Texas Hunting Forum

newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders?

Posted By: ktk120

newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/11/15 10:34 PM

Lifelong hunter but newbie to Texas and this whole feeder thing. I got a small lease on north side of Jack county near the Clay county line. I got the lease late and am still trying to get it set up. The feeders have been set for almost one month to the day. I have yet to get one daylight photo of an animal and really not alot of deer on camera although I bump deer most trips out and there is plenty of sign. Is it typical for them not to hit the feeders yet. Am I being impatient? The hogs come thru about once or twice a week and clean up the corn. Any advice or am I doing something wrong. I am feeding 2x per day for 6 seconds (currently 8am and 6pm)
Posted By: kmon11

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/11/15 10:53 PM

Lots out there for them to eat right now, when it starts going away look to the feeders. For now I would be checking out the oaks for acorns.
Posted By: SnakeWrangler

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/11/15 10:54 PM

Welcome to Texas.... welcome

What else is around the area for them to eat....
Posted By: allterrain

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/11/15 10:58 PM

Feed only in the morning for a 2 or 3 second interval. Do not throw out excess feed that encourages the night time buffet, then see if your results get better and adjust accordingly. Sometimes feeder placement will change your results and try to feed in an area with some cover and scout your land for game trails. Good luck.
Posted By: ktk120

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/11/15 11:19 PM

Ok...i will shorten the feed times. I don't see any agriculture around but there is thousands and maybe 10's thousands of acres of acorn oak forest near this property. This property has about 30-40 acre junk of timber that I am leaving as a sanctuary area. Maybe they just are not coming out of it right now.
Posted By: 4Weight

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/11/15 11:33 PM

Lots of oaks in Jack county, bet they are banging acorns right now. They will hit the feeders eventually, especially if we get no rain for a while. Boy we need it though badly. I would consider penning those feeders to keep the hogs out. The pigs will move your deer out for sure.

Good luck.
Posted By: maximum

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/12/15 12:06 AM

Originally Posted By: 4Weight
. . . . I would consider penning those feeders to keep the hogs out. The pigs will move your deer out for sure.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ this right here ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Posted By: mikei

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/12/15 01:13 AM

Originally Posted By: ktk120
Lifelong hunter but newbie to Texas and this whole feeder thing. I got a small lease on north side of Jack county near the Clay county line. I got the lease late and am still trying to get it set up. The feeders have been set for almost one month to the day. I have yet to get one daylight photo of an animal and really not alot of deer on camera although I bump deer most trips out and there is plenty of sign. Is it typical for them not to hit the feeders yet. Am I being impatient? The hogs come thru about once or twice a week and clean up the corn. Any advice or am I doing something wrong. I am feeding 2x per day for 6 seconds (currently 8am and 6pm)


Cut your feed time to once a day at 8am and 3 seconds or so and then watch your camera. As the acorn crop diminishes, you'll begin to get more customers to your feeder, and once you see that, add a second feed time, but keep the duration short. As soon as you get a steady stream of deer in at or around the feed times, ease the duration up a second or so. They'll come around.
Posted By: tlk

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/12/15 01:21 AM

pen your feeders - simple to do and makes a huge difference
Posted By: txshntr

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/12/15 01:35 AM

Tough area to hunt with feeders. A lot of pressure in pockets up there and because of the proximity to DFW, so the deer turn nocturnal.

Feeders aren't the cure-all in Texas hunting, but they are a tool. Try to find a concentration of natural forage and trails going to them. Use cameras to watch the travel routes to see where and when they are traveling. If you find a good trail, corn off to the side of the trail and set up with a good wind.

As was said, area has plenty of hogs. Pens will help keep them out and allow the deer to come back in.

Good luck and welcome to Texas cheers
Posted By: DQ Kid

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/12/15 01:40 AM

Originally Posted By: txshntr
Tough area to hunt with feeders. A lot of pressure in pockets up there and because of the proximity to DFW, so the deer turn nocturnal.

Feeders aren't the cure-all in Texas hunting, but they are a tool. Try to find a concentration of natural forage and trails going to them. Use cameras to watch the travel routes to see where and when they are traveling. If you find a good trail, corn off to the side of the trail and set up with a good wind.

