I have a new lease. I put up 2 feeders 2 weeks ago. We have cleared out a lot of the brush to plant crops. We planted wheat today. There is still a lot of brush where my feeders are. Since we cleared out the brush and have reworked the land I know the deer will take longer to come to the feeder but how long till they show up? I finally had pics of 2 doe this weekend at one of the feeders and it looks like I will have to get rid of some coons. I know there were a lot of deer there before and the area has had great deer for years.

Has the place been hunted before and did the guys use feeders? We got a new place 2 years ago and it hadn't been fed for 6 months. We put up feed stations with protein and corn feeders. We put hog panels around each feed stations and put cameras out. We had bucks and doe in all of our feed stations that night. Most places might not be that way but those were our results.

Depends on the area, deer density etc. I have shot pigs and seen deer within 24 hours of putting a feeder up in Leon County that hadnt had a feeder in over a year but it was around March I think.

This place hasn't ever been hunted. We know there are deer there because we see them every day and we know the area. We own a place about 2 miles away and when we hunt there we see 40+ deer per hunt. The neighbors there feed year round for 5ish years.

We are still dozing and burning brush and have been for about two months on and off. We are now almost finally done dosing and clearing. I know they can show up that day but they haven't and I figure it's because we dozed so much.

Hopefully we didn't run them off.

The place isn't mainly for huntin but I was hoping it would turn out to be good.

Sounds like the deer are there and will start pouring in when alot of the activity slows down.

In my experiance deer will find a new feed location within 24 hours, unless: there is ample natural forage, there is a lack of water and cover, neighbors hsve sucked tphem out with better conditions or the place has been over pressured or very low deer density.

The dozer will not normally run then off, deer and most wildlife are highly sttrated to freshly disturbed soil, I have had deer walk up to an ideling D9, curious animals.

My number one suggestion is smell, put out protein or feed blocks and they will come, if not immediately responding to corn. Crunch blocks from tractor supply sre great for this, $12 and well worth it, put a camera over them and if no deer show within 2 days you have an uphill battle.
My new lease in Menard this summer i set my feeders leaving the last one at 8:30 pm. Checked camera next morning snd first deer hit it st 9:10pm, 40 minutes sfter we set it up and left.

Smell is key, good luck.

Neighbors have home field advantage over since they have been running feeders for a long time. Deer are going to feeders that they normally go to. The activity has been to much for to long also. Once it settles down you will be covered in deer. Also the deer may have enough natural forage to not need the corn if this is along the river bottom. With all those trees/brush you cleared you put lots of forage on the ground. Much easier for them to reach during the dozer work.

They found it in half a day at my old place, but the deer were very "feeder seasoned". i.e. Lots of feeders in surrounding area, so they knew exactly what that sound was the first time it went off.

Yeah, if you have been dozing for going on two months now, you have just run off some of the deer, they will come back once the activity level drops. Gotta remember, deer are spooky animals, and especially right now after the season, they will be spooked by anything out of their ordinary...give it some time, we have almost 10 months for deer to show up now...

Thanks guys for the input. I was really hoping someone had a similar situation they had gone through. I hope y'all are right and that the deer will show back up and hadn't moved far. I'll be feeding year round and let y'all know how it goes.

They have really started coming back to the feeders for us the past couple of weeks. To bad our season ended Sunday.

I set up my bow blind and put corn in feeder a week before bow season opener and had deer opening weekend. Hadn't fed since end of prior deer season.


Good luck!

I've been feeding for a few months now. Not many deer coming ever. Mainly 2 doe. the entire time there only has been about 5 different deer. I think im going to move my feeders to another place and just not hunt this place. I think we cleared too much brush. The only brush left on the place is along the river bottom. The neighbors cleared land too and there are a ton of oil rigs all around the place and on it. Its looking worse and worse every week.

Ugh...sorry to it. You definitely can clear to much. Perhaps with a little time they will come back.

something to try... set up your cam on a trail nearby and maybe pour some corn straight from the bag and see what comes from it. In my experience a lot of deer avoid feeders and a cam just on a feeder doesn't truly represent what's around you.

Don't forget with all this rain comes natural groceries. Deer would rather eat it then corn.

Yep, that's true.