Hunting on unhunted farm

Long story short, my folks bought a small property in Graford Texas that to my knowledge, it's never been hunted on, so now that we have it, I've put a feeder out there to to.try and attract some deer but so far theirs been nothing on camera. What's a fair amount of time to allow before deer MIGHT move in. I do have a Pig and 4 raccoons that show up on a regular basis.

We have plenty of water coverage and now food "corn"

Thanks for any input

Did you look for deer sign first? Find anything? If you put a feeder out where there are no deer activity you may never get deer activity.

Put out a couple of cameras and scout the place.

Look for deer signs along your fence line, when you find one corn that trail towards your feeder several times they will find it. Good luck

Hand corn the funnels and pinch points; areas they need for cover......hang a camera or 2 and see what you have.

They need food, cover and water to live on any property. Does the farm have these? If not they will just be passing through at best.

that property might not have been hunted but the area has been hunted hard for years. I would tailgate/hand feed every time you go out...deer that might be skiddish around feeders will come to corn on the ground. we had a tailgate feeder made for this purpose and all i can tell you is they work.

I would suggest getting a few cameras put out around the property, for instance at any water troughs yall may have as well at any tanks or spots on creek/rivers that show promise of possibly being a watering area. Also, acorns are going to be dropping soon so you may put out a few cameras around oak trees as well. How many acres is this place? A lot of places that are unhunted but have heavy hunting around them become sanctuaries/bedding areas for deer, so i would just suggest looking at a few out of the box ideas to start getting a feeling as to what kind of deer traffic you have.

Back in the day before cameras it was called “scouting”. You went looking for obvious deer trails. Secondary trails are near by but not as obvious. You were looking for tracks both deer and hog. Also, you looked for droppings and areas of concentrated droppings. Scrapes and rubs hopefully. If you were lucky and quiet, you might jump a bedded deer. If so, get the heck out of there. You couldn’t tell sex, age or racks. That’s where the hunting part comes in. Scouting in the off season is a whole lot more fun than looking at a camera card. Hope you find a healthy population and do well this year.

Depending on the size of the tract, I would first identify the thick bedding areas and make it a point to leave them alone. If the tract is a small one surrounded by more pressured areas, the entire tract might be a bedding area, meaning the deer have become spooked by the presence of the feeder. As others have said, you really need to look at the tract as part of a much bigger area that includes adjoining properties. Only then will you have an idea of where and how deer are bedding and traveling on and between properties.

If there is not water close to your property put a good size water trough out there close to your feeder.

This is how I learned and still do to most extent, trail cameras are just confirmation of findings.

I guess it’s all different

But, our OK place the hogs will show up usually within 24 hours of filling the feeder for the first time(we have a lot) and the deer will be there a few days later

For our Tx places it seems to take a week to 10 days or so

I start feeding every year in August and then let it run dry around Jan/Feb

I guess all places are different. I hear terms like pinch point, funnel, bedding area, feeding area etc. and scratch my head. Our place doesn't have a single one of those on the entire property. When the property is all the same, relatively flat native brush pasture they have whatever they need, with the exception of surface water in every 100 square foot section.

Id give it some more time and see if you can locate any trails.

They all need water. Check water sources for tracks. If you find some, they have to get there from somewhere. Expand that search to trails. Bucks recently shed their velvet so keep an eye out for fresh rubs.

So because you can’t find them they don’t exist?
Oh that’s right, you still have much to learn youngster....

there is alot of spotty country out there... if your not by the lake, creeks or river.. deer will be few and far between... how small are we talkin