RE: Deer hunting over bait.
 

Deer eat sweet potatoes? I didn't know that. Guess its true..you do learn something new everyday.

RE: Deer hunting over bait.
 

Deer do eat sweet potatoes but they usually dont eat them until they start to rot. Our camp put out a truck load of them last year and they didnt touch them until the potatoes started to rot and stink. And man do they stink. They also like apples and pears. But again they dont eat them until they rot. I hunt in southern arkansas and we put out piles of soybeans and the deer love them. Try the new mix they have out called beast feast it is really good. I have a feeder and mixed it with my corn and started seeing double the amount of deer after I started using the beast feast. It has molasses in it. They love anything with molasses.

RE: Deer hunting over bait.
 

I have deer eat the turnips (tops) out of our garden before. Usually around this time of year. My neighbor says that they eat his blackberries and cherries every year. I am used to seeing them eating apples and persimmons and grain. We can't bait in Illinois, so have to try and find a natural food source like oak trees and honeysuckle. Or we might lant a food plot, but that is hit and miss and not cheap. How much $ do you spend on bait a year? Not trying to start a fight.....just curious. I have noticed the feed prices and it is not cheap. Still would have never guessed that deer would eat sweet potatoes.[&:]

RE: Deer hunting over bait.
 

Well on the average we spend about 150 dollars a year on food plots and corn for our feeders but we have 4 feeders between my husband and me. I also plant turnips. We plant alot of rye grass in our shooting lanes. They seem to really like that. It gives them something to nibble on when everything else is turning brown here. Corn is cheap here. It sells for 4 dollars for a 50 lbs sack. Sometimes we can get it cheaper than that if we buy in bulk. We have a farmer that is a member of our camp that raises sweet potatoes and he brings his culls to the camp for the deer. So we dont have to buy them. I dont know if they will grow up there this time of the year but deer also love any kind of peas. We cant even plant peas here because the deer eat them up. Looks like someone took a weedeater to them and just mowed them down.

RE: Deer hunting over bait.
 

I also spend probably about $100 to $150 in a bow season on maily corn. I enjoy hunting over bait because I see more deer and I also enjoy watching the other animals that come to get a little to eat. I think it's most productive for big bucks during the rut because they'll be following the does, but big bucks can be taken off of bait if you hunt it right. If you don't overhunt the stand and make sure not to alarm the deer big boys will come and eat during daylight. One idea I have used is don't put out too much feed and when you're hunting make sure there is little to no feed out. Deer then come to check the pile then leave, so they're not there for a long period of time which will give them a better and better chance of figuring there could be something wrong. Here is proof big bucks can be shot over bait, it was taken earlier in the season off of corn.