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My wife and I both enjoy deer, just in different ways. She likes to watch them and take pictures. I like to hunt them and eat them. Though it might sound like we have conflicting interests, we are able to work out the differences. I just am not allowed to hunt any of the deer she knows personally.

I try to attract and hold deer on the farm by providing food, cover, and water. Good habitat will keep deer in the area. My food plots are a minor part of the big picture as the neighbors are kind enough to plant large fields of corn and soybeans as a food source. All I really have to do is make sure our deer have open water and a place to sleep. My job is fairly easy.

My wife, on the other hand, has a much more specific plan. She wants to draw the deer into camera range of the front porch. I hunt deer my way by walking all over the farm or sitting in a tree for hours. My wife wants to sit on the porch, drinking her coffee, and have the deer come to her. Not a bad idea if it can be done.

One day while shopping the farm supply store, she noticed they sold deer feed blocks. That evening, she asked me about them. I told her I was sure they would work to attract deer, but they were much too expensive for what they are; corn, molasses, and a few other ingredients. Not to be deterred, she decided to make some.

The internet is full of helpful information, including how to make a deer block. The recipe she liked called for acorns, which she and our grandson, Zane, picked up under a white oak tree. She also needed corn, which was in stock for the cattle and horses. The next ingredients were molasses, honey, and stale bread. We did not happen to have any of these so she went to the grocery store and bought the necessary supplies. When I got home from work, manufacturing deer blocks was well underway. Her total cost for supplies was less than the cost for store bought blocks, but not by much. The next challenge was would the deer be attracted to them.

The first block was placed near the timber at the far end of the dam, about four hundred yards from the house. We watched a group of does and fawns the next morning as they polished it off. That is obviously a good location and they did like the block. The second block is half way to the house and has not been touched in almost a week. The one nearest the house is almost gone and we have yet to see a deer near it. They must be eating it at night.

Since her deer blocks are obviously attracting deer, I encouraged my wife to make another batch, with a few modifications. Skip the honey. Honey costs almost as much as the rest of the ingredients combined. Deer know something is sweet, but they do not know honey. In the wild, honey is found high in hollow trees. Deer do not climb trees, so they will not know the difference if honey is replaced with molasses. Rather than getting food grade molasses from the grocery store, a person can go to the local feed store where they sell the same thing for livestock. I purchased two gallons for half as much as twelve ounces cost in the grocery store. Acorns are free, depending on the cost of labor and a person can buy fifty pound bags of corn or soy beans to add to the mixture.

We are having a good time watching the results of my wife's experiments. At the rate it is going, I think she will get her deer picture from the front porch before I get mine with a bow in the woods.

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