Went down again this weekend. Green, green, green and very unusual for the start of the summer. In addition, cattle load has been successfully achieved. Them there deer are knocking us out. Personally saw two 1,200 pound feeders loaded to the gills the week before, which will be out in a matter of days. Many more with above average consumption rates. Cottonseed baskets taking a hit also.

We are MLD and do a pretty good job with controlling numbers, our conditions are great (beyond what you could ask for) and the deer are trying to bankrupt us and break oi backs at the same time.

Sounds like a great problem to have Hudbone! I did the same at my place this weekend!

The consumption here is about the same for this time of the year as it has been over the last 3-4 yrs now. Lack of rains or spotty rains till May had consumption up and now with good May rains it is dropping off like in the past. Really green now and if the pattern follows the past few years, the deer will back completely off of feed in June till late Sept to Nov. I am seeing some mesquite blooms and have quite a few green persimmons so when those hit the deer will leave the protein. The brush all put on a lot of new growth with the rains and tons of forb growth now after the rains is helping a lot.

I have seen that very same pattern for years now. We'll fill up our 4,200 pound capacity between the five feeders and be done with if for this year. Cottonseed only until labor Day at which time, l we let that run out and turn the corn back on. Total feed bill for the two of us back in our 1,200 acres or so and four blind set ups is now sitting at $5,132.80 (who's counting?) since we started January 16th. The bulk of the work and expense is over. Next year, not starting the pellets until March 1st.

I have seen that pattern since the early 90's in South Texas and in the Hill Country. In the mid 90's on ranches in La Salle County we saw feed consumption trail off dramatically during the late May to Sept time every year when we had huge mast crops...mesquite beans and tunas(pear apples). You would see a drop off of on protein consumption as much as 80% when the mast crops were abundant. The second thru the 4/5th week but would be the most. Some years you could get another bean crop and it was usually a lower amount, so less drop off. June and July were the times when feed pens were almost void of deer. During that time in the mid 90's it seemed like those ranches also got much better June rains than they did in the spring. Traditionally those ranches had their best rainfall month of the year in May then Sept would be 2nd...during those years June was the best month during antler growing season. Many of those ranches fed year round and saw a spike in feed consumption the Oct...pre-rut bucks pounded the feeders hard and fawns were now eating protein also. In the Hill Country we saw 3 periods of heavy protein use...for about a month post rut in Jan-Feb...then every year around May 10th give or take a few days we saw feed consumption double in one week due to mature forb growth and then finally in August. January and August were traditionally the 2 driest months with the worst range conditions. Post rut bucks in January, then later antler growth bucks and finally fawns mature enough to start eating protein made the spikes more pronounced in August. Mast crops and wet cold fronts in the fall made for huge drops in feed consumption.
I will be turning my corn feeders down now to 2 seconds/2 times per day after the rains I had in May. Even with low 60's morning temps the corn is still on the ground at mid-morning. Birds and rats are getting most of that morning feeding now. Mast crops are going to be ready in late June to early July. Lot of new growth tender browse also. Forb growth is stressing some or getting mature at this time here. Have not checked in any Live Oaks for little acorns yet but will in the next week or so.

Protein consumption down and cottonseed has taken off. It's that time.

and now, that time is on steroids. Protein consumption way off, but the deer are destroying the cottonseed.

Since January 16th and all from 50 lb sacks, Klappenbach and I have placed in the feeders - 139 cottonseed, 444 protein & 175 corn for a total 37,900 pounds of "nourishment".

Geez, those durn deer are killing me. I just may make some of the most expensive sausage in the whole wide world.

And maybe the best in the whole wide world, IMHO!!!

We have a place in Center. They like the Antler Max pretty good there. a sack is $15.35

Thinking that is high by about 25%.