Pellets

[Thomas]

If one was going to feed Whitetail Deer thru the winter months again/w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif what other band than Blue Seal Deer Pellets has the best ingredients to offer.

 

[beenthere]

Our State has banned all feeding of deer because they claim the deer transfer disease (CWD) to one another at feed stations, and that it is the way the disease spread through the herd. I don't buy that argument, but don't risk the $300 fine if caught.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Don't turn another herd into junkfood junkies. Feed them corn and apples, and get them one of the flavored salt licks.
You'll save money and the deer will be better nourished.

 

[DarinRay]

I buy the regular whole kernel corn from the local pet store. THey do have the fancy deer food but I am too cheap to buy that and just provide them the corn and a salt lick at the bird feeders. Oh of course they eat the bird food too /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Darin

 

[Woodbeef]

If you can get cracked corn it would work just as well if not better than whole corn. They sure like sugar beets and carrots too along with apples.

A trace mineral salt block would be good too.

Stay away from hay and alfalfa. The State of Michigan learned that the hard way a years ago. They had a mass starvation in the Upper,and found deer starved to death with a belly full of hay!!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

That is because there is no nutrition in hay. The deer filled up on hay and didn't get anything out of it.

As for feeding wild deer. Corn helps build up their fat content but has no nutritional value. It is a great thing for during the winters if you want to attract the deer to your area but it won't help them in the long run. Even the doe's need more nutrition now that they have been bred. I have never tried to feed our pellets to wild deer. Our deer eat the pellets to get the nutrients but still eat a lot of browse. Try the pellets for the wild deer as it will help them if you have a hard winter but don't feed them during the spring thru fall. You can add corn to your pellets to give them more selection then they can pick and choose what they want/need (deer are like kids, you give them a choice between something that taste good and something they need and they will usually take what taste good).

 

[DarinRay]

Robert is it better to then not feed them at all if all we have for them is whole corn? I kinda figured it wasn't as good as the feed you see in the ag stores but I thought that it was better than nothing.

Darin

 

[frank_f15]

thomas: along the edge of my woods i usually just plant some corn, and let them have at it, also i have apple tress around and if it is a sparse year for apples i get some cheap and dump them out in the woods. have never tried pellets.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

If I recall correctly, corn runs around 6% protein. During the winter it is ok to feed straight corn as the deer will eat it if they have no other food source. Just if all they eat is corn they will have problems. It is better to feed corn then to have them starve but don't offer corn to them when there is other feed available in the wild. Basicly, feed them when then need help and let them find their own food when the snow is gone. The one good thing about corn is that it does build the deers fat layer up so that they can handle the cold better, but like humans, getting too fat is unhealthy.

There was another deer farmer, he was Amish and fed straight corn to his animals. We advised him against this but he didn't listen. His buck as a two year old had a yealings sized rack and was over 300 pounds. Pure fat. The buck got no nutrition out of the corn and died as a 2 year old. The farmer has since switched over to the same feed we feed which is based off of Penn States formula. Our feed is custom mixed and cost around $11 per 100lbs. It is a 18% protein mixture with all the trace minerals the deer need as well as corn for Carbohydrates. The majority of the pellets is alfalfa but having all the nutrition in it helps the deer get what they need and fill them at the same time.

 

[MossRoad]

Chronic Wasting Disease and another one they are watching in some places is tuberculosis. Apparently, when the deer herd up at feed lots, they tend to pass the diseases easily to each other.