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Deer Feeding station


Airehead

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We use some old bowls or trays on the ground and a small plastic garden/deck table that is stable enough not to blow over.  A nice young apple tree or two will also serve as a good place for the deer to feed.  You will need one or two of these per year as their life expectancy is zip.  :whistle:

We get corn (not deer corn and usually not cracked corn) from Tractor Supply or any other feed and grain.

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20 minutes ago, dennis said:

First of all, because of CWD, feeding deer is illegal in some areas, so check your local regs. Avoid corn. Deer are ruminants. If you feed them, find a feed their stomachs can process. 

https://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/whitetail-365/dont-feed-the-deer-how-corn-can-be-a-killer/

Very interesting. 

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35 minutes ago, dennis said:

First of all, because of CWD, feeding deer is illegal in some areas, so check your local regs. Avoid corn. Deer are ruminants. If you feed them, find a feed their stomachs can process. 

https://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/whitetail-365/dont-feed-the-deer-how-corn-can-be-a-killer/

Interesting.  We however feed our deer pretty much year round and not in large quantities.  We also mix in apples and some other fruit in cut up chunks. The only difference between the summer and the winter is that we see a bit fewer deer every night in the summer.  We do see the same ones for more than one yearly cycle.  I don't think we are harming them but I suppose one never knows.

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2 hours ago, dennis said:

First of all, because of CWD, feeding deer is illegal in some areas, so check your local regs. Avoid corn. Deer are ruminants. If you feed them, find a feed their stomachs can process. 

https://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/whitetail-365/dont-feed-the-deer-how-corn-can-be-a-killer/

 

1 hour ago, Airehead said:

Very interesting. 

It is illegal in NY to feed deer. As Dennis said it is because of the  CWD outbreak.

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1 hour ago, Zackny said:

 

It is illegal in NY to feed deer. As Dennis said it is because of the  CWD outbreak.

That appears to be true but when I asked this very question at the Rush Town Hall, I was given a different answer.  The one I wrote above.  So, I wont be building a deer feeding station.  of course what this means is the deer will knock down the bird feeders and eat from those.  Thanks for letting me know Zack-- I don't want to be in trouble

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...you can still feed the dumb deer.   Just plant yourself a few apple trees, fence them so the deer don't chew them down to the ground and strip the bark, killing them in the first four years or so.  When they get high enough that some of the foliage is too high for the deer to reach, (maybe 5-6 years, depending on your rootstock), you can remove the fencing and put wire screening on the trunks so they can't get at the bark.  Then they will pretty much browse the lower leaves and branches every year, leaving your trees looking well manicured up to about 6 feet.

 

Apple trees are a deer magnet.

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If you want to throw corn for the deer, go ahead. Take a gallon bucket or two and broadcast the corn in the same general area each day at approx the same time. They will learn, and they will show up.  If anyone gives you a hard time, tell them it's for the squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, ....... Not your fault if the deer stop by and eat some of it.  Oh ya, it is best to do this earlier in the day. That way all of the woodland creatures should have it all cleaned up before night time when the bears are out and about. Just sayin'.... ;) 

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2 hours ago, Airehead said:

I'll focus on the pheasant chick raising program.

Had a friend in high school who raised pheasants for the game commission. He raised them in the hay loft of an old barn, when released they were nothing like wild birds, more like a slightly faster chicken.

Guinea fowl are a neat bird to have around. They are tick vacuums, suck them up like candy. And better than average watch critters, they make a racket when anything out of the ordinary happens. I'd like to have a flock but don't have enough land.   

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7 hours ago, dennis said:

First of all, because of CWD, feeding deer is illegal in some areas, so check your local regs. Avoid corn. Deer are ruminants. If you feed them, find a feed their stomachs can process. 

https://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/whitetail-365/dont-feed-the-deer-how-corn-can-be-a-killer/

The deer don’t know this. The field behind my house was picked this year with a defective corn picker. About every six feet down the row I would find a whole ear of corn that was dropped. That would amount to a lot of corn on a twenty acre field. Within I week we started eating the dropped corn. It’s all but gone now. Some experts don’t know what they are talking about. The local farmers give out green tags for hunters to shoot extra deer because of crop destruction. The only thing the deer seem to prefer over corn is soy beans.

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On 1/5/2020 at 3:20 PM, Further said:

Guinea fowl are a neat bird to have around. They are tick vacuums, suck them up like candy. And better than average watch critters, they make a racket when anything out of the ordinary happens. I'd like to have a flock but don't have enough land.   

My step-daughter raises Guinea hens, and the kids show them at 4-H competitions.

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On 1/5/2020 at 5:04 PM, Longjohn said:

The deer don’t know this. The field behind my house was picked this year with a defective corn picker. About every six feet down the row I would find a whole ear of corn that was dropped. That would amount to a lot of corn on a twenty acre field. Within I week we started eating the dropped corn. It’s all but gone now. Some experts don’t know what they are talking about. The local farmers give out green tags for hunters to shoot extra deer because of crop destruction. The only thing the deer seem to prefer over corn is soy beans.

Often time the problem is a rapid change in diet, but also occurs in young animals rapidly gaining on a high plane of nutrition.  We have fed corn and some will actually make piles of corn cobs for their sheep, etc. without problems.  Many vaccinate for over-eating disease, and without vaccination some losses are incurred each year. I think it would be similar in deer and other wildlife ruminants.

Experts have no control on how others use and report their research findings. I assume those you maybe referring to as experts are reporting findings of others.

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