# Deer feeder settings for winter?



## dingleberry (Mar 24, 2008)

Hello all,

Have several feeders set up on land that I own. Feeding corn. Wondering what stategy you use for wintertime feeding. what time are feeders set, how long run etc. I am not tagged out and am still wanting to hunt and keep an eye on several bucks. this one in particular I have my eye on.

Thanks, D


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## Saugernut (Apr 22, 2013)

Have had good luck setting them to go off at 7 am and 3:30 pm with an 8 second run time


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## buckeye dan (Jan 31, 2012)

I always ran mine for 2 feedings for 3 seconds each. One at 8:00am and one at 4:00pm. The controllers are toast in all of them now and it seems nothing I came up with would keep them dry.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

10 seconds at 8 am and 10 seconds at 3:30 pm this time of year


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

I do 15 seconds at 7:30 and 3:00. Adjust run times according to your budget and how much the deer eat. What do you mean by wet "controllers". I run 4 units for 6 months out of the year and have never had moisture issues. Sunslingers are my preference. Face them South and they will run for over a year without ever touching a battery.


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## hopintocash2 (Aug 14, 2011)

You got some good advice here, I just hope you continue to feed after hunting season..I feed til spring, kinda cruel to feed for hunting season then give up when they need it most.


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## buckeye dan (Jan 31, 2012)

supercanoe said:


> I do 15 seconds at 7:30 and 3:00. Adjust run times according to your budget and how much the deer eat. What do you mean by wet "controllers". I run 4 units for 6 months out of the year and have never had moisture issues. Sunslingers are my preference. Face them South and they will run for over a year without ever touching a battery.


I ran Moultrie Pro Hunter Feeders. I ran mine year round for many years straight. I replaced a couple of motors and controllers to keep them going as long as I did. Eventually the weather, raccoons and whatever else beats the housings or seals up and they condensate until the electronics get wet. They'll even run for a while after that but it is inevitable they will die.

My reasoning for running 1/2 pound drops in the winter was I wanted to provide snacks instead of feeding. It gives the deer a chance to migrate to better wintering grounds. It's a bad thing to attract a bunch of deer to a less than ideal wintering location and not provide enough food for the entire herd. In a really bad winter it's probably a death sentence for younger deer.

With the small feedings the deer don't become dependent but it's still worth a visit on occasion. Other wildlife usually cleans up what the deer leave between visits but they don't become dependent either.


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## dingleberry (Mar 24, 2008)

Thanks for all the input.

D


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Had a friend with two feeders on abt 70 acres. He ran his twice a day also-during daylight. He set cameras to take pics at night. What he didn't know was large flocks of turkeys would run to the feeders when they went off and eat all the corn(whatever they left, the squirrels would clean up!) Basically, the deer, which predominately feed at night, didn't bother to visit the feeders at night since there was virtually nothing there for them! Though there were several deer on the property, they rarely showed up on camera. Lesson learned, he ran the feeders during the night! Lots of deer(and raccoon!) pics.


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## buckeye dan (Jan 31, 2012)

Here is a great article that was posted on another forum. It talks about what to feed and how. It also talks about dislocating deer from wintering grounds etc. These were all things I considered when I decided to throw snacks instead of food.

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/winterdeerfeeding.pdf


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

You are comparing apples to oranges. Wisconsin deer and Ohio deer do not live in the same environment or climate. Wisconsin deer have adapted specific physical traits, habits, and diets to survive in that climate and environment.


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## buckeye dan (Jan 31, 2012)

supercanoe said:


> You are comparing apples to oranges. Wisconsin deer and Ohio deer do not live in the same environment or climate. Wisconsin deer have adapted specific physical traits, habits, and diets to survive in that climate and environment.


And Ohio deer have not done exactly the same thing to survive in their environment? Apparently there is something in the article you disagree with? I am not sure what that is because regardless of what you believe, Wisconsin does not contain a sub-species of deer that differ biologically from any other whitetail deer in the Midwest.

They have Odocoileus virginianus the same as Ohio. While there are slight genetic differences in physical characteristics, they are all the same on the inside.

Also, I hope you realize, whitetail deer were extinct in Ohio and several other states during the early 1900's. Restocking efforts brought the deer back and Wisconsin was one of the sources in the mix. So yea, same deer.

Wisconsin *humans* have adapted specific physical traits, habits, and diets to survive in that climate and environment as well. They are still the same on the inside, requiring the same nutrition using the same digestive processes. The biology doesn't change because they are Wisconsinites instead of Ohioans.


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

The habitat and weather are very different. The deer in a good part of Wisconsin utilize different behavioral patterns, habitat, and food sources during the winter than Ohio deer do. For example the deer in my area all migrated about 5 miles from the farm that I lived on to a Preferred yarding area. And I mean every single deer. This area consisted of lowland cedar thickets. They spend all winter there at a very high population density. They have a very small range during this time. Their diet is almost exclusively woody browse. The cedars provide thermal cover. Winter in Wisconsin is nothing like Ohio. The snow comes early and stays late. Temps are brutal. And that is in the southern half of Wisconsin. The northern half of the state has entirely different habitat with even more extreme conditions. Deer in northern yarding areas that are primarily utilizing woody browse for food can have complications by a sudden change of diet to corn. Deer in Ohio have a more diverse winter diet and don't yard at high densities. Grain is an integrated part of the herds diet throughout the ohio and the Midwest.


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## buckeye dan (Jan 31, 2012)

supercanoe said:


> The habitat and weather are very different. The deer in a good part of Wisconsin utilize different behavioral patterns, habitat, and food sources during the winter than Ohio deer do. For example the deer in my area all migrated about 5 miles from the farm that I lived on to a Preferred yarding area. And I mean every single deer. This area consisted of lowland cedar thickets. They spend all winter there at a very high population density. They have a very small range during this time. Their diet is almost exclusively woody browse. The cedars provide thermal cover. Winter in Wisconsin is nothing like Ohio. The snow comes early and stays late. Temps are brutal. And that is in the southern half of Wisconsin. The northern half of the state has entirely different habitat with even more extreme conditions. Deer in northern yarding areas that are primarily utilizing woody browse for food can have complications by a sudden change of diet to corn. Deer in Ohio have a more diverse winter diet and don't yard at high densities. Grain is an integrated part of the herds diet throughout the ohio and the Midwest.


I don't think I disagree with anything in your statement. So what is the problem with the article? The finer points are:
If you feed, do it right. 
Don't feed a steady diet of corn or hay. 
Don't attract more deer than your area can handle. 
Don't concentrate your feed so that the deer compete for it.
Don't feed in areas where the deer may become a road hazard.
Don't feed to attract deer where they do not already exist.
Cut down woody browse to make it accessible. For this one, whether the deer eat it or not, it's still good for habitat development.

Sounds like solid advice for deer in both states to me.


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