Out of ideas. Help wanted.

First year on my lease. Put out feeders in April. A few occasional does and TONS of hogs all summer. I shot a few hogs but way too many so I paneled my feeder pens in August. No more hogs, but not a single deer in the pen in 2 months.

There’s probably 70 lbs of corn under the feeder.

Guys all around me on the lease have plenty of deer pics.

SMH. I’m thinking about putting out some / a lot of attractant to see if it helps them find it...or are they avoiding it for other reasons???

Youth rifle is in 4 weeks and I got on this place for a lot of reasons, my daughter being one big one.

Notch the cattle panel so deer can get in and out easier. We cut ours down to about crotch high.

Did that a month ago.

Stop throwing corn. Get rid of any cheesy “attractants”.

Put up a free choice protein feeder. Try something different.

So, I am wondering how much of an area (what size) does your pen cover. Deer do not normally like to jump into small enclosures. They will, but not unless they have no other options. Sounds like they have better options from what you are mentioning, in your thread. Does and fawns prefer to slip under and or through a fence, when they can. Mostly, it seems that the deer don’t like your setup, or they like stuff meone else’s better.

Also, it Sounds like you don’t like feeding the hogs...if that is the case, just thin them out. Many years ago, I quit messing with feeders, as I got tired of the cattle breaking down my pens, tearing the feeders up. (Hogs can do the same thing, just to a lesser extent.) So I just started throwing out a couple bags of feed at several different locations, each time I arrived at deer camp..nothing for the cattle to tear up, and they can’t really get at the corn, if you spread it out enough. Then the hogs showed up, en masse...so I thinned them out (which mostly scared them off to adjoining properties) and I got lots of good hog meat to eat, and left the boars to the coyotes (which I also would shoot for the furs)...because the bait stations were large, usually an acre insize, the deer would show up in groups of 8 to 10 does/yearlings/fawns (instead of ones, twos)...Also the bucks would come in to scent check the does, when they were feeding at my bait stations. Basically, the bucks started coming in more regular than before. So once I started, the feeding stations, I began to put out doe in estrus scent, when I fed out, and even dripped it from my truck on the side of the road as I was leaving the feeding stations. What happened, is that the bucks would temporarily take up residence on my territory, and go into Rut Mode, while I was there...while the results will take a couple days or more to work...a long trip to hunting camp will prove productive...As with anything, the deer will take time to condition themselves to any new strategy. It took me a year to get the deer accustomed to my bait stations, but I encountered many mature bucks, that I had seldom seen previously. Anyway, this method is much less expensive and once successfully adopted, can increase your mature buck sightings. Hope this insight helps!

Clear out the old corn you have under the feeder. Stinky feed will keep them further away than good feed will bring them in.

My pen is 3 panels by 3 panels square (48 feet square). I am planning to go down soon and clear out the corn on the ground.

Lot of unknowns here. What part of the state, how many acres, how many are you hunting , how big are your pens, what does the cover look like? Did this all start after the last time you filled feeders?

This would be my first action, next I would look at location and set up. Good luck

Comanche. 2800 acres. I hunt about 100 of it. Pen is in a small clearing next to a seasonal creek with thick hardwoods on one side and scrub on two sides.

I have 2 pens. The other is about 200 yards away. I shut it down in August to concentrate on the pen in the clearing. No deer in either pen since early July.

I have a cell camera so I know if anything is coming in.

Or your cell cams stopped transmitting in July If you're not getting hogs or anything for several months, that would be unusual.

Take out one panel on opposite sides of the pen till the deer are using it again.

Are you using hog panels? Sounds like you are setup in a good area.

Here’s part of the problem.

Pens need to be 8-10 panels.

I think he is saying 3 panels per side which is a total of 12 panels which is decent size.

Maybe fill the feeder with a mix of corn and roasted soybean? It can't hurt (except maybe your wallet).

Move the feeder.

Open the pen and let the hogs come in and clean up the corn, then leave it open and let the deer get used to it, then you can close it up or add a couple more panels.

Correct. 3 panels per side. 12 panels. 2 panels are hog so that there are low areas for the deer to jump in. I cut down severAl other panels as well.

I had a similar situation where the hogs overran my feeder with very few deer coming in. I sat on that blind and shot as many pigs as I could and eventually they moved on to another. I still saw several deer but typically passing by and briefly stopping for a look. I ended up taking the panels down and just letting the lead do the work on the pigs. My daughter loved watching the pigs come in and doing the curly shuffle when one or more got a bullet. We have cattle as well so we just run a 2 strand barb wire fence around the feeder. Deer almost always go under it unless spooked. I also feed the soybean/corn mix and while more expensive, the deer cant get enough.

