Feeding and occasional smattering of stock minerals, pre-packaged protein pellets, and a yearly salt block is not a management program. It is a futile attempt give something back in order to feel good about the harvesting of deer and other wildlife. A really successful management program requires one thing, dedication. Deer and other wildlife need 3 things to flourish, sustainable habitat, a nutritionally balanced food source, and plenty of good clean water. In the wild, these things are not always handily available due to location and prevelent weather conditions. So in order to make a definable impact on deer health and developement, a management program must reasonably supplement the populations food and water supply. Everyone attempting to manage will focus on supplementing feed, either by feeding an attractant, like corn, or some protein mixture, in order to improve deer health, physiology, and overall populations. A claen supply of water is also crucial. This is probably the hardest thing to supply, especially in remote areas. Unless plenty of clean water is available, no amount of nutritional supplement will make an impact. Animals will not eat anything more than the bare minimum to survive if they do not have an ample water supply. This is probably the biggest factor in a management program's failure to improve either health or physiology. There is always an underlying reason why deer do not reach their genetic poteintial. You will need to make sure that all the bases are covered in order to ensure your efforts are ultimately successful.    

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Once the basics are in place, deer habitat, water, and adequate food source, you can then determine what specific areas you need to target in order to make the desired improvements. The addition of crude protein to the target population's diet might be all that is required to improve a mangement program. Additionally, the supplementation of minerals into the diet may be equally as effective to ensure a program succedes. More often than not, it takes a combination of ingredients to come up with the recipe that spells success.

There is a big mistake that most hunters or mangers make when trying to jumpstart a program. they feed corn. Some beleive that this is beneficial. Most of the time the addition of corn to a deer's diet, can be a detriment. Small amounts of corn can be beneficial due to the protein, although limited, as well as levels of fat, and fiber can be a healthy supplement to their diet.  But when a population