After ten years of hunting the same place in East Texas, I have come to the realization that corn feeders are of little use if you are hunting mature bucks. The only time that I have seen bucks on plots with feeders is when the rut is hot, and they are not looking for corn. The exception to that would be when a mature oak tree is dropping acorns. I have seen several bucks emerge onto a plot, walk across a pea patch and past a corn feeder to get to a post oak that was making acorns. Around the feeders themselves you won't see them except on camera at night.

Yes sir! you are dead on... I have 3 feeders on 148 acres in bosque county, I have 2 stands between my main feeders that produce the best bucks with exception of the rut. try making a mock scrape at the nearest producing oak closest to the feeder...big bucks will steer clear of the feeder but stay close to the does, and the scrape bring out the territorial aggression.
My best buck was taken 75 yrds from the feeder at 165 yrd shot. walking around licking leaves next to my mock scrape.

Hang a 5 gallon bucket feeder in an oat tree about 20' high and you'll have more success than you ever knew with spin feeders ere in east tx. Otherwise, hand corn.

I really think that it is property specific. On my buddy's place near Lovelady they consistently see big bucks on camera under the corn feeders year in and year out. I hunt further north and we have plenty of mature bucks, but they don't want anything to do with the corn feeders other than to check does. I believe what an old-timer told me a while back that it takes a generation of bucks and does being raised around the feeders for them to accept them fully and really come to them. Every year I debate if I will even fill my corn feeders and instead just hunt the food plots, but so far I haven't changed.

6 years of pictures on my cameras i have only seen one 13+ buck with his head in the corn at my feeders. im still very green to whitetail hunting as i am transitioning from ducks, I have yet to learn how to hunt my land off the feeders using pinch points, crossings, and trails to the oaks. But thats part of the fun in my opinion. But this year i had 3 spring food plots that were visited and i placed feeders in sept at the edge of all 3, yet another year for trial and error.

After the acorns have fallen, been eaten or have rotted, the corn will work. I hunted east Texas several years ago, and you are correct, early season you are just feeding coons, squirrels, birds and hogs.

They'll eat under them, you just can't put pressure on them or have hogs camped out on the feeder @ every spin.

Sounds like my experience is pretty common. I have had the place 10 years and have had feeders on it for all ten. Thanks for the input. I will definitely give the mock scrape a try. Also hang a feeder high in oak tree. One cool thing about hunting Northeast Texas is you learn to pick up on small things. After 10 years I can identify nearly every tree in the woods by bark or leaves. You definitely can't just sit in a stand 100 yds from a barrel feeder and expect success.

I like using corn to know what is in the area. Looking at pictures from a feeder will give you something to look for.

If you are set up in the right area, all you need is a handful of corn to get em turned right and still for the shot. I don't think feeders produce results to justify the cost.

I have a couple of shooting lanes and have a feeder on one of them and corn the other!!! I see most of the mature bucks on the corned one and they are approximately 40 yds as the crow flies!!!

Standman That's what I'm trying to figure out. Whether I could spend the money that I spend on feeder maintenance better on other things. Maybe plant plots all year and go to protein. You being from Mt. Pleasant are really close to my neck of the woods so I would say our situations are very similar.

If you are in an area that gets enough rain......Foodplots!

yeah that what I'm thinking. I am going to plant off season food plots and see if I can draw more deer to the area by offering something that they can't find everywhere else. Also going to put a big protein feeder in area of farm that doesn't get hunted. Rain up here is usually pretty good, but we have had a few bad years here recently.

East Texas deer are no smarted than other deer. All else being equal, they will come to a feeder just as well as they will come to hand corn. We have a lot of natural browse in ET so overall they don't come to corn like they do in more arid climates.

Yeah, we are close. It has been my opinion our deer need protein way more than corn.

yeah I'm thinking feed for antler growth and not so much for attractant. I know we have a lot of deer because I see a ton of doe nearly every time I sit a stand. Just need to give them what they need to grow the horns and be picky about what bucks are taken.

I've seen only a couple of mature bucks eat at feeders around here. I've never killed one under feeder...now hand Corning by broadcasting over large area,that's a different ball game. Like mentioned,the deer here have plenty of browse and never have to hit the feeders...

It doesn't just grow the horns, it grows the backstrap, hams, and shoulders.

Good Point your are right about that. That's one thing I have noticed. Thanks to all the rain we have been blessed with this year the deer look really healthy. I have been thinking about going with that lab lab from tecamonte. Has anyone used it up in Northeast Texas.

u contridicted yourself sir, all things are not equal across texas, not even across counties or properties. one of my leases is on a large creek bottom, our neighbors to the north killed 2 good bucks under feeders last year, we had 3 feeders going on our place and never had any mature bucks on them, we did pick them up on cams on hand corn though.

I am posting this 30' up in a tree outside Longview (Gregg County) hunting over a food plot of wheat, oats, and peas. Food plots work awesome for me in ET. I have killed some big bucks in mine.

I also have a 3800 acre lease in Baylor County. Corn works a lot better out there for attracting deer, but still my biggest ones out there have come out in the wheat fields.

I love to bow hunt over food plots. But it takes a lot of time on the stand in East Texas compared to what it takes in counties further West.

Used it when I hunted in Red River Co, worked better than anything else I planted. I planted it in late spring, after turkey season, and then planted a fall mix for a kill plot. It withstands heavy browsing as long as you get some timely rains.

Thanks for the feed back. Thinking about mixing lab lab and soybeans together for a spring plot. Also going to put a big protein feeder in an area of farm that doesn't see hunting pressure.

I agree 100%. I almost took down my feeder this year, but decided that it's worth keeping up for the hogs during the off season. I have a lot of deer coming into my "field" which is just natural graze, didn't get a chance to put in a real field this year. Not once have I seen them come into the feeder since Jan/Feb where I had yearlings come - at night. I think they know that feeders mean trouble.