Question: I have been deer hunting for many years now and hunt on some good property. I have a question about feeding Record Rack protein pellets to white-tailed deer. I used it this last year on a lease, and no one else fed protein, but I thought that it was at least something better than corn. However, not one time while it was feeding RR did I see deer activity around the feeder.
I ended up switching back to corn when the feeder ran out and the deer were right back to hammering it. I know it takes time for whitetail deer to get used to something new, but the Record Rack pellets sat on the ground at two different deer leases, one in South Texas and the other in the Hill Country, and the deer would not eat it. I guess I will be sticking to 20% protein pellets and corn, but have you heard of such a thing with Record Rack?
Response: I have never used record rack, but I know some guys that have. One in particular had a similar problem with whitetail deer not eating the 20% protein Record Rack, but then he switched to the 16% (red bag) and the whitetail used it heavily. I have also heard of hunters mixing 1 bag of corn to 3 bags of protein pellets to get deer to really use high-percentage protein. You can also blend corn with soybeans to get deer to eat them too. Since you mentioned that you had good habitat on the place you hunt, I suspect the deer just did not need it.
From what I have heard about the product, whitetail deer seem to prefer the 16% protein better in areas of good habitat, but they will use just about anything when habitat starts going south. During the late spring when it’s antler growing time and does are nursing fawns throughout the summer, expect to fly through protein. Come cooler weather and the emergence of some fall forbs and deer will barely eat any protein at all, but at that time of the year you should be deer hunting, not feeding high protein pellets! Habitat conditions impact deer use of supplemental feed, so do not expect whitetail to use pellets or plots if natural forage is abundant.