Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

I was curious about this because of the baiting topic. I know you can founder a horse by feeding him too much grain, I also think cattle can be foundered. If this is the case shouldn't there be a limit on how much corn or grain you can give them? As sportsman/ hunters shouldn't we be concerned with the effects of things like this?

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

We'll need to get a Biologist in on this one, but I dont think deer can founder...

I think its only horses that founder cause they have a differen stomach setup than deer/cattle...

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

I have seen cows founder, both hooves will curl. When I have seen this, in most cases it has been on there back feet. Could be somthing elsecauseing it.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

Yea it can happen to deer to. I actually have a picture of it I found on another site! I heard it was from excessive diet of corn or EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease).

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

Wow, that is interesting!

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

This might add a little insight.

I my self am not really fond of hunting @ active feeders.

That being said, for the last two years I have had the opportunity to hunt some land in TX that had not been hunted at all for 7 years prior.

There are some genuine studs on the property.

Well if you hunt in TX you hunt over corn feeders, it is just a fact of life.

I got to watch many,many deer eat under the feeders and never saw any that ateALL the corn. They will munch for 5-10 minutes and move on.

Bear in mind, this is TX hill country and there is not a cultivated field within 4-5 miles. So these deer are leaving corn on the ground to go eat scrub.

I asked the Texans about this and they said that it was rare that the deer would ever eat all the corn and if they did it was because several different groups would come by during the night and polish it off.

None of them could remember a single deer or group staying under a feeder till all the corn was gone.

Seems to me the feeders on this ranch were throwing maybe 1/2 gallon of corn per cycle.

Surely a group of does and yearling's could eat this much with no problem, they just choose not to.

I looks to me like they know that to much is not good for them.

Maybe one of the trailcamera guys will chime i here and let us know how long it takes for deer to consume a pile of feed

I do know that I have taken deer with their stomachs slap full of green grass, but, Have never got one that was FULL of corn.

Even up in OH i don't remember getting a deer that was full of pure corn.

Maybe one of the farm hunters could help us out.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

Aside from the fact that deer don't get all the nutrition they need from a diet heavy in corn, baiting causes other problems as I see it. They get reliant on the nice little piles of corn. They don't move as much as they would have to to get a good meal. They don't have to get out and search as much to fill their belly. I'd rather have deer wander byat more hours of the day than to trot into a bait pile at last light. When we bait we get into bad habits... like sitting in the same stands over and over. Deer just don't behave like deer when there's an ice creamtruck at the same corner every day.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

Very true!

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

Deer do not founder. While the EHD and a foundered hoof wall share some of the same characteristics there is a very large difference. EHD is a severe increase in the corium that grows the hoof covering where as in horses that have foundered the elf shoe effect is from damage sustained by the rotation of the coffin bone within the hoof capsule it self. In trying not to get too technical they arent the same thing. Yet I will agree that bait piles may cause more unforseen adverse effects on deer diet and habits.

hope this helps

Rogue

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

A little over my head rogue but I'll do some reading to better understand. I gues with the discussion of baiting I started thinking about deer getting lame. Were so concerned of there health but at the same time may be doing things that have an inverse effect. I know that deer usually will move on after there belly is full but over years of continuous feeding do they give in to the easy meal? Just a concern, not saying that this is the way things are. Thanks for the reply's

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

Deer are browsers, and they ususally don't fill up on just one type of food, unless maybe that is all there is. They eat a little bit of this, and then move on.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

Browsers by nature, if were feeding them every day in the same spot and there filling there bellies why do they need to browse. Were changeing there habits to an extent by feeding them.

My dad has 36 acers he is trying to manage, he a has planted food plots, made watering holes, salt licks and now has a feeder. He put the feeder up so that he could get pics of deer. HE said he was going to take it down before season but I have my doubts. Anyway, I have pics of the same deer coming in twice a day for more than a week. The only reason I don't have anymore is b/c the batteries went dead in the camera and he hasn't bought anymore. I told him that he should limit the amount of corn being put out so that they don't get dependent. Has he? No, b/c he's scared the deer want be able to fill up and want come back. I'm not saying this happens everywere but there is more and more people feeding deer. It has become an acceptable practice that may need to be looked into a little more. I think anything we do to wildlife effects nature. I have pic of animals not even 2 minutes after the feeder goes off. Is that normal that a deer comes running to the sound of a corn buck (don't think so). They are depending on that corn/grain to fill there bellies for the day. I'm off the soap box, I don't think there is anything wrong with feeding them but we need to do it responsibly. Happy hunitng

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

I found it strange that Mulies don't come to the feeders.

On the property I previously discussed there are a few mulies and many whitetails.

All five feeders have cameras on them year round. In two years there have only been 2 Mulies observed at the feeders. One of them had his last meal @ said feeder. The other was a doe who was only photographed at the same feeder on two seperate occations.

Go figure

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

I absolutely believe that feeding deer can be habit forming or all of the seed companies that are selling food plot material would be out of business. I personally dont agree with it for one simple reason, deer are not cattle. I attended a clinic earlier this year on food plots just to see what the fuss was all about. One gentelman there explained that when he moved into his property that the most deer that he would see at any given time were about 7, now after planting his food plots he sees somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to 40 deer at a time.

I believe that all habitats have a carrying capacity and by artificially changing the habitat we also change the capacity. What now happens if he sells the property to someone that doesnt carry on with what he is doing? Since he is only providing a spring and summer forage is he now creating a problem for the winter range by overloading the carry capacity?

So many questions that have yet to be answered.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

SO.....all of these corn and soybean fields here in the Midwest need to be dug up and moved every few daysso that the deers feeding habits don't alter? That makes no sense to me, deer will only hit a feeder hard if there is no other food source readily available, they are mostly browsers, theywon't founder. A picked corn/soybeanfield is loaded with "dropped grain", sowhy isn'tevery deer in the adjacent woods standing side by side for hours on end in these fields?We all know deer do come to these fields and eat, but not to eat until they areon the verge of engorgement.Yes, at certain times you may drive by a field and see a bunch of deer in a field, but for the most part that is in the late winter months.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

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RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

I put out 50 lb of corn in front of my trail cam and it lasted two weeks...i had over 300 pics in that time of deer. Also had numerous pics of squirrels, coons, and crows. By looking at my pics the deer would stick around for about 20 min then move on, but show up again a few hours later.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

Solo,.... deer aren't totally smart. If they have a big pile of corn in an area where food is scarce they'll go right to it and pig out. Nutrician experts will tell you a big helping of corn does not provide all they need. It's a short term fix for a hungry stomach. The fields you talk about are not piles. Deer feed going and while there they have to forge and they nibble other things along the way. Your fields are not the same as a bait site. At the bait site deer stop browsing and foraging as they do to, in and around your fields.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

u got a good point there.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

About how long have you been doing this? The reason I ask is b/c the longer you do it the more they will eat. I think the deer will get in the habit of being provided for (not browsing). I'm seeing it happen with my own eyes. We used to raise goats, you had to limit there grain b/c if you gave them too much they wouldn't eat the brush we needed them to eat. I don't completly disagree with feeding deer but we have to be responsible about it.

RE: Does Baiting Deer Founder Them?
 

I saw 400 pounds of corn gone in 1 week. That was the first time I ever put out a feeder and it was blown over by the wind. I had a camera setup 10 yards from the feeder and day and night the deer would stay real close and some even bedded 15 feet from the pile. When the corn was gone the deer left for 6 days then they dug up the ground where the corn was and kicked the feeders lid around.

I noticed it was a bad year for acorns and that might have been the reason for the aggresion and the glutteny. Had 23 does at one time in the area as well.