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Intoducing an automatic feeder

fbwguy

fbwguy

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Location
Cato Arkansas
I have never been a feeder guy for my property, but i got a deal yesterday at WallyWorld that I couldn't turn down. I got a 200 lb metal feeder with motor ,timer and battery for $22.
Here is my question for you hunters that use feeders. With only a short time left in the season, and no previous feeders on my property, do I run a big risk of scaring off the deer by setting this feeder out? I'm thinking that it is a bad idea, but some of my buddies here say it wont spook em. Any thoughts?
 
This probably isn't helpful but if my state (Vermont) was still in season and if it allowed feeding then the buffet would be set out!

Deer are hungry critters. I say feed 'em!


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Deer do have to become accustomed to feeders. Whether or not it will spook your herd depends on if they have heard one before.

Baiting is a time game. The longer it is out and the more you leave it be, the better it works. I'd lean towards saving it until after the season.
 
fbwguy said:
I have never been a feeder guy for my property, but i got a deal yesterday at WallyWorld that I couldn't turn down. I got a 200 lb metal feeder with motor ,timer and battery for $22.
Here is my question for you hunters that use feeders. With only a short time left in the season, and no previous feeders on my property, do I run a big risk of scaring off the deer by setting this feeder out? I'm thinking that it is a bad idea, but some of my buddies here say it wont spook em. Any thoughts?
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late season is the best time for feeders, you'll be fine
 
There’s no short answer. I personally don’t like to introduce anything new into my hunting area during season. I love the idea of spin type feeders on a property that I can’t get to on a regular basis. My personal experience with them is it just depends on the property. If they are use to them they tend to start using them pretty quickly. I’ve walked by them in the dark when they were going off and it’s similar to walking into a big covet of quail. You think you’re going to die until you realize what just happened. I can only imagine what deer think. I put a small 5 gallon feeder in a food plot this summer and went from getting 30-40 pictures a day to less than that per week. The corn was disappearing so I swapped cameras and same thing. Lowered the camera on the tree and had coons all night and squirrels all day. It took does a long time to get comfortable with being around it and have yet to get a picture of a mature buck under it. I had night time pictures of bucks a day before installing the feeder. On the other end of the spectrum a grandfather of a friend growing up had one in a field by his house. He had a piece of tin screwed to the feeder and it sounded like a string of fireworks going off. You could sit there just before dark when it went off and the younger deer would hear it and come running. The bucks would be headed that way too but took their time. He had that feeder in the same spot for probably 10 years. He also had a high deer population in an area with poor habitat.
If you decide to put it up I wouldn’t put it where you are hunting. At least not until the end of season.
 
Set it where you dont plan to hunt. Set up between it and where the deer bed. If the cover is too thick where you put it, deer will bed close and you cant get on stand. Also deer are spooky when in sight of a feeder, hence setting up back away from it. Id put it out. Killer deal fyi, nice.
 
Please set up a cam on it 1st thing. I bet deer will be cautious but they'll see other small critters and join in shortly.
 
Do you have bears? If you do it’s a good thing you only have $22 invested. I’m down south in Louisiana and at our lease all a feeder does is attract a hungry destructive bear.
 
Deltahuntr said:
Do you have bears? If you do it’s a good thing you only have $22 invested. I’m down south in Louisiana and at our lease all a feeder does is attract a hungry destructive bear.
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Only one old bear, that comes and goes. Ive seen him only occasionally over the last 10 years, and never have i got him on camera.
 
Best time of year to get deer accustomed to a feeder is in the winter.
I plan on putting one out on some family land in the next month or so for my son to hunt over next year.


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fbwguy said:
over the last 10 years
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fbwguy said:
Only one old bear, that comes and goes. Ive seen him only occasionally over the last 10 years, and never have i got him on camera.
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When you put the feeder out, you'll see him a lot more regularly. It happens every year here in Louisiana. Bear will tear a feeder to pieces. They'll also run off other game that may be interested in it.

I would say were entering into the best time to run a feeder though. When all the leaves have fallen and foliage is minimal, they're looking for that supplemental food source. Whatever you do, share your experience so we can all learn from it.
 
I would say it depends on what you intend on shooting. Last august I put out a feeder in a spot which was a main travel corridor. The does didn't seem to mind it and they took to it right away, but I noticed the bucks avoided the area for several months afterwards. It actually drove them away. Now that the rut is over and we have snow on the ground smaller bucks finally started coming in but the big boys still don't come near it. Having said that, I hunt deep woods that don't see much pressure and when the big bucks see anything out of the ordinary they know something is up. Next year the feeders will be goung out early.
 
Colpitts said:
I would say it depends on what you intend on shooting. Last august I put out a feeder in a spot which was a main travel corridor. The does didn't seem to mind it and they took to it right away, but I noticed the bucks avoided the area for several months afterwards. It actually drove them away. Now that the rut is over and we have snow on the ground smaller bucks finally started coming in but the big boys still don't come near it. Having said that, I hunt deep woods that don't see much pressure and when the big bucks see anything out of the ordinary they know something is up. Next year the feeders will be goung out early.
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definitely, would never put out a feeder expecting to shoot a big ol giant buck. It would be for does to fill the freezer.
 
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