New Feeder Pen

I just built a new 16-panel feeder pen around a feeder that I have had running for about a year. How long would you expect it to take before deer will beging jumping the panels to feed?

I wouldn't think very long. How tall are the panels?

Usually just a few days at most. I have seen same day on a brand new feeder though. Are they 34 inch hog panels? It is very green now so don't expect much activity though.

I had them jumping in a 34" high pen within a few minutes out near Ozona.

They are 34 inch tall Tractor Supply hog panels.

With all the rain it might take a while.....

I had them coming in often after I set my last one up and then regularly within a few weeks. Really green right now in some areas, so yeah, might take a bit

How are the yearlings/fawns going to get any corn in the fall since they will not jump a 3 foot fence?
That is why we eliminated feed pens at our 3800 acre lease in Telegraph.

As green as it is I’d say a few days or until they are interested in a corn snack. Last pen I built the deer were in it the same night.

How did deer survive in Texas before men started using corn feeders

good point ... I usually leave a small 8-10" wide gap between the ends of the panel at one location around the pen to allow for fawns to enter/exit. Once the hogs find that opening, they will root through it though and I typically have to close it off. Then they have to find other food or mother's milk. Most yearlings will be a bit hesitant but eventually will hop right in.

I built a 34" tall feed pens in the hill country on a lease one time. After 3 weeks I still did not have any deer in the pens, so I opened one panel about 6-7 ft and put a couple of cedar stays up high to keep the livestock out. That let the deer go under the cedar stays into the pen. After about a month they were using the pens daily and jumping into them. These were protein only and I was hand corning to get the deer used the pens. Fawns are not eating much corn or protein till they are a few months old. I have seen fawns jumping into feed pens at 5 months of age when they are eating protein or corn as part of their diet. Most fawns will run around the outside of a pen when they finally start to follow the does to the feeders. If the feeder is not full you could move it closer to one side of the pen so that some of the corn hits outside pen or you could leave on panel open. I would move the feeder to edge of the pen before I took any pen down if I had hogs on a place.

I us 10 panels and in 2 areas I separate the panel and put 2 t post to hold the ends of the panels. Then I put in 3 strands of bob wire or partial panel covering the top half leaving a gap at the bottom where the fawns and older deer can go under like a door . The deer will usually go under to get in and over the panels to leave. Pigs will go in which allows 2 shots at them before they can get out.

I guess technically, we are not feeding deer, we are attracting deer. I don't think anyone puts enough corn on the ground for deer to survive on. I would not worry about the little ones getting in the pen. You just want them to get used to coming with mama to the feeder for the future.

They can easily clear 50-60", they do in the fall on our oat field all the time which is 48" net and two barbs. They'll watch mama jump into the pen and they'll learn from her.

With the invention of the auto feeders the deer population in Texas exploded. For some areas the addition of corn to the deer's diet, meant the fawn survival rates increasing dramatically. Some counties went from limited doe permits per landowners to tags on the licenses.