When the deer were not hitting my corn I bought square bales of Alfalfa and it usually always works.
Put some of the chunks inside your feeder pen and put some more around the peripheral area that you are hunting.
Make sure it is nice and green and the deer have plenty of water to drink, the Alfalfa makes them thirsty!

Good luck

When I bought my land, I was all excited and happy to shoot hogs, so I let them eat all the corn they wanted and I shot them on a regular basis. But during deer season, I didn't see very many deer, and I realized that the hogs where the problem. I fenced off the feeder and that kept the hogs away, but I never had any bucks come to the corn, just a few does. That never changed and I got to wondering if it was too small of an area for the bucks. It was about 50 feet by 50 feet.

After a few years of that, I got to wondering if a hot wire would work better then fence panels. I ran a single wire around the entire food plot, which is half an acre. I used plastic T posts with clips for the wire on the side that sell for a couple bucks each at Atwoods. You just push them into the ground with your foot and run the wire through the clips at the height that you want it. I have it about one foot off of the ground. This has worked better then I had ever hoped for. Super simple to do with exceptional results. Now I have bucks in the food plot with the does all year round.

I also have a spot where i spread out Black Magic. This is what they go to first. They have eaten or licked the dirt away to create a low spot with a deep hole in the middle. I add more Black Magic every 3 months and they keep coming back to it every night regardless of the food plot or if I have corn out.

How far away is your stand/blind?

Once the hogs dominate it you might be better off moving it. How many hunters?

You said you were hunting 100 of 2800 acres. If you have 20 or more hunters all putting out feeders then some feeders aren’t gonna get much action except when there’s nothing else to eat.

throw something entirely different.

This is what I’m thinking. There are a lot of stands on the place.


The thing is, 90% of my hunting experience is not hunting over a corn feeder. This is my first lease and I am on it for fellowship and for a place to get away. I would however expect to at least see some deer.

Try a mineral block , mix in other feed with the corn.

I’d think your pen is too small but if you say it’s not

Maybe it’s too hard to get into?

How many acorns around? Which side of Comanche?

I live in Comanche and hunt in Mills & Hamilton counties. In some places, the deer aren’t touching corn due to acorns. In other places, the deer are mowing down the corn as soon as it hits the ground.

South side towards blanket. There are some hardwoods around my pen, but the other guys on the lease are getting deer on corn all summer.

Get a bag of rice bran and put it down in there.

A flicker of hope.

First deer in the pen in 2+ months.

I have had issues with them getting in a square pen.

I’m trying to offer ideas

Here’s another

I once knew some people that kept a good garden. Anyway, they would run pvc posts about 10 feet in the air maybe every 5 feet. Something about that they claimed deer didn’t like

Your t post are pretty close together and extend past the panels. Which reminded me of how their garden was kept

My best feeder is 300 yards from another. I have panels and get a lot of deer, other nothing but put some barb wire around it due to cattle. It is just a pig and turkey feeder. Deer bed there but don't feed there. They just don't like some areas.

I really enjoyed reading the different types of strategies for feeders. Good information for someone like me who doesn't have a lot of experience over feeders. Thanks.

my set up down by creek, had my oats & later the deer mix seeds... Seen the deer tracks coming in. twas well used trail. had put the brick size corn, apriot & acorn attractant ground leavel on trails, ha corn feeder timer, off edge of woods... sound atractaint... Hogs would follow creek. find & tear up area. destroyed my corn feeder. tis b4 ha the cams, & buck only county.. We tride getting 1 doe tag, was told not enough deer.
So started ta concentrait on the hog problem...Had lease for deer hunts.. & thar was pletty deer on property. Set up was doe bedding area. working fence & other work around place seen plenty bucks & does... Hunters are the eye's & ears of the woods... pappy now tis high-tech trail cam's... not complaining, i enjoy my pic's...
Kept hog preasure on, started seeing less. WMA opened up down road, so grabbed bow in hand & took a stand, deer & hog hunts... Leasing was going ta highest bidder..
Eventualy smith county went 4 deer :confussed: could have taken 4 deer a year LEGALY when b4 only asked for 1 doe tag & told NO not enough deer...
stayed with what was doing... had No hog problem's... & still did the WMA hunts archery deer & hogs...

Stay with it...
Keep your head held high & your powder dry...
just my

There are some good suggestions above with the one I would use to be opening up a couple of panels.

Some very good ideas. Surely someone posted a solution.

Only contribution I would make is that you mentioned your daughter. I assume you wish her to enjoy the hunting experience. If so I would welcome the hogs. Action is better than nothing, or the occasional deer. I hunt in east Texas and when my son was young we did not have pigs at all, and seeing deer in east Texas is not a guarantee every sitting. I would embrace the hogs and let her slay as many as possible when she is able. Wild pig taste pretty good too.