what do deer eat????

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ihookem
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what do deer eat????

Unread postby ihookem » Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:55 pm

I ask because I was in the Kettle Moraine State forest today. There are no track in the corn fields now cause it must be all eaten. As I walked 1.3 mi. and 12" of snow. observed lots of tracks in certain places and was obvious they were feeding. I saw where they ate what I call marsh grass. I saw this last week too. Red dogwood and Sumac seemed to be getting hit real hard . I was however surprised at the marsh grass and certain types of weeds. Are some of these foods considered starvation food???


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PLB
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Re: what do deer eat????

Unread postby PLB » Mon Jan 20, 2014 2:12 pm

I've watched them feed on marsh grass in October this season. They are just out there browsing, toughing it out, surviving. Deer are tough. Way to early to be talking starvation. If the snow gets over 18in and we have these conditions well into March, then you can start worrying some.

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brkissl82
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Re: what do deer eat????

Unread postby brkissl82 » Mon Jan 20, 2014 3:09 pm

Thats interesting you say that. Ive noticed the same thing in kettle moraine state forest

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dan
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Re: what do deer eat????

Unread postby dan » Mon Jan 20, 2014 9:52 pm

ihookem wrote:I ask because I was in the Kettle Moraine State forest today. There are no track in the corn fields now cause it must be all eaten. As I walked 1.3 mi. and 12" of snow. observed lots of tracks in certain places and was obvious they were feeding. I saw where they ate what I call marsh grass. I saw this last week too. Red dogwood and Sumac seemed to be getting hit real hard . I was however surprised at the marsh grass and certain types of weeds. Are some of these foods considered starvation food???

Those are common foods that deer eat every winter. They are far from starving in Southern Wisconsin. Most people think deer need crops. They would do just fine without all the crop fields.
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purebowhunting
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Re: what do deer eat????

Unread postby purebowhunting » Mon Jan 20, 2014 10:53 pm

It's said that even in farm country approx. 70% of a whitetails diet is browse. Right now you should see digging for grasses and forbs, and a lot of consumption of woody browse. I agree that the whitetail herd is currently in pretty good shape, even in the north central part where there is a decent amount of snow there is no crust of ice, so they're not restricted on movement at the time.


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