In fact, they LOOOVE bread. If you have a local bakery you can usually get the stale bread when they toss it.

They will also go through apples like crack cocaine. If you know anyone who has an apple orchard you can usually get the soft apples that they can't sell for nothing. You just have to pick them up.

Deer are browsers, much like goats. They will eat ALMOST anything in a pinch, but they do tend to relish certain items.

People will eat just about anything too. It does not mean that it is good for us. I think most of the deer in Jersey eat nice cultivated plants out of backyards.

The deer in the suburbs of Chicago do the same thing!

You'd be amazed at how much agriculture is in NJ. There are lots of shrubbery eating deer in NJ, but there are plenty eating soybeans and corn too.

I was raised on a farm in NJ, but I could not resist...

Well that explains alot of things.



I was born and raised in the Garden state, but I don't brag about it.

My wife and I have lived on the same piece of Indiana land for 22 years now and are the proud parents of two Hoosiers. I still have family in NJ, but they have to come to Indiana for visits. I do not have any desire to return to the crowds in the tri-state area! Upstate NY is pretty though.