Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Determine if you have enough money to spend on this endeavor. If you set up a feeding station, you must keep it stocked with food throughout the winter or the deer will starve. Throughout the winter more deer may find your feeding station, increasing your costs. Expect to spend at least $1,000 to stock each feeding site.
Buy commercial deer feed for the winter diet. Deer digestive systems change throughout the year as their natural food sources change, so you must feed them the proper mix or they cannot digest it. You can make your own deer feed, but homemade mixes require extensive research and are less healthy and more expensive than commercial feeds.
Pick a spot where deer naturally gather in the winter, because they do not travel long distances to find food. The deer will also eat the surrounding plants, so choose a spot away from plants you don't want eaten.
Set up multiple troughs or other containers on the ground. Deer can eat foods up to three feet off the ground, but on the ground feeding stations are easy and effective. Containers should be placed 15 to 20 yards apart. Providing multiple containers decreases competition, ensuring fawns eat too.
Refill the containers every day. The time of day you feed the deer does not matter, but you should refill feed stations at about same time every day.
Remove the containers when the snow melts for the last time, because deer diets will switch to leafy spring foods.