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game feeder vs. bait pile?

Kujo

Junior Member
157
0
Maumee, OH
okay, I am only baiting 1 of my properties this year. right now I have plenty of apples to get me through the 1st month TOO month and a half. the farmer said I would hook me up with a truck bed full of corn again this year. So I was wondering if it would be better to go with a game feeder with a timer over just throwing it all in a pile in one shot. I had a pile last year, but they all seemed to show up an hour after dark till an hour before sunrise. Other problem would be storage of the corn if I went with a feeder, because it would only be a 30 gal feeder. ($) Just thought I would throw this out there and see what every thinks.
 

rgecko23

*Supporting Member*
7,466
0
Massillon, Ohio
We got a truck load last year, dale bagged it all up and we just out it out randomly, I dont think that putting a truck load of corn out all at one time is a good idea. Your gonna get mold and sick animals from doing that. i would just put it in the feeder. To store it, you could put it on concrerte and throw a tarp over it, that will keep it dry and let the air get to it to keep it from molding.
 
I found that the bucks on my property shyed away from my automatic feeder. I used to feed them from a tube feeder I made from 4 inch PVC pipe. They took to it readily. I switched to an automatic feeder and the deer seemed to use it much less. Even with a timed feeder you will get most of your activity after dark. I agree that putting out a large pile at a time is not a good idea.
 
A large pile of corn can eventually mold. The feeder idea is much better IMO or at least putting out 25-50 lbs. at a time. For a feeder setting I would think about having it go off midday or well before dark, that way deer know competition with birds and squirrels can cause them to miss their snack. If you can, bag it up like rgecko23 said or get a few 30 gallon trash cans and fill them up.
 

Beentown

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,740
154
Sunbury, OH
Save the money on a feeder and buy a trail cam if you don't have one already. That way you can dump a new pile and change cards.

Beentown
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
.

I'll tell you this buddy and you can take it to the bank... Come season, but pre January, 99% of the time a mature buck will visit a feeder between the hours of 11pm- 4am. The same with piled corn. Now IF you can stay away from that feeder, never hunt close to it, never disturb a buck that visits it even when not at the feeder, he might visit that feeder during shooting hours in January..

I watched a property in Vinton county for 2 years that had a bunch of Buckeye Cams on it that were over feeders. Maybe 400 acres and 3-4 feeders.... Ever morning i would come in and go through 500-600 pictures from all of these cameras. I noticed a pattern with many of these deer. They always visited at night, and they never stayed long. They never keyed in on the corn as a major food source.. A midnight snack or a place to kill a couple minutes was all it ever was to them. During the rut however you would see one blow past the feeder not stopping while looking for does. Even then though it was rarely during daylight..

Last year the landowners son killed a buck that had been visiting a feeder for years. They had tons of pictures of him at a feeder but most always at night.. He was killed not far from a different feeder on the property.. But he had never had his picture taken at that feeder, opting instead to visit a feeder further away, almost on the other side of the property... He could have gone to two other feeders before getting to the one he frequented. Why? Who knows. I think it's because he knows feeders are danger and didn't want to shit where he sleeps... The same reason cheating husbands only visit whore houses when out of town.

If you want to use corn to kill deer you have to use it to your advantage... Use it to draw the deer over to it, then hunt between it and where they are coming from or going to.... The below illustration might help with that...... Basically you want to get in that stand in the morning and hope buckey is heading back your way from the corn pile or feeder.... Or hop in that stand in the evening and hope buckey is slowly making his way to that corn with the intent of getting there well after dark.. Or staging around where you have a stand. This is the only way i can see hunting bait would be productive for mature bucks.


Corn.JPG
 

Kujo

Junior Member
157
0
Maumee, OH
Thanks for the info. I do have a trail cam. Last year there wasn't mold, it all froze togother though. Over all it seems everyone has there own idea on bait. Well I have got a few ideas for this property from everyones comments.
 

Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,171
201
NW Ohio Tundra
.

I'll tell you this buddy and you can take it to the bank... Come season, but pre January, 99% of the time a mature buck will visit a feeder between the hours of 11pm- 4am. The same with piled corn. Now IF you can stay away from that feeder, never hunt close to it, never disturb a buck that visits it even when not at the feeder, he might visit that feeder during shooting hours in January..

