Have you ever hunted in Texas or Kansas?

So, all the states that allow bait don't have any deer or turkeys? Supplemental feeding is OK, but baiting causes a decline in deer and turkey. Baiting makes me lazy even though toting 100 pounds of corn on my back through the woods seems like work to me. Feed corn is better than deer corn, but they may allow baiting, as long as I pay the tax and use deer corn in a feeder. Deer can't live without food plots. Which is bad because corn baiters won't plant food plots,

Ok I can't sleep so I will weigh in on this aflatoxin discussion. Aflatoxin is becoming non existent due to a product called Afla-guard and hybrid corn genetics being bred. For corn to pass export grades it has to be less than 20ppb (part per billion). Therefore all grain elevators have stringent testing procedures when receiving grain. Testing has to be done because you don't know where the corns final destination will be at the time of receiving. If it ends up on a barge at the gulf and doesn't pass grades...you just lost your ass and will have to sell for salvage. 20ppb won't kill anything and it sure as hell won't kill a ruminant such as a deer. I don't know about turkeys but you can feed very high levels of aflatoxins to chickens with no effect. Y'all can take what I say for what it's worth but I deal with this for a living and have seen a lot of aflatoxin. If somebody wants to go buy a bag of "deer corn" and bring me a ziplock sand which bag of it...I will grind it and run a test and tell you how many ppb it is but I will bet it will be very low.

Ok I can't sleep so I will weigh in on this aflatoxin discussion. Aflatoxin is becoming non existent due to a product called Afla-guard and hybrid corn genetics being bred. For corn to pass export grades it has to be less than 20ppb (part per billion). Therefore all grain elevators have stringent testing procedures when receiving grain. Testing has to be done because you don't know where the corns final destination will be at the time of receiving. If it ends up on a barge at the gulf and doesn't pass grades...you just lost your ass and will have to sell for salvage. 20ppb won't kill anything and it sure as hell won't kill a ruminant such as a deer. I don't know about turkeys but you can feed very high levels of aflatoxins to chickens with no effect. Y'all can take what I say for what it's worth but I deal with this for a living and have seen a lot of aflatoxin. If somebody wants to go buy a bag of "deer corn" and bring me a ziplock sand which bag of it...I will grind it and run a test and tell you how many ppb it is but I will bet it will be very low.

Questions for the alfatoxin crew:

1) Do you supplemental feed with corn?

2) Do you put corn in front of cameras during the off season?

I'm guessing no?

Also love how when we talk about season changes and limit changes everybody goes "ARGHHH THEY BETTER NOT TELL ME HOW TO HUNT I NEED DEER TO FEED MY FAMILY GRRRR" but when the subject of corn comes up the same people say "ARGGHH THEY NEED STRICTER REGULATIONS ON IT GIVE PEOPLE THE DEATH PENALTY IT MAKES IT TO EASY TO KILL DEER GRRRR".

They found almost half of the 100 samples tested contained levels considered potentially hazardous for wildlife. Forty-four percent of those contained levels higher than 20 parts per billion and 20 percent had levels at 100 parts per billion or higher. The Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service recommends that grain tested higher than 100 parts per billion not be used to feed free-ranging deer.

"The high levels of aflatoxin found in feed corn this year has prompted many to re-evaluate wildlife feeding programs that use corn as a supplement," Fedynich added. "Texas Parks and Wildlife has issued alerts regarding the potential danger of feeding aflatoxin-contaminated feed to wildlife."

Little information is available concerning the effects of aflatoxin on wildlife and guidelines are generally based on toxicity studies conducted on domesticated animal species like cattle, chickens and turkeys. The few studies on wildlife have focused on economically-important game species such as white-tailed deer (fawns), bobwhite quail and wild turkeys.

"These studies have found that high levels of aflatoxin consumption caused liver damage, immune system dysfunction and left the animals in generally poor health," Fedynich said. "Little is known about the long-term effects on individuals and populations from chronic exposure to aflatoxin or its effect on nongame species."

"Unfortunately, many people think that aflatoxin is a 'game species' problem but the scope is much wider, particularly when one considers thousands of urban and suburban Texans feeding songbirds at their back yard bird feeders," Fedynich said. "We know very little about the rate of exposure or for that matter, the impact of acute or chronic exposure of aflatoxin on songbirds, small mammals and other nongame wildlife in Texas."

Henke has been studying aflatoxin for several years. "One of the big misconceptions about aflatoxin is that if a grain bag is labeled as having a certain level of aflatoxin then that is what you are actually putting out there for wildlife," he said. "However, that was the aflatoxin level when it was tested, which could have been months ago.

"Since aflatoxin-producing fungi can continue to grow on grain in the bag and under a variety of conditions, the level of aflatoxin is likely to be much higher by the time it is actually fed to wildlife. The only way to determine the level of aflatoxin that wildlife are actually being exposed to is to test it as it is dispensed from the feeder."

Deer Corn tests positive for aflatoxins

Posted May 1, 2013 by Meghan Grebner

The wildlife feed Deer Corn has been pulled from the shelves of Rural King in seven states after some bags showed contamination from aflatoxins. Following a customer request for information, tests were done in Indiana by the Office of the Indiana State Chemist. The tested samples indicated that the corn was not suitable as a feed for wildlife and could potentially be harmful to humans exposed to the aflatoxin dusts.

Robert Geiger, feed administrator in the state chemist�s office said the level of aflatoxins found in the Deer Corn exceeded levels the US Food and Drug Administration considers safe.

Deer Corn is packaged in camouflage printed bags and is the only feed product banned from purchase at Rural King. Customers who have purchased the product should return it to a Rural King store.

Rural King operates 63 retail stores in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan and Missouri.

Have you ever hunted in Texas or Kansas?


Nope. Hunted in MS, LA and AL

Then before you start calling virtually everyone who hunts in Texas and Kansas "lazy," you should try to get out there and hunt. Because it ain't the same as Miserysippi, Alabama and Louisiana.