Supplemental feeding of deer has a totally different goal than baiting. Essentially, the mission is to provide supplemental nutrition when it is needed by deer. Feeding should not be intended to increase the carrying capacity of a property, but rather to supplement the nutrition of a managed deer herd. The author prefers a feed with a basic makeup of 17-18 percent crude protein, 2:1 calcium:phosphorus ratio and low fat (3.75 percent fat). He uses a livestock mineral combination that includes all the critical elements and vitamins, and keeps two micronutrients, zinc and copper, at 450 ppm and 55 ppm, respectively. (Photo courtesy of Dr. James C. Kroll)
March 28, 2025
By Dr. James C. Kroll
So far in this series on Whitetail Management, I have focused on managing native habitat on your property. Now, its time to talk about ways to supplement the nutrition of your deer! There has been and will continue to be a great deal written about this topic, yet there still is a great deal of confusion, often made worse by commercially motivated articles on the subject. It is my goal here to clear away as much of this confusion as possible in the space of this column.
Purpose of Supplemental Nutrition? If we look at what the average whitetail deals with over the course of a year, there is seldom a time when even adequate nutrition is available! Years ago, we developed a graph that depicts the “nutritional year” of deer. We conducted this study for four years in eastern Texas, using the amount of use on supplemental forage and feed by deer as an indicator of nutritional stress from month to month.
The author used research on when deer use supplemental nutrition to pinpoint seasonal stress periods. Note that both northern and southern deer have two stress periods, winter and late summer. A good management program is tailored to provide supplemental nutrition during these stress periods.
Here is how to interpret the graph above. In the North, the longest stress period is in late winter, while in the South it is in late summer. After some 30 years, these results continue to drive our research focus at the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management & Research. Once we established this phenomenon, we tailored our research on finding effective and economical ways to provide nutritional supplementation. (Graphic courtesy of Dr. James C. Kroll) The attached graph shows average free-choice use by month of supplements for northern and southern deer. The highest use (need) for supplements occurred, both North and South, during two times of the year — late winter and summer. Although the graph for winter lasted longer in northern deer and earlier in summer for southern deer, two stress periods were indicated.
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Months when use was much lower revealed times when native foods were adequate. Now, this does not necessarily mean the deer were starving out there. The white-tailed deer has survived for millennia on less than optimum nutrition! However, it does mean that, if deer are given access to better nutrition, they will use it!
Supplemental Feeding Only high fences generate more spirited debate among hunters than using supplemental feed for deer! The criticism intensifies when professional biologists get involved! The appearance (or discovery) of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) made the debate even worse, as the possibility of feeding spreading this rare disease continues to be debated. Unfortunately, however, there remains no peer-reviewed science documenting cases where CWD was spread or not spread by feeding; only “possibility” studies.
According to my Internet search, there are 11 states that have no restrictions on feeding, 16 that allow feeding with some restrictions and 20 that have a complete ban on baiting or feeding. The issue has been “muddied” by the poorly understood difference between baiting and feeding. Baiting is using an attractant (corn, apples, beets, salt, etc.) to bring deer to the gun or bow. No one can argue that in some areas, hunting became a “battle of the bait piles!”
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Feeding, on the other hand, has a totally different goal. Essentially, the mission is to provide supplemental nutrition when it is needed by deer. Feeding should not be intended to increase the carrying capacity of a property, but rather to supplement the nutrition of a managed deer herd. Here at the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management & Research, we developed one of the first supplemental deer rations. Our final product was based on our research to determine exactly what nutrients deer need and how much of each.
Deer are driven by digestible energy, not just protein! A lactating doe or a buck growing antlers needs an impressive number of calories, all of which have to come from highly digestible, energy rich foods. We learned quickly that supplemental feed was not about protein, rather digestible energy and phosphorus (in the right proportion to calcium). Deer need no more than 17-18 percent crude protein, except for growing fawns that require as much as 20 percent.