I watched a property in Vinton county for 2 years that had a bunch of Buckeye Cams on it that were over feeders. Maybe 400 acres and 3-4 feeders.... Ever morning i would come in and go through 500-600 pictures from all of these cameras. I noticed a pattern with many of these deer. They always visited at night, and they never stayed long. They never keyed in on the corn as a major food source.. A midnight snack or a place to kill a couple minutes was all it ever was to them. During the rut however you would see one blow past the feeder not stopping while looking for does. Even then though it was rarely during daylight..

Last year the landowners son killed a buck that had been visiting a feeder for years. They had tons of pictures of him at a feeder but most always at night.. He was killed not far from a different feeder on the property.. But he had never had his picture taken at that feeder, opting instead to visit a feeder further away, almost on the other side of the property... He could have gone to two other feeders before getting to the one he frequented. Why? Who knows. I think it's because he knows feeders are danger and didn't want to shit where he sleeps... The same reason cheating husbands only visit whore houses when out of town.

If you want to use corn to kill deer you have to use it to your advantage... Use it to draw the deer over to it, then hunt between it and where they are coming from or going to.... The below illustration might help with that...... Basically you want to get in that stand in the morning and hope buckey is heading back your way from the corn pile or feeder.... Or hop in that stand in the evening and hope buckey is slowly making his way to that corn with the intent of getting there well after dark.. Or staging around where you have a stand. This is the only way i can see hunting bait would be productive for mature bucks.


View attachment 3497

I am not a baiter in the deer sort of way, but Jackalope has some very good advice here.

I think too many guys throw down bait and hunt over it and expect a big buck to come slobbering in during shooting hours. This is not how it works in the real world. The only exception I could see to this is when it is late season and extremely cold.....then a buck has to eat every few hours to survive.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
My tactic is to feed in very secluded areas, use the cams to tell me what bucks are using it and how they approach them, then back off the feed a couple hundred yards and try to catch them headed that direction. Last season, Moe would check the feeder from the shelf above the bottom where it was positioned. He was very killable in that pattern despite never coming to the feeder in daylight hours with the exception of one super cold morning in mid-November...
 

Kujo

Junior Member
157
0
Maumee, OH
I like what must everyone has had to say. I am only hunting 5 arces on this property. all around this property there is about 400 arces that no one is allowed to hunt, and it is full of oak trees. I have a plan put in place now, and will be making some changes to this property. I will be placing the bait pile past the stands in hopes to stick um before they get there. I knew I needed to change something because I just wasn't happy with the way it was last year. Now I need to figure out what to do with the corn now that I now where to put it!
 

Alphamax10

Member
1,042
72
Kirtland, Ohio
Guys I am new to Ohio and this whole baiting idea. I have an automatic feeder in the woods right now with corn and have been having some luck getting daylight pictures of some nice bucks. But after listening to the stories and ideas I might change somethings around a bit. Currently, I have my stand over my baiting area (coming for NY) this is all I thought baiting was. I have never thought of it as Jackalope described it. So, thank you TOO you just saved me a couple years of trying new things with a feeder lol.

Oh and I agree with storing your corn. Mold equals sick deer and even though it didnt happen last year I would risk dumping it by the truck load again. Just my opinion thou...
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
There is a very well known deer hunter here in Ohio who has made a living at the tactic Joe illustrated above in combination with trail cameras. If you have the resources, this can be a VERY effective tactic and it will be far more effective than hunting right over the bait will ever be. I don't hunt directly over bait; but I have learned how to use it to allow me the oppurtunity to pattern and kill deer using the bait. I've learned a good bit about using bait as a hunting strategy in the past two seasons. It's not something that I am putting 100% of my faith in in terms of filling my buck tag, but I am learning how to incorporate it in to my own routine. In the past, the baiting I was doing was soley for trail cam pics and for putting other people on deer. However the more I do it, the more I see the value in backing off the "food source" a couple hundred yards and using that as my "bait" hunting strategy. Food is food and we all know deer are slaves to their stomach, so whether I am providing it, Mother Nature is, or the neighboring farmer is, the hot food source will draw deer in and you need to figure out how to cut them off!!!
 

JD Boyd

*Supporting Member*
3,173
0
Urbana
Jackalope is spot on... Just make sure where ever you pile the corn that you can hunt it with a cross wind...