Any way to estimate how much protien on average each deer will eat in punds per month?

I cannot tell you the answer to your question but I can tell you this. I have looked at thousands upon thousands of trail camera pictures over protein feeders. We set our cameras to take two pictures in sequence every 5 minutes. Rarely is a deer eating out of the feeder for more than ten minutes - the norm is no more than 5 minutes. Now how much a deer can eat in 5 minutes is not something I can tell you either. We will have the same deer come in twice per day to some feeders - but all in all, my guess is a single deer does not actually ingest that much protein per day.

It depends on a lot of factors. Number one is how good your habitat is or lack of it. Ratio of bucks to does and body size of those deer. Age of your buck herd, older and larger bucks will consume more than younger bucks or does. Density of feeders and number of feeders per location. How much water is available. Region of the state- South Texas deer do not eat long(in general) compared to Hill Country deer that are needing more protein. Rainfall is a factor. Food plots or farm crops will effect consumption. Livestock type and density.
As a rule, deer starting on protein will average 1-1.5lbs/hd/day. After 3-4 yrs that number will go to 2-2.5lbs/hd/day. I have seen some areas in South Texas and Central Texas where during droughts deer will eat 3-4lbs/hd/day or more if they have a large number of mature bucks and have been feeding year round for 5+ yrs. As a rule I always tell people with normal rainfall, good habitat, 1 to 1 ratio and deer density around CC to expect an average of 2 lbs/hd/day year round. If you are seeing swings in consumptions from less when raining to more when dry then you are supplementing the deer. If that consumption stays the same no matter if it is dry or wet, then you have other issues.

That pretty much sums it up. Thanks for the knowledge, fellas. I was wondering the same thing. Fixin' to start protein on our place.

STX - so if a deer consumes 2.5 lbs in a day for example, do you think it is possible for them to do so in 5 minutes or under? Or could it be the browse on our ranch is strong enough that they do not need to ingest that much each day? Just seems like a lot to eat in that short of a time frame

IMO a lot depends on the style of feeder and how easy it is for deer to eat. Some feeders are designed to feed deer while others are designed to keep non-target animals off the feeder. That is also limiting consumption. Feeds are based off a daily consumption rate. It also depends on the individual deer, some eat once a night and others eat 2 or more times per night. From what I have seen bucks tend to eat calmer and consume feed better when there are 2-3 feeders per location. Less stress.
I do not think if a deer is eating 2.5 lbs/day or more that they will eat it all at one time at the feeder. Deer feed multiple times in a 24 hr period since their needs require it. If a deer is up and moving they are usually browsing while moving. With good browse/forb growth they will still eat protein but only enough to fit their requirements. Different feeds will get different consumption rates. Some deer just eat more than others and are more likely to visit feeders more often.

That helps alot thanks. This is in the Hamilton area with cattle grazing.

Since hog paneling my feeders in Sept I have 3-5 regular deer coming to my feeder daily for the past several months and as many as 7-9 at a time last year during early summer. Not nearly as many since putting up hog panels up.

I was trying to figure out how long my 300lbs of protien would last (just put it up this weekend). At the rate of 2# per day I'm figuring 30 days or so, then less any spillage/coons or whatever so maybe 25 days. I'm concerned that if the consumption is less than that the weather condensation might ruin it.

I've turned the corn spin rate down to just a few seconds per day which also has soybeans in it.

Also anyone know what the protien content of corn/soybean mix is?

I tried it for a while last year. I realize I have too many deer. That being said they ate over 50 pounds per day. It was more of an experiment for me. I was wondering if it was worth the cost as opposed to what I would make on selling the deer.

I am not sure to be exact I want to say corn is less than 6% and soybeans are around 14%. STXRANCHMAN has shared some valuable information with you. I have often wondered how much protein a deer will eat and how found that the factors stxranchman shared are huge in the equation. Right now my deer in northern Stx are eating 1,000lbs of protein a month at each Station. Further South in areas that are dryer the deer are eating twice as much. My philosophy is feed them as much as you can as often as you can. It won't hurt them!

The corn/soybean blend I buy from Bryant Grain in Aledo is 16% protein total.

Looking at my gravity tube you can see that it's clear. I've never tried to do a frame by frame calculation from game camera pictures, but I have several pictures of a deer eating from the tube alone when the feeder is almost empty (you can see the protein level dropping inside the tube with pictures every minute).

