Does anyone feed cotton seed as a supplement and it is possible to buy small amounts. I'm not looking to purchase a ton of it. Does it hurt it if it gets wet? Do you use a simple wire cage to put it in? Thanks for all the information.

I don't feed it since it is labor intensive and expensive these days. It lacks minerals which are very important in antler growth. It is water resistant to a point. If it does get to wet and grows deer will still eat it as a green plant. Upside coons and hogs do not eat it readily. It takes deer a while to get on it also. You best buy is in bulk large contracted quantities. You can buy it in 50lb bags at some locations but it is expensive. Wire cage feeders are the best way to feed it other than a covered feed trough that is like a cattle feeder. Google Overton Cottonseed studies to get their take on feeding it to deer. It is not something you want to feed year round.

Thank you very much for the information. Just trying to find out any other (cheap) ways that I can help the deer herd out.

Look into large square bales of alfalfa if you do not have cattle or other livestock on the place. Might take time to train deer to eat it also. Could be a cheaper alternative but might have more waste long run than whole cottonseed or protein pellets.

No cattle on the place. Would you put out the bale of alfalfa now or in January when I am through hunting?

I would buy a bale now and put out a leaf of it at each feeder location. Break it apart and put a little corn on top of the pile. You will need to build or buy a feeder for it to keep the rain/moisture off of it if you do not make it to the place very often if you feed only smaller bales. Once deer get on it better and according to how often they go through a bale you might go the larger bales. The large square bales(1000#+) can be put out in one location and let deer eat from it as they need it. Some put a plywood roof type over the top of those large bale in more rainy climates.

At our ranch we put out broken bales of alfalfa. The axis will eat every stick of it they can. In the pastures that are mainly whitetail, the whitetails will hit it and take mostly the leafy ends of the hay. The rest gets scattered around as they paw the segment apart.
As soon as the few axis in those pastures find it though, it's pretty much all gone.