Combating the High Price of Corn
If you haven't stocked up your deer feeders with corn yet this year, you are in for a shock. I stopped in to a local pet and feed store (one of the large retail chains whose name I won't mention here) and found that corn prices were up big time. I was looking at $12.00 for a 50 pound bag of shell corn. So I headed straight back out of that store, with plans to visit another feed store that deals strictly in feed for live stock.
When I visited the other feed store the following day, I was in for another shocker. A 50 pound bag of shell corn was $9.70 plus tax. It seemed that a few months ago, I had picked up corn at the same place for around $7.40 per 50 pound bag. So it is up approximately $2.30. Now I don't know about you, but I go through a lot of corn on an annual basis. It is legal in my state to bait deer with corn, and this is something I practice on a few pieces of private land that I hunt. Anything that holds more does in the area will increase the chances of bringing those chasing bucks in, and that is my main goal. I will also use corn around my game cameras to help draw more deer within my cam's field of view. This can be a big help when surveying the deer population and quality.
So I asked the guy at the feed store why the corn prices were up so much. He stated that two consecutive and very wet springs had hampered the farmer's ability to get corn in the ground. This has affected the harvest and available supply. He also stated that the government had not been very forth coming, and actually a bit misleading, about the amount of corn reserves on hand. So it all comes down to supply and demand affecting price.
I'll still make use of corn this year, because a couple of bucks isn't going to break the bank, but I probably won't use it as liberally as I normally would. So this got me thinking about alternatives and options that may be more cost effective.
- Moultrie Deer Feeders
For around $100.00, you can pick up a tripod Moultrie deer feeder. There are hanging feeders that you can pick up for less, but the Moultrie Easy-Fill is one of my favorites. It is well built, and not difficult to transport, as it stands only 6 feet high. It only takes one person to set this feeder up. The 30 gallon capacity holds an amount of corn that is just right, and the metal varmint guard will eliminate the worries of squirrels and raccoons chewing away at the feeder's spinner. It is easy to program, runs on a 6 cell battery, and you can program up to 6 feedings per day. Each activation can dispense corn for anywhere between 1 to 20 seconds, so you have good control over how much feed is dispensed. - Salt Licks for Deer
I have always had good luck with mineral and salt licks for deer. Even at the retail feed stores, you can pick up a 50 pound white Morton salt block for under $8.00. The livestock feed stores carry them for less. White salt doesn't benefit antler growth as much as some of the other mineral blocks do, but the deer flat out love it. I had a white salt block sitting on a stump behind my house, and the deer would visit it daily. It has since completely dissolved, but the deer still frequent that stump and have chewed every bit of bark off that stump to get the residual salt. They are even pawing away at and eating the dirt around the stump to get to it. The Evolved Habits company offers a wide range of other mineral blocks that are scented or offer additional supplements such as calcium and phosphorus. Using licks like these are great because the deer love them and they last a long time. Even after they are gone, the deer will continue to return to the area to get the residual mineral from the dirt.
- Food Plots for Deer
Food plots take some work and some planning. So while they aren't a short term fix for the high price of corn, they are something that you can plan for the future. I like the Evolved Habits Throw and Grow, and some of the other no-till food plot seeds. You can get results from these without the need for heavy equipment to disc the soil. I have a little hand held manual garden tiller that is great for roughing up the ground a bit with minimal effort. This isn't required, but offers you much better results. Biologic Food Plots also offer great results, and yield a lot of protein.
There are many options and alternatives to corn. I have one buddy who collects fallen apples from a near by orchard and uses them in an area that he hunts. I have another buddy that uses horse feed, which he states costs much less than corn per bag. I also have other hunting buddies that totally disagree with using any type of bait or lures and doesn't think that anyone should be using them, legal or not.
So will the increased cost of corn have you using less of it this year? If so, what alternatives do you plan to use? We would love to hear your comments below.
Tags: biologic food plots, food plots for deer, moultrie deer feeders, salt licks for deer
