Is feeding now a good thing?
Contributors to this thread:Michigan
From: Missouribreaks
21-Mar-19
Missouribreaks's Link
From: happygolucky
21-Mar-19
I wish I would have put out some bags of alfalfa the local coop was selling last time I was at camp in February. Of course I could barely make it onto the land to drop the deer a handful of cedars. I was spent after trudging through waste deep snow. I'm not sure the deer would have made it to the alfalfa piles or if they made it to my cedars. If I get up anytime soon, I will see if the coop has any bags left.
From: ground hunter
21-Mar-19
I agree with the feeding, but even if you have heavy equipment, to get thru the deep snow, makes it tough on the deer,,,,,,, by me the state has dropped off, bales, on the back no travel roads, where the deer can more easily have access.....
Again, more wintering yards are needed, and yes good land mgt, is what is needed for natural feed, HOWEVER, deep snow will just be the main problem..... Thanks to UP Whitetails, many does, we could have taken, are now dead, and are feeding the predators,,,,, they are trying to push qdm in the UP, which is not SW Wisconsin,,,, its a shame, so many deer will have been wasted.... I sure would have taken one
From: Bows the way
22-Mar-19
Just filled out our form for feeding I'll be dropping alfalfa and corn next month.
From: Missouribreaks
22-Mar-19
Good to see hunters care!
From: happygolucky
26-Mar-19
When I left camp in February, I was upset I did not grab some alfalfa and put it out. I was telling this to my plow guy when I called him from home to see what I owed him. I did not know it, but he went and grabbed 2 bags and plowed to around 30 yards from my cabin where I have a camera (mostly for trespassers). The deer found the alfalfa after 1am that evening and they literally stayed until over 7am and then came back after 9am. I have thousands of pics of the same 3 deer daily. They had to really be hungry for them to graze like that seeing they are browsers.
Look at the timestamps in those pics. The camera was literally inches above the snow line.
I was just up there and put out 2 more bags. The lack of deer tracks, other than from those 3 deer is alarming. My land is usually loaded with tracks at this time of year.