I am totally convinced it depends on the specific deer itself. I have proof from the hunt i was on just a few hrs ago. I set out 2 piles of pretty rotten apples, one to my right in the woods and one to my left in a small food plot. The food plot never came in real well and was mostly just weeds and various natural plants. The first deer that came in from the right at about 530pmhit the apples hard for a few minutes then left. Remember, these apples were put out only an hr and a half before, it was very windy, and cold, very cold, snowing at times. After this deer left, at about 620 pm i had 2 deer enter the food plot and feed not more than 15 yards from the apples, and they obviously smelled the apples, as the wind was swirling all around. They fed on some plants, then left. after hitting the can quite a few times to get them to come back, i had another deer stick its head out of the woods on the other side of the food plot, then it disappeared. so in the same 2 hr span, i had 1 deer eat the apples, 2 deer ignore the apples and eat the food plot, and1 deer ignore everything. hope this helps, but IMO i dont think u hurt the area at all by putting the apples out.