As was said, area has plenty of hogs. Pens will help keep them out and allow the deer to come back in.

Good luck and welcome to Texas cheers


TXHNTR has hit it pretty good here, good amount of pressure that way but you really need to pen the feeders to see if you can control the "hog effect" at least.
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/12/15 02:15 AM

Acorns can cause issues this time of the year. Just because you put a feeder out does not mean the deer will hit it right away. Sometimes it will take time for deer to find in a wet year like this one. I would also suggest keeping both feeding times but put the morning one closer to sunrise or about 15 minutes after daylight. Deer movement in the morning is better around feeders this time of year closer to daylight. The evening time is okay. My feeders are set at 7:20am and 6:40pm right now. I move them every couple of weeks as the days get shorter.
welcome
Posted By: Matpk

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/12/15 01:40 PM

welcome
WELCOME TO TEXAS.Further welcome to this forum.
To me both are heart and brain for any Avid Hunter.

welcome
Posted By: Pitchfork Predator

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/12/15 11:18 PM

welcome

I would put your cameras on trails leading in and out of the oaks and see what you have and when they are coming and going form the acorns.

If you have water on the place I would set up a camera on it to see what you have.
Posted By: Erathkid

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/13/15 12:13 AM

Fellow THFR. Stub, also hunts northern Jack county. It's a great area with a fairly high deer density. If you have cover then you have deer. They probably just need some time to find the corn.
Posted By: ktk120

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/13/15 12:36 AM

Thanks everyone...lots of good information here to digest. I knew about the hog pens but just ran out of time, money and energy just to get it hunt able for this year. Are there any recommended links for how to do pens?

While there is alot of hog sign on the property its catle fences are in good shape in all but a few places so i think it limits the locations they can get in. I have not seen more than 2 hogs at a time and all have been bigger boars. None of the big groups i see alot of ya'll post.
Posted By: Wilhunt

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/13/15 12:37 AM

X-2 on what STX said, the big bucks are more likely to show up at 6:00 am DST in my opinion.
Posted By: Txhunter65

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/13/15 12:53 AM

Originally Posted By: tlk
pen your feeders - simple to do and makes a huge difference


I agree!
Posted By: KnoxCityNate

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/13/15 02:25 AM

Same problem here in Knox County. Had plenty of deer around last season but so far not one on my feeder cam yet. Still been pretty warm I'm hoping once it cools down at little bit they will move at bit more.
Posted By: Captain Luke

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/13/15 05:02 AM

Sometimes the hunting shows make Texas hunting seem easy.
Posted By: Txduckman

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/14/15 06:03 AM

I am up in the area too. If you have good visibility from your stand, hand throw (pour from bag or container you carry) corn in long lines. I do this and it will stop deer in their tracks that otherwise cruise right by the feeder. I sometimes see 12 deer in a hunt and not one goes to the feeder.
Posted By: DuckCoach1985

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/14/15 03:44 PM

Switch to protein or mineral blocks until the acorns are gone. if you get the chance, try grabbing a few trashbags full and freezing them. In late November or December you can throw them out and boom.. you'll have the only edible acorns around
Posted By: EddieWalker

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/15/15 02:06 PM

Like others have said,if hogs are eating your corn, the deer wont come around and fight them for it. They just go somewhere else to eat. I've also found that not all corn is the same, and some they like a lot better then other corn.
Posted By: Navasot

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/15/15 02:22 PM

Keep feeding twice a day for sure... may try moving feeder location if possible
Posted By: Navasot

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/15/15 02:22 PM

or hand corn a few different spots in your area and see if deer use it better then move the feeder
Posted By: Kenny Powers

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/16/15 12:44 PM

Originally Posted By: Navasot
or hand corn a few different spots in your area and see if deer use it better then move the feeder

This^^^
Posted By: ktk120

Re: newbie to texas...why are the deer not at the feeders? - 10/27/15 03:11 AM

UPDATE: Within the last two weeks the activity both deer and hogs is high on the Cameras. Some decent bucks and big pigs are now on the camera's regularly. The new issue is its 100% after dark. I did manage to take a mature doe i saw Friday before last. That was the only daylight deer i saw.
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