Results

There were 3 parts to this study. First, it is our considerable experience white-tailed deer are relatively slow to adopt new feeds, or even new feeders. In most cases, on average deer take 10-14 days to become accustomed to either feed or feeders. Hence, the four week study period was selected to test this observation. Second, a deer feed should be tested both for attractiveness and the amount eaten during the study period. Third, the actual composition of the feed and guaranteed nutritional analysis must be considered.

Attractiveness

Deer tended to investigate all feeders within a day of deployment of feeders and there appeared to be no bias in regard to position of each feeder.

The study was begun on 8 July, 2011, at which time all 6 feeders were placed and filled with feed, randomly assigned as given above. The time to first actual feeding was determined from the trail camera photographs, are were as follows:

These dates and times are for the first recorded visitation and do not necessarily indicate actual feeding. There are no real conclusions to be draw at this point, other than the striking tendency for deer coming to Brand A feeders early on to not appear to be very interested in feeding. This will manifest itself later as we examine the use data. The most important conclusion at this point is the Boss Buck Feeders were equally attractive and did not seem to interfere with feeding opportunities.

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Video  |  Introduction  |  Methods  |  Results:  1  2  3  |  Conclusions