Zac loves rack

Hello, I am new to the world of food plots and I have recently planted about a 10th acre on my land. Broke ground and used throw and grow mix. It is about 2 months old and flourishing. Only problem is that I have only seen deer on cam for about a two day period. Hidden camera aimed at the majority of the food plot and between two gravity corn feeders. I have seen turkey, crows and coons but very rare deer. I have seen deer about a hundred yards away consistently but they don't come to the plot... Any suggestions or tricks. I have thought about adding some urine and salt licks but haven't gotten that far yet. Ever since I added the corn feeders, no deer. I did spray paint the PVC pipe black... Could the smell of the paint be a deterrent? My plot of land is 60 acres. 1/2 wooded and half crap grass field. All strip mined about 50 years ago. Nothing seems to keep the deer on the land and I'm trying my best to populate before rifle season.

MudderChuck

I have some ideas, Deer spook when something new and unfamiliar happens, strange noises, strange smells, strange motion. They get used to most of it over time, tractors don't spook my Deer at all, vehicles spook them little, chain saws little.
When the jogging fad hit, my Deer disappeared, they would abandoned their fawns, many died. Same thing happened when the mountain bike craze hit. It took them a long time to get over these new irritations.
Mushroom hunters would mess up their routine, but had less impact than most things.
Best guess is somebody is regularly spreading human scent. May be inadvertent, could be somebody scouting your area or even poachers.
I've never used feeders, but have set out small bait piles (a pound or two) under rocks. I can see when the rocks have been moved from a distance, so I don't have to crowd the food source and I leave as little scent as practical there.
I'd also feed well before sunset and well after dawn. Deer come in to feed kind of spooky anyway most times they come in careful. If I was using feeders I wouldn't want them to go off at feeding time.
Deer make associations, if they associate a smell or a sound as danger they are likely to panic and bolt, I've had them bolt from the sound of my safety being clicked to fire.
All in all it is hard to say what will spook a Deer, but most things they get used to over time (may take months). My last lease had a lot of foot traffic, even dog walkers. The Deer might hide, but rarely bolted, panicked or moved to another area. They were used ti it.
One tip. when cold weather hits, they get a sweet tooth. Maybe put out a bail of Alfalfa near your feeder. The scent of Alfalfa carries for a long ways.
Water is always something to keep in mind. If they have food and water or just food ?The complete package is going to draw them more than just food. The water doesn't need to be right at the food, but most Deer are within a half mile of water. I've put out stock tanks before in areas with good forage but no water. Most of my concern was keeping them out of the crops as much as possible, so I'd lure them to the places where they would do less damage. Not so much trying to lure them to places for hunting, but the theory is the same.

mrbb

OK my 2 cents
a 1/10 acre plot is NOT very much, and of that 1/10 acre how much of the things in it are actually desirable to a deer period??, just cause its green and growing doesn't mean deer want to eat it
next as for them corn feeders,
well yes fresh paint smell can keep deer away, next it can also make the corn absorb that smell and thus not want to eat it too!
NOW< add in the rut is basically on in many place now or about to start, add in other BETTER foods sources might be in your area drawing and holding deer to KNOWN food source deer are more used to eating!
ad in temps have been rather WARM in most places,(deer don't NEED to eat as much as in COLD temps)
SO?
trying to PULL deer of a food source, to a small MAYBE non desirable food plot, is a hard sell
and honestly them feeders IMO are NOT the best deer friendly design
so your trying to make a HARD sale here, and this is IMO why the deer are not there as you hoped they would
NOW come colder temps, after more major food sources are either harvested or used up, they SHOULD come to your plot, BUT at a 1/10th acre, once they DO show up, what ever is there GOOD for them to eat will be sucked up REAL fast!
I know this isn;t what you want to hear and NOT trying to be mean saying it, just honest info!

when ever a food plot is planted, you HAVE to ask a lot of questions on what your goal is, and plant based on it
deer are like kids, they eat what they like BEST, doesn;t mater what you want to feed them, they will eat the best foods(typically the sweetest) and the easiest and safest foods

if this plot is out in the open(gathering your viewing from afar) this also doesn't help draw deer to it, all the more so if there in a higher pressure area!(I have no clue what your pressure is like or not)

but you also when planting a food plot, have to ask WHEN do you want it to draw deer and plant things that grow for THAT time of yr
and last, pending your deer numbers, it has to be enough to last long enough to be useful to you at the time of yr you want it to be good for
if deer ate the GOOD things already and left behind the junk, this plot won't attract much for you??
the Corn feeders?
I'd maybe pull them and see if deer come back, to just corn dumped on the ground some(and NOT the corn in these tubes as it could be bad corn, smell bad and or ??)
if nothing else you will know iof its the feeders and the paint on them> or something else!