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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: mrpenguin on December 20, 2009, 08:50:00 AM
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With almost a foot of snow on the ground, and it being December, I think its time to get out the snow camo and sneak up a trail, but just so I know what to look for... what to deer eat this time of year when snow covers up the acorns and such?
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Browse, corn and beans if they can get to it.
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Any thing they can when it's cold and snow is on the ground they have to eat every few hours to keep warm.
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SnowCones!!!!! :biglaugh:
(Sorry,I just couldn't resist)
Actually,they will eat anything that fills thier bellies. Can't be too choosey when your cold AND hungry!!!!!
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They have been eating the cedar and pine browse and anything else they can find.
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They will dig down thru the snow and eat any acorns that may be left. Then they are stuck with regular browse. If they start eating hemlock and cedar this early in the winter it's going to be a long one for them. If you are a homeowner near where they live kiss your shrubs goodbye.
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I have seen them eat lots of blackberry an wild rasberry leaves an dead leaves if they can dig down to them. Bob
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I saw three Firday night out in my neighbors yard digging down to the grass.
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Deer can smell acorns and other food under quite a few inches of snow
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They DON'T eat the yellow snow! They are digging in the apple orchards and turnip fields where I'm hunting tonight. I hope they feed before quitting time!
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If you have a scrub mulberry tree or something like that, chainsaw it down and watch the deer go to work on the tips of the branches and so forth.
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They eat the cedar trees by us, as well as bed in the cedars.
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Rhododendrons leaves and buds. Once there is a bunch of snow on the ground, I find deer in the Rhodie thickets.
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Deer are browsers by nature, so if there is enough browse within their reach, they are good to go. I saw some this afternoon in the neighbor's corn field, digging for missed ears.
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Around here when the snow is on the ground honey suckkle, and honey locust pods are productive!
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I've seen deer picking through manure during hard winters with heavy crust on the snow.
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I cut down a 15ft.h!
hemlock one year, two days later it was half eaten!
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Like George D said, they browse. That means they eat the tender ends of twigs and any remaining leaves that cling. They will supplement with crop residue, mast and grasses that they paw up if the ice is not too thick.
I pay the farmer adjacent to my place to leave 1/4 acre or so of standing corn. They clean it up fast if the weather gets ugly, like an ice storm. I don't hunt this spot, it is a give back for all the hunting pleasure the game provides.
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Browse.If you can find some honeysuckle they will be all over it.
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They were still in the alfalfa, bean fields tonight.
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In my woods they'll be eating fir and cedar if they can find it. Neighborhood shrubs if not. (I don't have big woods or crops around). Thats with fairly deep snow like we just got.
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Because deer have no top teeth in the front- they grab twigs; and tear off the end. So watch for which plants have tops torn off. Rabbits have the top incisors and snip off twigs even. In snow; both might feed at the same level. But deer can reach up to six feet.
Follow trails and look for the sign of deer feeding; and then look for where there is more of what they were eating.
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The dig a lot of acorns up through the snow in my neck of the woods. I also see them browse on Balsam and cedar when a crust is formed and they can't dig thru. This year I would expect them to be in the corn fields since a large portion of the corn is still unharvested because of the high moisture content
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This is why I hope I have time to out over the Christmas weekend. Where I hunt has a nice place they like, out of the wind, lots of lush grass under the snow. It's a natural drainage area so the grass is always greener there.
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I've been watching many of them eating multiflora rose leaves lately. I always thought that any creature that would brave that plant has to be a tough one indeed!
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Just the thread I was looking for. We usually never get much snow while the season is open so I was wondering how to hunt tomorrow since I don't have any spots by the small farms in the area. A lot of people have up deer proof fences now too. There is still plenty of acorns under the snow and i have plenty of rhododendrums where i hunt so with any luck i'll see some deer. What is ironic is that I finally moved my stand to this trail where all the deer were coming down and it snows lol
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They seem to like honey suckle pretty well
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We are in the middle of our second major snow storm as I type. Sitting out the last few days I watched several browsing on red cedar and dead leaves before heading to the corn and beans in places the wind has blown away the snow.
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I was talking to one of my friends about this earlier today. Late Sunday afternoon/ early evening we got about two inches of snow. Monday I headed to a stand I had on an edge leading towards the cornfield. On my way in I had to walk through a large CRP field along a ridge top. The weeds looked like a barnyard with fresh tracks. This is on a snow less than 20 hours old. There's standing beans to the north and cut corn to the south but they were pounding the weeds for something. I tried to learn what they were eating but there wasn't any specific plant or pattern that I could tell other than they were browsing and not pawing. I ended up changing my initial plans because of all the sign. I sat another stand I had closer to the weeds. I ended up seeing five does and one 5x4 and they appeared to be just wandering around. Then yesterday I went to the same general area only sat another stand where I could see more of the weedy area and guess what... I never saw a deer. Whitetails never cease to amaze me. And we think we're experts! ha. BW
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Birdseed-----after they come down and knock down my backyard bird feeder!!!!
They know the dog can't get beyond her cable---and me and my bow are safely in the house, or, even worse: I come down from hunting the top of my hill and my wife says they were down raiding the back yard!! :knothead: :knothead:
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I'd say the best spot would be a honey suckle bottom adjacent to a crop field during heavy snow. I've never seen a honey suckle patch void of deer tracks in the snow.
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Been tearing up my turnips.
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I've seen deer in my yard digging up rotten apples with snow on the ground. Last year I didn't bother picking up the fallen apples and saw deer several times feeding on them at night.
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I watched deer eating honey locust pods yesterday. They could smell them under 6" of heavy snow and paw them up to munch happily. This stand is in a pig nut hickory and the ground around it was trampled when the mast fell. Now its trampled again as they search for honey locust pods from several adjacent trees.
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Honey suckle is the #1 food scource in WV when the snow hits.
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What is this Snow, of which you speak? I sure wish I could see it. :knothead: :campfire:
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Around here a downed tree top with leaves on it is a gold mine when the snow is deep. Also pines on the edge of a field, especially Frasiers. These are the spots hit during the daylight while remaining crops are usually visited well after dark.
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Here in farm country they are hitting the corn, alfalfa, and winter wheat fields. In the prairie they always seem to love big bluestem.