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Before you look into how you should attract deer, you first need to check out IF you should, or can, attract deer.
Feeding and attracting wild game is often referred to as "baiting" and is illegal in some states. The official definition of "baiting" is: to place, deposit, tend, distribute or scatter bait to aid in taking deer or other wild life. This would mean placing feeders with salt blocks or grain where deer will consume them and continue to look for them. Check with your states wild life management offices and see what your regulations are, if any.
There are ways to attract deer to your meadows and property that would not be considered baiting. Please note these tips are not listed for hunting purposes, but rather for pure enjoyment of their beauty.
Some say the surest way to attract deer is to plant a garden or drive your new car at night and they will come around for sure. But to safely attract deer to your property you can try planting areas of clover or alfalfa, preferably not far from a cover of thick brush. You might even designate an area of corn, planted and left just for them. As another person said when giving advice on attracting deer, "If you plant it, they will come."
If you can legally do supplemental feeding over winter it is important to continue it until the fresh grasses of spring appear. You can find feeders made specifically for deer, but they do not need anything fancy. You can pile cracked corn, apples, oats or acorns and even place out a salt block (or a chopped salt block), which deer love. One of the best supplements is a complete horse, cow or deer formula pellet.
Before beginning any supplemental feeding to attract deer it is important to realize that even though it allows you to enjoy the benefits of deer watching, it can also have negative impacts. First of all, keep all deer feeding sites at least 1/2 mile from any road so you don't increase the chances of deer and vehicle collisions. Also, feeding deer in the fall can disrupt their normal migratory path to natural wintering sites. This can leave them without protection from predators and severe weather.
Always remember, deer do not need us to supplement their food supplies or to help out mother nature. But if you choose to feed them for the purpose of attracting them for deer watching, do it responsibly, and enjoy their beauty.
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