Feeding Corn

[wheelie]

I do know for a fact the Ministry of Natural Resources says not to feed deer in the winter time. There systems need less food in the winter and they don't want them becoming dependent on a food source.

[Ont_Excal]

Raymond, I don't think a little corn will hurt at all.
Mix in some sunflower seed and peanuts if you can find cheap enough. Place off the ground for the birds. Whatever they knock off the rabbits and deer will clean up.

[Sopchoppy]

Raymond,

I use shelled corn in my feeders sometimes 6 to 8 months out of the year and get plenty of pictures and turkeys and bears that just love it. I also started feeding some Alfalfa pellets this year in my feeders to mix with the corn and the deer love these also. The key to the Alfalfa pellets is keeping them dry in your feeder, if you use a closed lid feeder that sling the corn or pellets out that's not a problem. If the deer have a problem with their digestive tract on corn I couldn't help you with that one because they seem to love the corn as long as acorns aren't abundant.

Take care Raymond,
Eric

Where do you get Alfalfa pellets?

[Ont_Excal]

I get the alfalfa pellets at grain dealer or feed store.
I only put mine out after we get into winter conditions.

When it rains the pellets get soggy and open up. Deer will avoid it then.

[Blood on the floor]

This article says " no quick changes"
If you are feeding deer - you can`t stop.
If you are not - you can`t start.
Then it explains some of the problems with
consentrating animals more than normal.
One source of food many overlook is to cut brouse in an area deer can get to it. Deer like apples, trim the fruit trees and move it to a deer yard. My Grand father was a logger, and would tell of deer comming to the "tops pile" durring the day while the Guys were working.

[Hester0305]

I get my Alfalfa pellets a Tractor Supply store and they are around $10.00 a 50 lb bag. The deer have been really tearing them up lately. The deer around hear love alfalfa fields.

[Bob64]

Has anyone ever used Black Oil Sunflower seeds?? I don't feed deer during the winter months, but come fall I like putting out a little corn in front of my cameras to see what comes by. A friend of mine uses Black Oil Sunflower seed and swears by them. You don't even notice them on the ground as much as corn. This might be beneficial for those of you who have cameras up. The bright yellow corn is like a red flag in the forest for camera hunters. I priced out the sunflower seed and its about $35 for a 50 lb. bag. Kind of pricey but I think I'm going to give it a try next fall.

[MADMAX2]

I do know for a fact the Ministry of Natural Resources says not to feed deer in the winter time. There systems need less food in the winter and they don't want them becoming dependent on a food source.

The ministry has fed deer in the past due to extreem condition.

Deep snow and unusually cold conditions prompted the Ministry of Natural Resources to begin feeding deer last week.

It is not normal practice for the MNR to support the local deer population, but after monitoring the winter conditions and taking into account how bad last winter was, the ministry decided to step in.

“The deer are in – and have been in – a deep snow condition for quite some time.

It’s more difficult for them to move around in deep snow. They expend more energy when they’re moving around in deep snow and moving around in deep snow slows them down and makes them more available to predators,” said special project manager at the MNR, Doug Skeggs.

There has been more snow and colder temperatures this winter than last year, with the average temperature in January at 15 below with the coldest drop at -34 C. In January 2008 the average was -5 C.

Snow has already surpassed last year’s deluge. From November to January 31 of this year 240 centimetres fell. Last year that number was 222 cm.

“We noticed lower deer numbers this year from last winter. And that’s one of the reasons we geared up for this winter,” Skeggs said.

Deer numbers are recorded through hunter success, so when hunters had a bad fall season, it means the previous winter was particularly hard on deer.

For the past month, MNR staff have been carving trails in deer yards with snowmobiles to allow deer to walk freely to food sources. This week they’ve begun distributing bagged deer feed to areas they know deer congregate.

“We’re trying to get out to some very critical ones on Crown land where we know there’s a large deer concentration and getting some food on the ground for them,” he said.