Many hunters, where legal, feed deer for health benefits and to help keep them around during hunting season. Typically, feeders become active in early fall so that deer set up patterns of feeding that hunters can exploit. However, what about summer? Should deer feeders be active all year long? What about supplemental foods that may help lactating does and increase antler growth in bucks? This post on the Grand View Outdoors website gives a comprehensive look at these questions.
Whitetail deer are the ultimate survivors. They live through extreme cold and droughts and even pull through significant disease outbreaks. They are highly adaptable. They change their diets as the food sources change and can live in places many other wildlife species can’t. They’ve survived for eons without so much as a food plot, a mineral block or a protein feeder.
But sometimes, they just need a little help. A summer food plot or even a steady supply of supplemental feed throughout the late spring and summer can mean the difference between an average deer herd and a great deer herd. It can also translate to larger antlers under the right circumstances.
Summer Plots
One of the most effective ways to give your herd a helping hand is with a summer food plot. They include annual plants like beans, peas, sunflowers or a combination of all three. Summer plots are planted in the spring after the last frost and provide nutrition when natural foods either die or go dormant during the hottest months.
Warm-season plots are often called nutrition plots because they are meant to feed deer, not to provide a place to hunt in the fall and winter. They often don’t last beyond August or September. That’s okay, though. Summer food plots are loaded with protein, a vital ingredient for antler growth and for giving nursing does an extra boost for milk production.
