The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

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Rubline
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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby Rubline » Mon May 04, 2015 3:07 pm

I saw a video long ago of a buck eating it's velvet after it was shed.
Anyone ever seen or heard about bucks eating velvet???


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Hawthorne
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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby Hawthorne » Mon May 04, 2015 3:13 pm

They do eat velvet. I read an article about it. Charley asseimhemier wrote it. He had pictures also.

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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby remmag » Mon May 04, 2015 3:20 pm

ihookem wrote:I have seen this in their bellies already. Dont know what it is but I call it bamboo.Image


I believe that's Japanese knotweed. Extremely invasive. I know of some public marshes around here that's flooded with the stuff

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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby GRUD » Mon May 04, 2015 10:27 pm

I grew up in NW indiana and the deer along the Lakeshore would eat the dead fish that washed up. I remember seeing their tracks along the water etc. They may not have had a good protein source besides the fish because the area was just sand and steel mills.

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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Mon May 04, 2015 11:25 pm

I have trail cam pics w/ deer over bird & rabbit gut piles and either they are curious or snacking, hard to tell...
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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby justdirtyfun » Tue May 05, 2015 3:38 am

The last picture looks like rush. Local term or correct I don't know but we have thick patches near me. Walking in it is very squeaky and they do bed in it. It is green year round.

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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Tue May 05, 2015 3:46 am

ihookem wrote:I have seen this in their bellies already. Dont know what it is but I call it bamboo.Image


That is horsetail. They eat it quite a bit in the winter despite the high silica content.

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Steve Heiting
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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby Steve Heiting » Tue May 05, 2015 5:29 am

I fish ... a lot. Several times in the spring/early summer I've seen deer eating small minnows in the shallows. Not by accident while eating aquatic plants, but actually targeting large schools of minnows.
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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Tue May 05, 2015 5:55 am

BassBoysLLP wrote:
ihookem wrote:I have seen this in their bellies already. Dont know what it is but I call it bamboo.Image


That is horsetail. They eat it quite a bit in the winter despite the high silica content.

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It is horsetail. A number of times I had over a hundred deer on my property eating it in the middle of the winter. My phone always rang off the hook from people driving by and seeing the deer.

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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Tue May 05, 2015 6:01 am

Many years ago University of Michigan researchers studied and videotaped deer eating dead alewives (fish) that washed up on the shore of Michigans N Manitou Island. One doe in particular was eating hundreds of them each day. They theorized that the deer were lacking sodium and other minerals which the alewives contained, not to mention the protein they provided. It was fascinating to see the deer adapt this behavior.

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Re: The Meat-eating Habits of Deer

Unread postby Liberty-Hunt » Tue May 05, 2015 7:47 am

I'm very surprise. Nice to know!
Very interesting in deed.
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