To much of a good thing?
 

Hey I have a question for everyone. I have been hitting the new swamp spot pretty hard, at least once, maybe twice a week. Setting up my feeder and trail cam. Then when I am done with that I look for sheds. Almost every time I go out I spook deer and can hear them running through the swamp. Was wandering since it is getting close to spring and the doe's will be looking for a spot to drop there fawns if I keep going out there and messing around if I could actually be doing myself more harm then good and the doe's could move to another "safer" spot and then change things for this fall? Was just curious since I have been out there so much that maybe you can have to much of a good thing and have a adverse unintended effect. This is the first time I have ever been in a spot this much in the early spring doing stuff. Thanks in advance!!

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

IMO, I have found that as long as you don't run them out of the county,(going in hootin and hollerin)and they have a reason to come back,(feeder)you should be OK...Bill

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

Jason, for years I fed my cows, goats, horse and sheepevery day usingthe samepath, cleaned the troughs, handled everythingand they came every night to the troughs. As long as there is food, supplements and mineral blocks, they will come.

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

Nicley said Reb!

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

Not sure if this is referring to hunting over bait or not. I thought I have explained in past post that fall bait has zero incentive since I am surrounded by corn and soybeans in my area. I have used the gravity feeder for the last two years and as soon as the corn puts on its ears and the soybeans pod out it turns into a Blue Jay feeder since that is the only bird in my area that can eat whole corn. What I am trying to accomplish with the feeder is helping the deer recover from winter and start off strong for spring. Maybe in Florida putting out corn for deer is like leading a cow to a trough, but not up here, to much food surrounding me starting in September. What I am concerned with is the deer moving out of the area and only coming into the area in the spring and summer and then not being around in the fall. Maybe I misunderstood you, or maybe your misunderstanding my intent, not sure.

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

hotburn .... what I believve that others are saying is that as long as you do not become agressive in chasing the deer, they will just move out of the way until you pass. You speak of a feeder, since the feeder is the easest food at this time of year, they will stay by, just do not chase them agressivly.

If you talk to farmers, they probually tell you how the deer just walk around them, not scared because they become acustomed to them not harming them.

Good luck.

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

Not concerned with them doing that at all, that is inevitable every year. Some people plant food plots of corn and use it to there advantage, corn up here is a bad thing for hunters since there is so much of it. When the corn gets taller then the deer theymove into it and bed and feed all in one spot and they only come out for water. I don't consider my good hunting to start until the corn comes off and they have to start moving in the woods again. The corn is out of my control, what I am concerned about is deer leaving my spot and moving to the next woods up the road which is about a quarter of a mile away and then not using my spot as much this fall when the fields are full of corn and bean stuff that the farmers leave behind.


Another thing that I have learned that does not work for my area. My mineral and saltlick sites get tore up like crazy in the spring and summer. Seems like when they are growing racks and and the doe have there fawns nursing. About August they stop using them around here. That is one thing that must be different about Ohio compared to other states. I have read some people on here that act like salt is candy for deer and it is illegal for them to use during season. I have thought that if I ever get interested in shooting squirrels again a salt block is a magnet for them, they tear that up in the fall! I have only seen one deer in my five years of using salt and mineral blocks lick them while I was in the stand, and that little guy was a button buck!

As for the Molasses goes, you being from the south should know how that works!! I put out some feed out once the first year I had the gravity feeder that had that in it and boy that was a mistake! I do not think I have ever seen that many ants in one spot above ground in my life! Molasses may work, but it needsto be after a long hard freeze, which I try to be done by that point.


I like that idea Reb! The only problem is my wife may get jealous if I start buying a sheep or goats!!:D

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

Hotburn.Just buy a camper,the wife will never know :D;).

the deer will get used to the routine(spl)try not to disrupt thier tails or path and like said earlier,as long as your not screamming,yelling,things that would spook them you should be ok.

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

jmo, on what i would do, drop a mineral lick on the ground, ive always scouted my huntin area to much, but as soon as the see a mineral lick, there never far from it........esp, if u got a feeder up

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

I think what he means by this is that if you live where a mineral lick has never been set out it will work really well and attract lots of deer. But if you have a mineral lick in a area that has lots of farms and there is mineral lick sites set up on the farms for the cattle then they are common for thedeer and a hunter setting up one is not a big advantage for the deer since they have them from the farmers already.

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

Do not worry too much about travel about your place. The deer will come back. Minimize the target shooting on the place when deer season gets close. We have a target range on our place that we sometimes use. They usually leave for a day or two after we shoot but always come back. Mineral and salt licks sometimes do not work well in areas where thereare cattle. They getmineral and salt that is set out for the cattle.

We do have a feeder running 12 months. The deer do not eat nearly as much of the feeder corn in the summer. But the quail are always there camping out.

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

??????????????????

RE: To much of a good thing?
 

I tried the salt lick thing on the 22 acres I hunt about 6 yrs ago didnt realy work do to the fact there are dairy and cattle farms all around me,or maybe it did alittle but not enough to notice......