Corn pile - never any bucks, does it mean no bucks

[mheichelbech]

During the holidays I often keep a pile of corn in the woods behind my house, about 30 yards from my back door. Everyone that comes by enjoys seeing all the deer. I often keep a camera over as well just to see what they do, when they do it, etc. I don’t hunt these deer and there is little pressure behind me although a lot of pressure in the surrounding area.

The issue I have is that in probably 4-5 years, I have only ever had ONE mature buck on camera in the middle of the night. Although there are a lot of deer in the area, rural agriculture the stuff, I seldom ever see any bucks but do see a lot of does around...driving in the dark it’s not unusual to see several deer in people’s yards, etc. I know mature bucks don’t typically visit a bait pile in daylight but it seems like if there were any around they would come by there some times I’m the dark.

Does this imply to you that there just aren’t any mature bucks around? It’s just hard to imagine I wouldn’t have had at least a couple bucks visiting the corn pile of there were any around. I have seen smaller 1-2 year olds but nothing older.

[Tennhunter3]

I think mature bucks are probably around. Their trail system may not run by that area due to many potential factors. Human scent, noise.,pressure, dogs, ect. Wrong contour travel elevation. I think even with bucks feeding every move made is calculated even at night.

By time bucks reach maturity they know bait means human scent and danger. Day or night they smell the threat. I think most people underestimate how much human oder effects mature bucks.

[Hawthorne]

What’s the habitat like? There could be some around maybe your just not in a good spot for them. They could have much better habitat areas not far from there.Hard to say without knowing your land and area. With does and corn you would think one would stroll by eventually . Heavy pressure and poor habitat around maybe none are making it to maturity

[ihookem]

There are old bucks around. They just know enough not to go there. An old buck will come in downwind. If he smells so much as a hint of human, or dog, or noise , he will not go there. I have had old bucks on a trail cam that takes 3 pics in 5 seconds , and by the second pic they are running and never come back. They dont like anything human in any way , so if the corn is 30 yds from the house, there is way too much noise for them.

[Buckshot20]

Could be lots of factors but from my past experiences and from talking to friends who have success hunting over gait one of the most common themes is habitat. More importantly, the food. The people I know who have success hunting bait do it where there are not a lot of grain crops available or in what you probably be considered big woods situations. If all they have are sticks and weeds they will hit the bait harder. If there are corn and beans around they don’t need to go to a pile

[Seeker529]

My grandfather lives on the edge of the city limits.... he has roughly 10 acers of woods and that is mixed with redbrush.. houses surround the entire parcel.. he loves to feed the deer and turkey with a timed feeder and after several years i never get pics of big bucks... So this year i moved the camera literaly 30 yards to a trail and i finally got pics of some big bucks... being city deer they are used to dogs and human scent and noises... but never ever did they come into the salt lick or corn not even during the summer.. its my guess that they have no intention to eat there.. but they cruise around it for search of does!

[Evanszach7]

My grandfather lives on the edge of the city limits.... he has roughly 10 acers of woods and that is mixed with redbrush.. houses surround the entire parcel.. he loves to feed the deer and turkey with a timed feeder and after several years i never get pics of big bucks... So this year i moved the camera literaly 30 yards to a trail and i finally got pics of some big bucks... being city deer they are used to dogs and human scent and noises... but never ever did they come into the salt lick or corn not even during the summer.. its my guess that they have no intention to eat there.. but they cruise around it for search of does!

Ive seen the same thing first hand. Ive also got a buddy that spreads the corn out across a 20x20 yard area and sets up the camera on an entry or exit trail. For a couple of reasons, that upped his odds quite a bit. He also quit hunting over the bait and started setting up on a downwind edge, similar to how I like to hunt scrapes.

[mheichelbech]

That must be the deal. I have killed a couple good bucks across the street where I do hunt some but it’s been during the rut. In the whole area, I’ve never even seen good buck sign. Last year I did have a good one I was after but just couldn’t get the right trail at the right time before the season ran out.

I think maybe the other problem is that a lot of people do bait to hunt (although it’s illegal) around where I live and bucks have learned not to do it. Kind of like an alcoholic staying out of a bar or liquor store.

[1STRANGEWILDERNESS]

I feed at my house in winter. I hunt the surrounding area. I did see some nice bucks on the hay bale in muzzleloading season. It was full moon and about midnight looking through binoculars. Had no cameras set on it. Seems if I set a camera directly on the bait I’ll get one maybe two pics (at the same time) maybe a blurry image of the deer bolting. The deer still comes around the area but won’t go in front of that camera. I know a ton of people that repeatedly get pics. I’ve dabbled in cams on and off for years and I have poor luck. I set em up high and get the ir but always the cheapo s

[rhinoblake]

I agree that there are bucks around. I have been watching some friends properties over a few years and have some examples of how different each situation can be.

In one location a camera on an old logging road, based on historical photos. had way more pictures of bucks on the logging road than on the corn, which was 100 yards away on major trails.

Another property the bucks visited the corn, even during daylight but never consistently. Mainly during the rut.

Lastly, another property that has very poor food sources the bucks come in every time the corn was on the ground. determined that the older the bucks only used the corn during a certain wind direction.

After going through 1000s of pictures and weather data and keeping in mind time of year, bedding and other food sources...I still don’t think I know anything! Slightly kidding. From my limited research it came down to bedding, available food sources, and time of year that determined if the bucks would use the properties. On each place during season the corn was only used very little by the bucks. This is relative to bucks acting like doe and using easy food sources during the off season. This helped me understand that bucks always used the properties and helped me figure out the why.

[mheichelbech]

I wonder if there is another food that bucks would like enough to show up and eat it. I started using black oil sunflower seed and got a couple smaller bucks that I wasn’t getting with corn. I had thought about using alfalfa cubes or something.

[Sailfish_WC]

We put corn out in MI forever(stopped when the banned it)
In 35 or so years I saw one buck on the corn during light(barely) yet they were around.


In FL, many a good deer we have killed over corn at all hours of the day

[Findian]

Sweet juicy apples and salted peanuts

[Skrause1015]

I had two 12 pointers visit my corn at 5:20pm at night. Last month came in two or three times. Haven't put any down since but I am probably going to put a salt lick down or something and see if he comes back to backtrack him to his bedding area.