What is your deer eating?

[johndeere506]

I planned on looking after reading it here. Getting everyone's info would be very cool
Great idea.

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[Ack]

im in.. I have been doing it for awhile also.. acorns..carrots n corn r usually easy to spot...

[ Post made via Android ]

You forgot apples and sugar beets

[whitetailassasin]

I think this is a great idea. Will be contributing on all the deer I shoot, doe and buck.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[oldrank]

im in.. I have been doing it for awhile also.. acorns..carrots n corn r usually easy to spot...

[ Post made via Android ]

You forgot apples and sugar beets

yep.. im serious though.. I dont think ive ever seen one without corn or carrots.. just the nature of our state..

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[DaveT1963]

Where I hunt the mast crop has been zilch for last 5 years due to drought. When there is a great crop it is the absolute worst hunting as the deer bed and eat right there and setting up on them is difficult at best. they just don't move around much. The few oaks around here are still barren this year. In late season wheat is #1 food destination point.... especially for the first few weeks it is sprouting.

However, on public land I hunt, it is 100% browse. It is extremely difficult to locate a preferred browse as the deer wander and seldom bed in same beds very often. However, they do have bedding areas they prefer and there are times when they will focus in on a single browse. If you are lucky enough to find a hot persimmon tree - watch out. Believe it or not, poison Ivy is a favorite. Of course honeysuckle is also. Young maple and plum trees also get hit. Problem is this stuff is literally everywhere at times.

I envy guys where there are beans, alfalfa, corn, game plots, etc. I hunt Ohio every year and it is relatively easy to pin point food sources and thus focus in on undisturbed bedding areas. When I lived in Montana and had some private ground, it was easy to isolate mature bucks on alfalfa fields and thus determine where they are bedding. You simply cannot apply that technique down here. When I hunt Ohio and the mid west states, I let 140-150 class deer walk by me every year - a lot of them..... because there are 170+ bucks in the area and finding and seeing deer is not all that hard. Sorry guys, I know some will disagree but I have hunted the ag areas of mid west and it is by far the easiest whitetail hunting I have experienced.... especially for locating big bucks.... it just is not all that hard to find/locate deer, feeding and bedding in the mid-west. Now getting away form other hunters on public land, yes that can be challenging but if you are willing to spend some time studying what the other hunters do - that to is also pretty easy. The very hardest whitetail hunting I have ever experienced is deep wilderness public land that does not allow baiting - that is just tough and very few people will be successful until they really spend some time hunting and scouting there. I feel confident, I can find a pick a spot in KY, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois.... study it on google earth, devote one or two days to scouting and then set up on a good buck. I have just done if far too many times.... especially if I can get access to private farm land.

So for me, I have abandoned trying to determine what deer are using as a food source except when winter wheat first comes up. I focus in on thick bedding areas and WATER sources. Down here it is hot all year, and when bucks start wandering and chasing they need water - a lot. But like large food sources, the bigger bucks will tend to know about those small isolated places where they can get a drink and their bedding areas are usually just down wind of these in thick cover.

So I guess my main point is, that each area is different. ALL deer need three things to survive: food, good security cover and water. However, each area one of these will become the predominate factor you should focus in on. Where I hunt the food (in the form of natural browse) and cover is literally everywhere so deer can and will bed in many places. However, the limiting factor here is often a good water source. So I seek those out first, then look for the ones that have good cover adjacent to these water holes and then look for beds downwind (keeping in mind the predominate wind for the area and time I want to hunt). What stinks this year for me is we had a lot of rain and so there is water everywhere - making it a lot more difficult to pin point the ones deer are using the most.

During the rut, funnels and pinch points are also effective at times - especially if they are downwind of known doe bedding areas.

[cdeam]

^ letting lots of 150 class deer walk, eh? Not just a few but lots? On public land? Please point me in that direction.

