What type of Protein do you feed? and do you feed it year round? Just getting some ideas for this coming spring...

I manage a high fenced ranch and we feed antler max 20% protein 9 months out of the year. If I think the bucks are starting to look poorley during and after the rut and the weather has turned harsh for wildlife I will start feeding sooner. I would feed year round but I would'nt see a deer at a corn feeder and I dont hunt near the protein feeders.

We feed all year and use lyssy and eckel we switch btw 16 and 20% depending on the browse and forage availability and we feed about 140 tons of it per year and over the past 8 yrs it has made a big difference in body weight size and condition but I have also heard good things about antler max which is probably easier to get in your area

Antler Max 20% for me

we feed 20% March through September

Use L/E 20% year round for the last 5.5 yrs now and never stop feeding. Deer have never looked better in all age classes. Year round is the key to maximizing your genetics.

I wish there was a way that I could do it year round but there's just no way. Not only would it cost me a fortune in protein, I would have to make a 7 hour drive one-way very often. The deer on our place go through a 2000 lb. feeder full of protein in just over 2 weeks.

You might invest in a timered trough style protein feeder that way you can budget your time, money, trips and adjust feed according to time of year and rainfall conditions. I feel your pain on the feed bill also.

I'll usually feed Record Rack year-round. Even if the deer slack off from eating protein, it doesn't hurt to have it available to them anyway!

One of the guys on our lease uses one of those. I do plan to check on one soon. That's the only way to feed protein all the time with the lease being so far away. Thanks

Ditto!

I use AntlerMax 16%. That last 4 percent is such a miniscule amount added to the deer that it is not worth the added cost, but I also run protein year round on 15 feeders that hold between 1,000 and 1,500 pounds a piece.

We feed alfalfa bales year round.

you either have a lot of hungry deer or you are losing lots of protein to the coons.

It's deer. Put cameras on the feeders and got pictures of nothing but deer. They just camp out there and hammer it until it's gone.

Buy a times protein feeder we had to, to keep muledeer from eating it all day long

Thanks for all the input. I just wasn't sure about feeding protein year round. I've heard different opinion on feeding year round but I think im going to. Now I have to find away to keep the coons from eating all of it!!

I can help you there. got to head back to work but I'll post up some pics later.

17% protein from Fehner Feed in Gonzales, TX.
It's worked very well for us over the years. We do feed year around but we slow down during the winter months.

Generally the cost of going from 16% to 20% is small compared to the overall cost of the pellets to start. What I like about 20% is it fits the average in the deer diet in South Texas and some other areas as well since most of the years the average is 19% protein on native vegetation. I am not feeding down with it. I have learned also that deer will eat less of 20% than 16% on average in my experience. If you have great native habitat and get plenty of rain then 16% may work for you but if your native habitat is say 12% on average and your deer eat 40% of their diet from pellets then I am feeding 20% to get that average up. More so than the protein percentage is the mineral package you get with the feed nowdays. Read the label and compare. Look at fiber content, amount of salt (salt is cheap), calcium to phosophorus ratios, etc. Cost in pellet feed is driven by mineral, vitamin and trace mineral packages. That is what seperates the feeds in the end. IMO