I'm sure if someone did the calculations you could figure out what a given deer ate in pounds by how many inches the tube dropped in the time frame that deer ate from it.

i.e. Deer #1 ate for 5 minutes and the level dropped 4 inches inside the 4 inch PVC. Not exact and you could only do the calculations when the feeder is almost empty, but could be interesting none the less.

This clear tube gave me proof my 500#'s of protein only lasted 2-3 weeks with ONLY two feed ports which led to the purchase of a 1500# Lamco.

Found out Corn is 7% protien and soybeans between 30-40% protien.

BUT it is mixed 70% Corn to 30% Soybeans so however you figure out that math- lol

So if you could find it in bulk, straight soybeans would be better protien (maybe too much protien?), but it barely has any other minerals which supposedly the protien pellets do have other minerals.

On the ranches I fed in Val Verde County the average 300 lb protein feeder lasted about 2-2 1/2 weeks, less if the deer density was higher. If you have coons or other non target critters figure on losing at least another lb or two a day plus some spillage.

we get a few bucks (cannot tell on doe obviously) that will come in twice per 24 hour period. We also have cottonseed in most of our pens so that could affect the protein consumption. We have bucks that are regulars and protein pigs and other bucks that we have seen and killed at age 6-9 that have never visited a protein feeder. We have around 25 protein feeders/pens and run 20 cameras so we pretty much cover our feed pens. Strange to me how some bucks will wear the feeders out and others have nothing to do with them

According to TPW studies indicate it does no good to feed over 19.5% protein as that is the maximum the average deer can absorb.

agree - anything over 20% is not retained

That would be around a 16% mix depending on protein of the beans.

2 years ago on my place here, I had one feeder that held 275 lbs go empty every 7 days. The other 2 feeders(same size) would last 3-4 weeks. I fed 11,000 lbs of protein that year 24/7/365. Last year I fed 1 ton of feed from Jan 1st to mid July with all the rain. Same ranch, same feeders and same amount of deer. I did have Lab Lab and Soybeans planted that I know helped, but it rained 45". The whole year I feed around 5,000 lbs total in all the feeders, most of that was in Sept and Oct when it got really dry. Then they backed off when it started raining and oats came up really good.

I have always tended to disagree with those numbers. My question is, if a deer can only use so much protein then why do some deer make huge jumps in very wet years. Could it be the forb growth that has some plants in the 20-40% range or the new growth brush that has some values in the 20-30% in wet years compared to dry years? Throw in food plots of beans, peas, lab lab(30% leaf protein value), desmanthus, etc and deer much better than when on just native habitat. Look at the midwest where they plant alfalfa, soybeans, corn, milo, canola, etc and look what their deer look like on these higher protein crops? In Texas look at the amount of huge bucks killed in wet years vs. dry years.

^^^^^^ agree, but that being said, the natural stuff has protein levels that rise and fall throughout the year (in an average year...if there is such a thing). I would tend to question it too, but the reason I accepted it, at face value, is that the feed companies would be pushing 20%+ protein out the wazoo if they had any, even semi-reliable science to back it up.

That being said, I always considered a 16% ration as basically a maintenance ration, or in other words, bare minimum to keep them from loosing.

VERY TRUE

What do you mean by other issues?

As our herd continous to increase in numbers, I realize I'm not providing enough feed which is why I'm buying a bigger feeder this season, but are you saying there are other issues with natural food sources? We probably go through 2-2500 lbs of protein in the summer months in Hamilton/ coryell county on roughly 1600 acres.

To the OP.. I'm just south of you and our deer tend to feed 30 min to an hour durning the summer months. A 300 lbs feeder will go dry in 3 weeks or so between end of May and end of September. About the same head count you described

By other issues I mean, if you are feeding just as much feed in wet years as you are in dry years you have to many deer for your habitat.
2000-2500 lbs of protein sounds like a lot but in reality is not that much for summer months on that size acreage. At 70#/day you are only feeding around 30-40 deer. That is only a deer to every 40-50 acres. I would imagine your density is much greater than that. By comparison I fed almost that much on 1/7 the acres out of 3 feeders in the summer 2014 when it was very dry. I had one feeder that I was filling every 7 days(275# cap.) during that time period.

That's also assuming perfect consumption... we all know there are plenty of birds coons etc. out there.