[ Post made via Android ]

[DaveT1963]

Sorry, should have been more specific - in Ohio, Kentucky and Kansas - I hunt on private farms each year (This is a one to two week trip per year) for the most part but I do hunt some public land. In fact, my favorite stand in MO is on PUBLIC land and yes I see quite a few 140-150 class bucks every year. In Montana I saw many 140+ bucks every year on public land. Where I hunt in E. Texas and E. Oklahoma it is 100% public land and I still manage to see a couple 140 class bucks every single year.

Last year, in Ohio, I hunt with a farmer's son on a several nice farms, on one day I let at least three bucks walk by me that were over 140" of course it was in the middle of the rut and they were moving well. I had a 160 inch buck that I was hunting that also came in, but I hunt with a longbow and he never gave me a shot within my magic 25 yard circle. The reason more people don't see 140 inch bucks is because they shoot the first one they see. When I am hunting in an area that has some bucks over 180 in the area and on film, then we tend to hold out thus we see a lot of the 3 1/2 year old bucks. And trust me, in Ohio and KY a lot of 140 inch deer are only 3 1/2 years old. Even in TX and OK on public land I have had numerous close encounters with 140+ deer - but I am pretty selective in my shot selection and I'll let one walk before I take a marginal shot. Sorry you find this so hard to believe.

[JoeRE]

Thanks guys, glad you think the idea is good too.

Two years ago hunting a wilderness area inside of a national forest during the first week of January my friend shot a doe. While waiting for him to return with the sled, I cut open her stomach to verify my assumption she had been eating leftover acorns and browse. My assumption was wrong.

The contents of her stomach were bright green. There were very few acorns. The only things in the forest nearby that were green was moss, green briar, and some fern looking things.

After we hung her, we scouted around a half mile and noticed deer sign being prominent among the greener areas of the winter forest.

That's what I am curious to learn. I suspect there will be a lot of surprises. Sure deer eat corn, beans, apples etc...but that might only be a fraction of their diet.

Great idea. Maybe a new thread with a sticky. To make it easy to document.

[ Post made via Android ]

Yea, a sticky would be nice if that would be OK. I plan on bumping the thread every week or so all season long but that would be less work.

[BassBoysLLP]

Don't forget bear bait!

[ Post made via Android ]

[JoeRE]

Bump.

[Stanley]

Thanks guys, glad you think the idea is good too.

Two years ago hunting a wilderness area inside of a national forest during the first week of January my friend shot a doe. While waiting for him to return with the sled, I cut open her stomach to verify my assumption she had been eating leftover acorns and browse. My assumption was wrong.

The contents of her stomach were bright green. There were very few acorns. The only things in the forest nearby that were green was moss, green briar, and some fern looking things.

After we hung her, we scouted around a half mile and noticed deer sign being prominent among the greener areas of the winter forest.

That's what I am curious to learn. I suspect there will be a lot of surprises. Sure deer eat corn, beans, apples etc...but that might only be a fraction of their diet.

Great idea. Maybe a new thread with a sticky. To make it easy to document.

[ Post made via Android ]

Yea, a sticky would be nice if that would be OK. I plan on bumping the thread every week or so all season long but that would be less work.

Why don't you start a new thread (deer hunting)with data entries only no comments and we will put it up as a sticky for the hunting season. If any comments are forthcoming they can comment on this thread. This will make it easier for everyone to read and document.

[Mike]

Got word the buck shot on our farm was loaded with acorns, had some corn but no visible greens. Was shot in the evening in the woods not near any major food, oak ridge.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Bucky]

Acorns and clover/greens on opener buck

[ Post made via Android ]

[JoeRE]

Why don't you start a new thread (deer hunting)with data entries only no comments and we will put it up as a sticky for the hunting season. If any comments are forthcoming they can comment on this thread. This will make it easier for everyone to read and document.

I guess I am not sure how to do that and track what I have in mind. If I create a poll, I probably would miss a lot of the common foods in a deer's diet across the US and I would also like to track foods as they change through the fall, not just look at averages at the end of the season. If you know an easy way to show this in a poll then let me know.

For what it's worth I am willing to just bump this periodically then try to summarize results by time of year in a new post at the end of the year for everyone to see. As of right now that seems the most effective way to do it.

Thanks for the info so far guys, keep it coming.