BIG EATS!

How Long Will It Take From Protein Set Up To Meal Time?

Last year was my best year for getting deer to eat protein pellets. In previous years I had poor luck with it. Raccoons loved it from day #1. But not deer.

Actually, the improvement came from something basic. If you don’t get the results you think you should, ask a qualified expert. In this case, the guy that owns the leading Farm & Ranch Feed store in this area. I had been buying the bags of pellets that correspondingly had the lowest price.

At the feed store owners suggestion I tried the one with the highest protein content, which correspondingly had the highest price. So, last year I purchased one bag of the highest protein, most expensive protein pellet feed. It was amazing how fast deer started eating it. But I put it in a cut off, round, cow feed container made of plastic and it attracted raccoons and other varmints. They were a big nuisance. And I went through several bags of protein feed.

This year I upgraded my protein rig. My friend Rick Philippi gave me a Protein Feeder he used to use, but replaced this year.

I set Rick’s protein feeder up and added the high dollar protein pellets on August 19.

The Wildgame Innovations game camera I used showed raccoons to be the first visitors. Then occasional does and a few bucks. But I had put in only one bag of protein and they emptied the feeder in two days. So I went to town to buy some more.

The doe below checked in at 11:40PM on August 22.

An additional doe and a fawn joined our first guest. Notice in the picture below, this protein eating is a “follow the nose” type of thing.

It obviously helps to have a narrow nose but having a long tongue is probably helpful also. These does are getting after it.

The more you can contort your face and neck the more can eat in one sitting.

Actually, I picked up the game camera on August 25 and this protein rig was bringing in the deer.

One thing I noticed about deer behavior around this protein feeder is that deer eat a while and then stop and look around the area.

Then they go back to scarfing down those tasty high priced protein pellets. In the pic below you can see the doe on the right has benefitted from wriggling her long nose further into the opening where pellets are. Her side of the pellet tray is running out of pellets.