Alpine Deer Feeder

[HighCountryBC]

It's a long strenuous hike in and I purely enjoy the adventure. Been hiking in a few hours each way just to scout and check my cameras about every week and a half since late spring. Taking a heavier pack along the way wont kill me and if anything will just get me fitter for the pack out.

Great attitude. Keep at it and you will figure out what your buck does. Chances are he isn’t far away from his summer hangout.

[hparrott]

I certainly dont see the word ban in my post, Or , I dont like it so you can't do it. That may be your interpretation of it .I personally compare it to baiting wich in my mind is not fair chase and your opinion is obviously different. I wish you straight shooting because it appears to me that luck and skill have been removed,

Each to their own. I wont jump all over you for your opinion, although I don't agree with questioning my morals. There are all kinds of posts about using attractants on this forum. This has kinda killed the purpose of my post and any hope in trying to learn on this anyways. It has been a heck of a lot of work scouting with boots to the ground in the alpine. Finding and following a particular buck and setting my sights on it does take skill. It's a choice to try and connect with a particular deer and it isn't easy by any means. I spent 8 days in the alpine last fall and didn't come back with a deer or elk. After finding him and then establishing a mineral site and trying to get him to stick around has been timely and tiring. I used some scent sticks last year that didn't really help and throwing something else down to merely try to increase my chances of him making a mistake doesn't make any of this easy. Aside from the huge amount of preseason work that goes into keeping my eyes on this buck, when September rolls around it will be no different than situating yourself near an alfalfa field for deer or a farmer's field for elk and hoping he passes by that evening. Hunting is very much about right place and right time, but I think working hard to increase your odds of crossing paths takes more skill and time than just good luck and certainly doesn't make me question my morals.

[hparrott]

Great attitude. Keep at it and you will figure out what your buck does. Chances are he isn’t far away from his summer hangout.

Thank you....and if not this year he will just be that much bigger next year

[HighCountryBC]

Thank you....and if not this year he will just be that much bigger next year

He has likely just adjusted his day to day routine. Good chance he has only dropped a little elevation and is spending time in the timber where the frost hasn’t killed off his preferred food source.

The alpine is pretty but spending time glassing below tree line is usually productive at that time of year.

[twoSevenO]

That's the kind of attitude that keeps guys from killing hammers.

Hence asking how big the target buck is ..... but I see you only quote what you want to hear not what's there.

Roll eyes.

[dinsdale]

Regarding your original query....I can say that black bears around my place absolutely loved the alfalfa pellets I thought I had secured in a bin for my domestic animals a few years ago.

[twoSevenO]

Regarding your original query....I can say that black bears around my place absolutely loved the alfalfa pellets I thought I had secured in a bin for my domestic animals a few years ago.

Proguide66 hiked up an entire bale of alfalfa into his blacktail spot and the results were a waste of effort. The deer simply did not care for it at all.

I hiked up some apples on a salt lick I set up last year. Blacktails also did not care for them. Gave them a quick sniff and went back to the salt. Birds packed at them some and then a bear found them and ate them a week later.

Again, BTs not mulies.

[russm86]

I’ve read a few old posts on deer feeder suggestions. I have a nice buck on camera that I would like to try to get to stick around. Last year after he lost interest in the mineral lick and then he was gone until spring.

I don’t want to use corn or a cob mix with molasses to avoid brining in bears, do bears go for oats or barley or alfalfa pellets? Also, in the surrounding area none of these foods are an available food source to the deer being in the alpine, is there one that may be preferred over another in this case? Thank you

.....Also, should add that the feed will only be used until mid September as I know they can have issues with acidosis and after the end of September the area won’t be accessible anyway

All I can say is good luck. I ran several bait sites on a chunk of private property for the last 3 full years. I tried everything, alph-alpha, COB, beets, corn, you name it. Mid September came along and none of the deer stuck around, they all disappeared for 2 or 3 months. Happened every year. Some came back very end of hunting season but were all nocturnal and the rest returned mid-winter. The other stands with just mineral blocks did just as well and didn't have the fricken crows in all the time. This was all on private land that should have had very little if any hunting pressure. I also found that specific individuals only showed up on the same 1 or 2 stands and none of the others, even when I stopped baiting one or the other and the stations aren't very far apart. This tells me the deer don't go out of their way or change up their travelling routes for it.

In short, my experience is the deer won't go out of their way or change their routes or seasonal habits for bait/feed. Basically, if it happens to be in the middle of the trail they use they will stop and eat it if they are hungry, otherwise they don't go looking for it. I have stopped buying all the different feeds and run just the mineral blocks now, cheaper and last a lot longer, and I've seen no difference, otherwise not worth the time and effort, if you are on a used trail they will come, if you're not, they won't.

[Linksman313]

That's the kind of attitude that keeps guys from killing hammers.

HCBC - attitude for altitude lol but sshhh don't let the secret out

[Ourea]

To supplement deer or any game animal's food during tough times is a good idea.
To condition animals to stay in one place in my opinion removes fair chase from the situation. It may be legal but is it moral?

And hunting, yr round, even at night, taking whatever species or sex at will is the other side of the coin.

Let's not worry about the legal or moral issues as this scenario is cultural and is ceremonially justified despite negative impacts on breeding parts of the population.

Best pinch your barbs when fishing beside river gill nets that are compromising endangered salmon runs.

Fair chase and conservation......that is being removed at an alarming rate.
Here we are talking about when and what and how long to use a legal tactic to put your annual game meat in the freezer when someone else drives up in January at night and takes a disproportionate amount of game that negatively impacts overall populations.

Something to think about.....