Personally , putting bird feeders on our stands has made being on stand much more enjoyable. It is interesting to observe the birds so close that you can feel the wind from their wings. It really makes the time fly in comparison and it's interesting to see how the feeding patterns change with the weather. Unfortunately I haven't made a correlation between bird feeding activity and deer sightings.

BTW, I am not participating in the count. I don't even like counting points on a buck to see if it's legal.