Thread: Luring deer to a feeder

Originally Posted by HG Man

Got to go with the feed crops, swedes, turnips, rape, they will come for miles around to feed on that.

yep deer will rape and pillage to get to a rape crop.bro has got one in at the mo and has had to set up a gas cannon to keep them away.you should have seen it in the roar-unbeleivable.

As a kid, my old man used to take us to a spot to watch the deer feeding out in the open on chestnuts. Both sweet and horse variety.
I guess they need to have these around the territory as a natural food source, but could be worth a try. Plenty on the ground right now, along with acorns

The farm deer love the smell of Palmolive Dishwash det.

Holy sh*t didn't know that one either.

Then maize, some with molasses poured over it. Salt blocks, zero activity on the trail cams for some reason, that was both rock salt and mineral blocks with reds and Sika present.

Yep definitely a mystery with the maize. It's like they don't smell it. Molasses they could care less. Possums, rats and pigs get it first. I reckon what I'm seeing with maize (and molasses) and salt blocks is that here you need to educate the deer. It seems different to how many folk in the US and Canada (with corn fields across half the country) talk about deer lure, and where maize is probably something they know and look for as food. Only once I have led a deer to the maize and/or salt lick (my feeders are tree mounted, pigs can't get at them) does it seem to work it out. Then it is back every day, twice a day minimum, rain or shine.

Today I went out and doused two spots with turnip shavings (no leaves unfortunately), and also grated the juicy turnips on pine bark high up to catch the wind. Even I could smell the turnips from 30m away no probs. This is in a spot loaded with Red deer which will walk within meters of a pile of maize not seeing it.

Rather than sprinkling their trail this time, I want to see if the turnip will pull them in by their noses on the wind. Could be the perfect setup, as then I can take my finished feeders into difficult country, install, cover in turnip or swedes, and lure them in from the get go

Originally Posted by turtle

Saw a young fella carrying carrots to his spot. Told me they indicate to him if the deer are in the area. Sounded reasonable to me

Yep if they are gone quick and with no sign of little nibble marks then it's deer or goats and not possums. Possums love carrot too. Don't know how good carrots would lure deer in though, but scattered around all over would def indicate if they are there.

Perhaps I'm too old school but to know if deer are in the area I look for the plants they eat, deer tracks, prints and scat. A good time is after the rain as there are a lot of prints and you can better tell which are fresh.

I made a dedicated licking box for a salt block which I mounted about a meter up a tree but not one deer at it in over two months. Some shots of others mooching nearby but showing zero interest. Salt blocks DEF work in Germany, so a mate told me

I have set up a salt bloc in front of a trail cam and another one hanging from a branch on the edge of a wallow. Set up high enough that they ll have to stand on their back feet to get at it. Hopefully there will be a few foot prints in a few months time

Originally Posted by 6x47

I made a dedicated licking box for a salt block which I mounted about a meter up a tree but not one deer at it in over two months. Some shots of others mooching nearby but showing zero interest. Salt blocks DEF work in Germany, so a mate told me

Keep hearing the same thing from abroad. Maybe they get enough salt in their diet here? Any case, bloody weird. I had to paint one block with molasses before the deer would even look at it. And when they did it wasn't like they went bonkers over it. They only had a go at the molasses because it was right there under their nose next to my maize feeder. Just having a lick every once in a while then back into the corn. Just goes to show that hunter's wisdom and pro-tips don't always export well. Got to work and think local to get results

Peanut butter. Drill few holes in bottom and tie to tree so they look up and lick it. Works.

Just want to confirm that red and fallow deer don't seem to give a toss about turnips, at least this time of year. Juicy, huge heads of leaf, and they still just ignore them. This is observed on camera at 3 different feeders. Possums though seem to get a kick out of them, at least the turnips themselves. What don't they eat though.

Like possums, deer do seem to come for my aniseed oil. Just splash it up a bark thick trunk (more resilient to rain) near the feeder and they'll check it out eventually.

Have given up on any further attempts to ground lure with corn and molasses as the possums get it first. I even put heaps of salt in my molasses maize mix to try to put the possums off - twice as salty as salt water sort of thing - but nope - they eat it all. They get through the pile a little slower when overdosed in salt, but it's gone soon enough.

Peanut butter and green apples from a string I will try on the next project. Swedes too, when they are ready.

Red neck Poachers in the USA used to put a nice red apple on the tip of a shark or butcher hook hanging high enough above a deer trail so that the white tail deer ( or mule deer ?) would have to jump to get the apple.

Originally Posted by Friwi

Red neck Poachers in the USA used to put a nice red apple on the tip of a shark or butcher hook hanging high enough above a deer trail so that the white tail deer ( or mule deer ?) would have to jump to get the apple.

Keen to give apples a try. They may indeed like it from the get-go. What I've found reading around though is that what works on deer in some locations doesn't in others. In some states in the US, citrus is an attractant, others a deterrent. Grapes in some places in the US they're crazy for, others not. Olives the same. It's all based on what they know to be food, as per their region. I guess it's something passed down the generations fading out over time outside of their natural habitats (like here).

Someone in this thread said that once they establish apples as food, they'll keep coming back. I bet it's the same with brassica, turnips. They will even often walk right past maize, because they don't think it's anything they will eat. Deer on my maize feeders are there every day, twice - at least, once I actually get them to take a look!

Seems having to teach them is the ticket. Might be worth using broadleaf as a lure somehow. Mysterious why aniseed of all things 'just works' though. Not like you see wild aniseed growing here.

An exotic flavour maybe? In Tonga they feed pigs with coconuts . In France pigs are attracted by bitumen applied on the lower part of trees.