Preferred Foods Of The Whitetail

[moose eye levi]

Hedgeapples towards the later part of fall depending on availability, if they are abundant they don't eat them as often but if there are few of them they seem to go fast.The tops of "gempson weed" in the spring and summer. Just adding some I did not see.

[Knawbone]

I always know were at lest a few deer will be latter in the deer season, especialy when theres no hard or soft mast. Thorn apples (I believe thats what your talking about Moose eye). Hawthorns plot in the corner of my property always draw some deer.

[gringol]

Originally posted by Pat B:

If you fertilize a weed field it will draw deer.

.
 That is interesting. Might have to try that.  Thanks, Pat.

[TexasTrad]

This is a good thread......I would like to hear RC and Landshark's thoughts.  They both seem to be very successful scouting for and hunting hot food sources.

[Knawbone]

How about wild pod bearing trees and shrubs? This last season I found an area I was hunting that had fresh deer sign around a group of trees near a pond I believe these trees were honeylocust. They were dropping long pods with fairly small beans inside. I'v also seen bush type trees bearing four in. pods I believed to be called wild coffee.Neither of these trees are very common in my neck of the woods,so I'm not at all familiar with them.Deer may or may not target these pods with any regularity,but would like to be able to identify them and/or any other pod bearers.

[Knawbone]

Yes, hunting hot food sources probably would have been a better title for this thread. Thanks TexasTrad

[buckeye_hunter]

Fruit trees get hammered. The bucks will even use their antlers to knock fruit out of the tree.

I've notice the whiteoak acorn and beechnuts as favorites myself.

[tuscarawasbowman]

Originally posted by Knawbone:
But given a choice are there certain foods they prefer over others.  

I would highly reccomend that you read "The Deer of North America" by Leonard Lee Rue III. In it he does state deer will go for taste over nutritional value most always. He also lists preferred foods in different parts of the country in the different seasons. I hope this is of some help.

[Hummer3T]

This could be a very vast thread, I believe you have to look at area (state, prov. etc), time of year, availability of food sources.  as an example we have few oaks up here, if any they are planted, the deer will eat them as browse, but won't typically eat acorns, in the south of the province where there are oaks they love them? their favorite in the fall seems to be hazelnut leaves that are on the ground.
go figure?

[Dimondback]

Originally posted by b.glass:
I've seen video of them eating a dried up old maple or oak leaf. I've personally seen them eat mulberry leaves. I think they eat grass but I don't think they prefer it.

Like clockwork for the past 5 months there have been 2-5 does feeding on grass in the center of a 25 meter diameter exit loop off of I-295 at 0600 (am). Maybe they have no other options or they are corrupted inner-city deer as this exit is within view of the Washington Monument/Reagan National Airport in D.C. (can't hunt them!)  :D

[Knawbone]

Thanks for the input Tuscarawasbowman and Hammer3T,I guess I'm trying to focus mainly on preferred food sources during hunting seasons(no matter what part of the country).This is an attempt to understand,for all Tradgang members,what wild foods deer prefer when the more obvious one aren't available to them.eg If they normally target acorns, but there are no acorns that year- Where would you start looking for deer when considering other preferred sources. Sorry just trying to clerify it's about finding deer when the typical foods aren't available.I should have worded my opening statement differently. I knew what I meant,I just didn't word it very well.  

[Jedimaster]

Smilax (aka green brier, deer thorn, catbrier) is a big time deer favorite in my area.  We just call them "briers".  Many times I've observed deer walking past acorns while picking the leaves off these vines one at a time. They don't typically want the vine, just the leaves.  If you see naked green vines in the woods, you'll know what I mean.  The deer will browse them clean as far up as they can reach.  Sometimes they don't hit them hard until later in the year but if you find a thicket of smilax, you have found a place to watch.  
 
 
 

[Knawbone]

Jedimaster,Perfecto........ Thankyou for the pics.  

[Birdbow]

Another vote for beechnuts, when they  are in. Very cyclical but when they fall here it's generally before acorns and they are 'candy' for every critter around. Consequently, they don't last long.

[Steve in Canton]

I have hunted urban deer in 5 states and every time I concentrate on flower beds and manucured lawns.  I love right after a yard is reseeded for the winter it draws deer like a magnet.  I have actually had deer walk numerous times right past white oaks to get to a well manacured lawn.  This is not for everybody but for anyone who does a lot of urban hunting do not discount buying lyme and fertilizing the grass within 25 yards of your stand for 10 bucks you have a food plot.

[Aggie1993]

Something Unexpected.

In South Texas Wild Onion tops.  I have observed them slurp this stuff up like spaghetti noodles. I love to hunt creek bank edges and that stuff likes the moisture and partial shade I guess. I saw some doe eating it one morning and when I got down I checked it out and pulled up an onion.  I had no idea.  Now I look for it!

[stickbowhntr]

And what they like this year could be different the next due to a lot of things.

[awbowman]

Nothing beats a sweet acorn, IMHO

[Bowwild]

Lots of good and accurate info here. White-tail are mostly browsers and less grazers: 70:30 and it is the reverse for elk.

Our season starts in September and goes through mid-January. They are in hayfields early, they love alfalfa, timothy, and clovers. They browse new woody shoots as many have pointed out above. In a drought year (2010 here) the persimmons are dropping early but normally after the oak acorns. Enough has been written about white acorns vs. red oaks. The reds are year after year producers, the whites usually are alternate years, at least for bumper crops. Very easy to tell the white and red families apart.

By late season, when the acorns are gone; thank-you deer, turkey, squirrels, and exotic hogs, they go primarily to twigs and certain leaves (exotic honeysuckle, green briar, others mentioned above). By the way dogwood leaves have higher calcium levels -- good for antler growth.

Of course those who live with urban and suburban deer know deer also love; tulips, white cedar, and the fruit trees listed above.

Of course hickory and walnut are useless to deer except they distract the squirrels a bit.

[Jake Diebolt]

The deer where I used to hunt LOVED soybeans, more than any other agricultural crop. Around here they also browse a lot of red osier twig tips during the growing season, since they grow well in a lot of uncultivated fields.