Protein pellet this time of year question

[Bud Man]

I've noticed on several other threads here that a lot of people are just now starting to put out protein pellets such as buck muscle ,ADM ,FRM ,etc etc, I'm curious why you would just start now? All of nature's food are starting to drop and be harvested now and the deer need the most supplement and protein from January until August, from the does carrying fawns until they are old enough to survive on their own to the bucks trying to grow the antlers. With the grapes, muscadines, pears, crab apples, honeysuckle, acorns, cornfields, peanut fields, cottonseed, and so on and so on coming ready now and the bucks being ready to shed velvet , What is the benefit to spending the extra money right now that I'm not seeing? I do a lot supplemental feeding myself but I primarily concentrate from January until August with the protein supplement. I have noticed a significant improvement over the last 3 years of the weight of the deer , male and female, and the antler growth year over year. From January until now I put out 4750 lbs of 18% protein pellets and approximately 13,000 lbs of feed, corn and cotton seed, and 1500 lbs of 10-10-10 fertilizer on the natural vegetation , and now I just put out a minimal amount of corn through my feeders. I'm just curious as to the thought process. I may be missing something scientifically that Charlie could fill me in on. Thanks to all and hope you all have a successful season.

 

[ucfireman]

I think its to try to keep the deer from wondering too much.
I notice no matter what I had in my feeders I didn't get pics from about Sept to late nov.
Too much food, acorns persimmons and the rest plus the rut.
But keep the girls from wondering and your good.

 

[Bud Man]

???

 

[toolmkr20]

I keep Buck Muscle crumble in my feeders all year except during turkey season for obvious reasons. The past several weeks though I’ve had to use Deer Draw because my local place was out of BM.

 

[Dupree]

I keep Buck Muscle crumble in my feeders all year except during turkey season for obvious reasons. The past several weeks though I’ve had to use Deer Draw because my local place was out of BM.

I use deer draw mainly because of price point. How has it compared to the buck muscle and deer use?

 

[toolmkr20]

I use deer draw mainly because of price point. How has it compared to the buck muscle and deer use?

I get better results from Buck Muscle crumble but the Deer Draw will suffice until BM is back in stock. I use the crumble because the coons do not like it getting on their face. Right now coons are putting a hurting on my feeders because they’ve got the DD in them.

 

[jam]

I keep Buck Muscle crumble in my feeders all year except during turkey season for obvious reasons. The past several weeks though I’ve had to use Deer Draw because my local place was out of BM.

What kind of feeder do you use? Will the crumble work in gravity flow? I always use pellet in my Boss Buck because I was not sure the crumble would flow.

 

[toolmkr20]

What kind of feeder do you use? Will the crumble work in gravity flow? I always use pellet in my Boss Buck because I was not sure the crumble would flow.

All my feeders are trough feeders. Not sure how the crumble would work on a gravity flow.

 

[Dean]

Biologically speaking we aren't far (Sept) from carb's being the higher requirements for whitetail and the shift from protein. The exception is for fawns - new drops can certainly benefit from protein year around. But according to research, carbs through deer season (Sept-Jan). Start reintroducing protein in March. When corn was "alot" cheaper than a protein feed, biologically and economically it made sense to shift over to corn. Honestly, not sure of the carb content in available protein feed, but if its close to corn, and the cost per bag is few dollars, then......

We have mixed BM crumble with BM pellets in Boss Buck feeders with good success. However, when it gets moisture inside the feed tube, it obviously cakes up.

 

[Bud Man]

I agree with you 100% Dean. I was helping some of the people that just now are starting to feed would reply with their reasoning behind just starting now when it's not as practical or beneficial