We tried putting out Chaffhaye for the deer but from what we can tell it doesn't look like they are eating it. Maybe a few bites if that. Did look like one of the hogs ate a little but hard to tell from deer cam. We put it on the ground around the corn feeders in small 2x1 mounds. We live in East Texas - our land borders the Davy Crockett Nat'l Forrest. We also put out regular alfalfa hay and doesn't look like they are eating it either. Any tips/advice are very much appreciated! Not sure if we are doing something wrong cause I've read over and over how they LOVE it.
Anyone else in East Texas had luck with it and if so did it just take a while for them to get used to it?

You need to find a crop that's regularly grown in the area. That's what they're going to eat the best.

That's what we've found works best.

X2

Alfalfa pellets work well in a protein feeder...but if your wanting to feed bales alfalfa would be best...the main thing you gotcha watch for is mold or old lookin hay....alot of feed stores sell old or moldy bales and mainly just cow hay....you need to find bales that are fresh and very clean...ive had great luck in the past with it in houston county

they will eat it, but they obviously are finding other things that they like better right now...

We're in the same boat except out deer won't touch the corn from our feeder. Go figure.

It takes time took us a month in Brady, but now they devour it. I image with the rain they will slow down one it some and go after native stuff.

If you have acorns right now they are on them. If you have had some rain they might be chasing fresh new growth. I have used alfalfa and chaffhaye and it took time to get them on it. I would not put out a lot of it just a little at a time. I would also put some corn on top of it if you have feed pens. When and if they need it they will eat it.

I started using it for the first time last month. From looking at the game cams, they went over 2 weeks and hardly touched it, walking right past it to the corn - then suddenly they ate it all in 2 days!

Deer on my place will not touch alfafa. Have tried a couple of time this year with the same results.

Thanks for all the advice! I'm not sure if there are any growers in our area..my husband doesn't know of any. It looked like a few of them might have taken a nibble from looking at the deer cam pics but if so, that was it. We have 90 acres and 3 feeders and they clean up the corn real good. We haven't used the pellets cause we don't have a protein feeder and don't want to feed it to the hogs. We did try putting corn on top of it a few times but when the feeder goes off the corn is scattered all around it and some on it. OH and we do have some acorns but we mainly have pine here. We planted wheat a few days ago so that will help. I think we'll wait till they have less to eat and try it again.
@ Savage338 - gosh, hard to beleive deer won't eat corn...never heard of that problem before. Good luck!

Have you tried puttin a pen up around you protein feeders?

We have had protein feeders at our deer lease (as a lease all together) and put pens around some of them, but have not done that here yet. Was hoping not to have to. We also don't currently own a protein feeder. Maybe we'll end up gettin one if nothing else works.

When started feeding chaffhaye at the ranch I work on I found out they eat it best in the winter in the summer they just eat little bits of it but what I always done on the cold days was put the chaffhaye on the ground and spread it out then put some of the record rack deer nuggets on top and they went crazy over it

When I started stupid auto correct

Dnt buy a protein feeder if you dnt have to...50gallon drum with a lid and funnel...4 inch pvc and a septic pvc T joint..or any good size T joint that will fit it...and walla cheap and affective...

So some of the deer (only seen bucks) started eating the regular alfalfa hay a couple of weeks ago. they aren't eating a lot of it but are eating it. My husband built a couple of troughs and put them close to 2 of the feeders, poured protein pellets in then corn on top. Had to dump out after the rain but something at the protein off ground - wasn't sure if hogs or deer. yesterday I finally saw a buck eating out of the trough. Yay! Now he's got to make a cover for them so it won't get wet when it rains. Navasotabred - thanks for the info on the protein feeder - I'll give that to my husband - he's great at building things. @ Kaleb - yeah we'll probably wait til it gets colder for more hay or chaffhaye feeding. Our wheat and other grass mixture in our field is coming up and they are on it like stink on hogs. Never used record rack nuggets - what we are using is rice bran pellets. Not sure what the difference is but assume my hubby does. Thanks again!

Maybe they're addicted to buck crack?