Many a big buck are killed on trails . I agree. A pic of a big buck under a feeder at night only hurts you. Better to not even see it.

Many mature bucks are killed standing under a feeder in Texas. This buck showed up and picked a fight the very first time I saw him. No TC pics till the next day and they were in the daylight and night.



I had already filled my tag in a one buck AR county so all I could do was watch and take pics. I called my cousin to come hunt this buck. He stayed around after the fight and worked the does for over an hour.

The next day we hunted the same stand and the buck was at another blind inside the feed pen eating corn at the feeder in good shooting light.


He was killed the next morning at the original stand heading to the feed pen. He never made it.

I do not allow and have never allowed bucks or does to be killed inside a feed pen or under a corn feeder. IME every time you do that you educate the other deer around the deer you just shot. I have other pictures of mature bucks at corn feeders in the daylight during hunting season also. IME if you only feed for a few months and shoot deer standing under the feeder on a regular basis you will not see many mature deer at feeders.

Numbers of big bucks killed under a feeder are few compared to big bucks killed on a trail. Now south Tx with rifle yea i can see a lot of bucks in close proximity to a feeder. Rest of tx good luck.But thats just in my 40 years of hunting them. Nice deer what did he score 130?

He scored 145. If the rest of Texas ran feeders year round and did not kill deer under feeders, they would see more deer under feeders. The difference between South Texas and a lot of the rest of the state is numbers of mature deer. You can't get something under a feeder that does not exist. I have been hunting them for well over 40 yrs also, all around the state.

I've seen it done by a buddy in Iowa on more than one occasion. He hunts a lot of grain fields, if he see a deer entering the area from a location he can't get to he starts placing camera and slowly moves that deer his direction by doing nothing more than putting out cameras. So yes cameras can spook deer!

Oh it can be done I have seen big bucks under feeders to. For about 15 seconds. You better killem quick. They are always nervous aproaching feeders and being near them. In your situation youve probably raised them up like that their whole life so they are normal to them. The rest of us who get a few years at best on random land forget it!I would say if your killing deer near a feeder your doing it the hard way . Most folks think feeder equals easy hunting. Its obvious you know what your doing. Good luck this year!

IME people who continuously hunt only one feeder will educate deer, no matter if it is with a rifle or bow. They hunt that one spot no matter what the wind direction is. They arrive to late. They spook deer leaving their stand or entering to it and they leave to much of their scent around(no matter how hard they try not to). I like to have several setups for archery and usually have only one over a feeder, the rest are on trails or roads leading to feeders. I do not want to educate the deer or change their pattern or routine. What most forget is that feeders running year round allow deer to feed calmly and approach from all directions without any pressure or human presence...till hunting season starts. We are running around before daylight or after dark changing a deers routine. If you look at the times deer are approaching and then leaving feeders, most hunters are doing overlapping those times with their entry or exit. That change in our pattern is what changes deer patterns, not the feeder.
Any hunter that can outsmart a mature buck is doing something right. Good luck to you also.

I see more deer at our place if I just shut the feeders off and haven't killed a deer within 400yds of one.

I have to admit most of my history, a little more than half was spent entirely on public land. If it works for you dont change it!I agree most "hunters" dont correctly hunt the wind and how they enter and when is wrong. If I had a little peace of paradise all to my self Im sure i would be doing what your doing. If and when I do get a chance at private land i always hand scatter corn and sweetfeed pellets and then come back a few days later hunt it.Deer are crawling out of the woodworks while the niehbors feeders are baren. Its hands down the best way I have found. I have killed a few pope and youngers off public land doing that. Again what ever works for ya keep doing it!

Stop putting trollies and gummie bears in your feeder

Might as well put PorkTrack in it.

Yeah, twizzlers clog too bad...

You sure about that hmmmmm?

There are always exeptions. Again Im going off what i have personally witnessed. All I can do. For all I know you spotlighted that deer. But to answer your question Yes im sure more big bucks are killed on trials than under feeders.

We have been running 14 of these cameras since August. So far, they are holding up just fine.

Big bucks, hunting pressure, and feeders don't go together. When we bought our property the deer were literally shot out, we saw 3 deer the first year total. We didn't shoot a deer for 4 years, in that time we had other deer move in and several deer reach maturity. Getting a picture of multiple mature deer in one picture wasn't uncommon. Fast forward a few years of hunting on those feeders and we get the results you are saying. Its not the feeder, it is the hunting pressure associated with it.

I have been trying to get our pressure off of feeders for the past couple years, but 40 year old habits are HARD to break!

Again in my history hunting deer big bucks dont like feeders. Im sure you guys are right on what your saying. Again if its working for YOU you would be crazy not to keep doing it. And if it dont work youd be crazy to keep trying it! LOl

stx is dead on. You've got to have a bunch of set-ups. And you should never hunt one more than once, twice per week maximum. And only when the wind is right. I've sat in stands overlooking feeders until after 10PM, waiting on mature bucks who showed up before dark to leave. So as not to spook them. I will not leave my stand if there are deer nearby. PERIOD.

I hunted for 15 years on 12,000 acres in LaSalle County. The owner had 54 stands and wouldn't hunt the same stand more than every two weeks. He was so paranoid about scent, we took all our gear, including chairs into and back out of the blind on every sit. Mature bucks sauntered in at daylight and at 4PM in the afternoon. Early season, you'd see bachelor groups of 8 bucks with a couple fully mature deer feeding around and under corn feeders.

It's all about not educating the deer. Heavily pressured mature deer, sunlight and feeders don't go together, except during the rut. Go to great lengths not to educate the big bucks, and they will come to feeders consistently.

I hunt 1,800 high-fenced acres in Webb County now. We have 24 set-ups with stands and feeders. We have sanctuary areas where we do not allow any hunting nor travel. And we have portable set-ups to hunt the trails leading to and from feeding areas. Protein feeders with no stands. The place was hunted all wrong for years. We're in our third year of turning the place around, and the deer are beginning to calm down and come to the corn feeders (in numbers) regularly, now. Absolutely no riding around and shooting and no driving around at night.

As for TC's we use Cuddeback and Moultrie 880's. The Moultries were a good value, but don't last more than a year or two. Moisture intrusion seems to be the most common complaint. The Cuddebacks have been running without a problem for three years now.

Petting zoos are way different.

I have not noticed a problem with deer noticing the no glow ir at night. We have a working ranch with cattle, wheat production etc. I see more deer from the tractor than most while hunting. We also have some huge deer. During hunting season deer will find a way to avoid where hunters are. Late in the year I will rarely hunt at a feeder or stand. Also a big beliver in the Ozonic scent eliminator.

Well I can assure you I have a ton of big mature deer under a feeder at all times of the morning to mid afternoon to night time pictures. It's also in my opinion only that mature deer will hang around feeders if they feel safe and have a good exit with good cover close by and very little pressure. We kill a lot of big mature deer under feeders every year it depends on the place as well.

That could be shutter noise too. I can hear some of mine when I walk by them and I know that means a deer can.

I agree with most of what has been said on this thread. Let me condense. Unless you have a petting zoo (deer raised under feeders since birth,high fence and or 10,000 acres for 25 years in the trophy triangle, South Tx ) feeder hunting is the way to go!

Corn taste good

Here two of many from east tx.. trinity river




heres one from central/east tx (sandhills)

To the op.. iv used them all. Use to like the old cuddys but now I only use tasco