As with any product in deer hunting and management, there is a lot of promotion and hype for deer feeds. I do not endorse any deer feed, and never will! Here at the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management & Research, we have used the same feed formula for 40 years, with no changes and excellent results.
Our feed has a basic 17-18 percent crude protein, 2:1 calcium:phosphorus ratio, and low fat (3.75 percent fat). We use a good livestock mineral combination that includes all the critical elements and vitamins, and keeps two micronutrients, zinc and copper at 450 ppm and 55 ppm, respectively.
NEVER succumb to the temptation of developing your own deer feed; it is not for amateurs! A few years ago, I learned a valuable lesson about giving out too much information about feed ingredients and whitetail nutritional needs!
I gave a talk in Ohio to their deer organization. I talked at length about the importance of selenium to antler growth and reproduction. A year later, I was called to Ohio to try to save one of the largest antlered bucks in the country, who was on the brink of death. Working with a veterinarian, we took a blood sample as normal procedure, and the results came back that he had heavy metal poisoning from over-feeding selenium in a homemade feed blend!
Fortunately for the landowner, we were able to save the buck by chelating his blood to remove the selenium. Take home message? Just use a good quality feed formulated specifically for deer!
A deer will eat, on average, 1.8 pounds of pelleted ration per day; or, about 1,300 pounds per year. Most deer feeds today cost around $500-600 per ton or 27 cents per pound; so that makes the average daily cost of feeding one deer at about 50 cents. This does not seem like much, but for a year that is $181! If you have, say 30 deer using your property and eating your feed, the total cost, not including equipment and labor, is $5,400! However, using our nutritional stress curves, strategic feeding can reduce your cost to around half that amount.
Where legal, supplemental feeding boils down to two considerations: No. 1. How to deliver the feed; and No. 2. How many feeders and at what density?
Most feeders on the market use one to four “feeding tubes” that are either square, rectangular or circular (round or oval) in cross-section. Believe it or not, tube type can affect both use and waste of feed. Our research showed that tubes that are circular in cross-section result in more use and less waste than any other type. Any feeder tube that covers a deer’s eyes when it feeds, results in less use than one that allows the deer to watch for danger while it feeds. (Photo courtesy of Strike Force Feeders) There is only one way to provide supplemental feed, and that is in a free-choice feeder. As the name implies, these feeders provide food whenever a deer needs it; somewhat reducing the baiting impact, since a deer can feed anytime it wants. A brief Internet search will reveal that there are hundreds of feeders of all types on the market today! So, how do you choose one? Here are the characteristics of a good deer feeder.
Let’s begin with feed storage. A good feeder should have a water-tight storage compartment, preventing feed from ever becoming wet or even damp! Wet feed quickly spoils, exposing your deer to all sorts of disease issues. The capacity of the storage compartment should never exceed more feed than your deer will consume in 30-40 days, after which the nutritional quality begins to deteriorate; especially if the feeder is exposed to direct sun.
Most feeders are constructed from metal, which if exposed to the sun can produced internal temperatures easily exceeding 120 degrees! So, it is best to locate your feeders in shady areas.
The next consideration is how feed is delivered from the storage compartment. Most feeders on the market use one to four “feeding tubes” that are either square, rectangular or circular (round or oval) in cross-section. Believe it or not, tube type can affect both use and waste of feed. Our research showed that tubes that are circular in cross-section result in more use and less waste than any other type. Any feeder tube that covers a deer’s eyes when it feeds, results in less use than one that allows the deer to watch for danger while it feeds.
The height of the feeder tubes also is an important consideration. Tubes too close to the ground (less than 40 inches) will encourage “non-target” use by animals such as raccoons! Some managers worry about fawns not being able to feed at this height, but we have never found this to be a realistic issue. Also, the width between the legs supporting the feeder can affect non-target access and possible antler damage. Our research showed that a 42-inch distance between legs almost eliminates raccoon depredation.
How many feeders should you put on your land? I recommend using at least one feeder per 80 acres. If you only have 28 acres, obviously the answer is one! The best location for a feeder is near cover, preferably summer and winter thermal covers.
