gregholland

Down here in Texas we use a variety of feeds for deer. I'll have to say that last year we had a lot rain that kept a lot of the deer away from the corn feeders. I had to use some bad apples to get them in. I wait until they are about a week or two ripe (nice and stinky) then go out and scatter them the day before the hunt and the day of the hunt. Have any of y'all tried apples?

BEARBUSTER66

Jersey Deer love apples, corn, sweet potatoes but if the acorns are on the ground your better off hunting the oaks!! We freeze the apples and put them out after thay eat the acorns, the yams don't stick out as much as corn and they seem to last longer too!

txjourneyman

Greg, what rain? Drought conditions here in my part of TX. I didn't have much luck with corn either so I'm planning on trying protien deer feed this year. Thanks for the tip on apples, I'll be sure to try that as well.

121553

Maybe a possibility would be to learn how to read signs and stalk as opposed to hunting over a feederthat doesn't work.

Bobby

gregholland

LOL!!! We're in Texas!! Stalk????? People don't do that down here. I do rarely stalk, and when I do it I love it. Montana and Texas= 2 totally different hunting grounds.


Last year the acorns and grasses were abundant and the deer just were not coming to the feeders. But the apples on the other hand, watch out, they were all over them like a homeless man on a ham sandwich.

Mykey

When i first started hunting about 25yrs ago i would try anything but honestly, the only thing i've ever attracted with apples are opposums, racoons, rabbits and fireants. The deer around here could care less and apples would just lay out and rot before deer would eat them. I'm sure they attract deer in other areas but not here in my part of NC.
My area is mostly woods, swamps and crops fields. The deeraround here tend to hit the soybeans hardin the early season and corn in the late season. But i agree with BB66 that if the acorns are dropping thats where the deer will be until the acorns are gone. I'll take one oak thats dropping acorns anyday overacres of corn and beans or 100 apple trees.

txjourneyman

Just so ya know, I don't hunt over feeders. I have several on my lease as well as a food plot. The area I hunt is 400 acres, shared by myself and two others. The property around our lease is highly pressured so I keep the feeders going to try to keep deer on the property. To me feeders are a management tool. If I can't keep deer on the property, there will be no sign to read or deer to stalk.
Some people here in TX do hunt over feeders, I know some guys that wouldn't know how to try anything else. That is their choice and I don't knock them for it. It is legal here and if that is how they choose to get a shot so be it. I don't make or enforce the laws. I also don't consider that much of a hunt so I don't do it. Will I set a stand on a trail leading to a feeder? Darn right I will. No different in my mind than setting up on a trail leading to a farmers field full of corn or soybeans. I know this topic has been beaten to death on these forums before so if you don't agree with how we hunt in TX we don't mind. Sometimes we just have to disagree and move on.

njbuck22

I have used both apples and corn, in my opinion, corn is alot easier to use and i feel like they like it alittle more, where i hunt anyhow.

Mike Hill

I have used apples in the past I don't have a lot of experiance as it is illegle here but in certin areas of CT. it is legal. I have found that appels work but only when they are rotting and mushey. To speed up this process I ;put them in the micro wave for a min. this speeds the process. I really belive that it is the smell that attracts them as I can smell the apples whin I'm up in my tree stand at 30 yards away.

hardcorehunter

illegal here, but is a well known fact that deer love apples, corn, soybeans, white oak acorns