Maple Leaves

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Jazzy66171
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Maple Leaves

Unread postby Jazzy66171 » Sun Oct 10, 2021 1:56 pm

So one of the things I have heard Dan say in a podcast (I believe Greg Miller as well) is that the best early season food source, even more so than acorns, are sugar maple leaves. I am wondering if this is something that applies to all maples or if it really is specifically sugar maples that get the deer in? Red maples are much easier to find the area that I hunt so if I can find a sugar maple it might be that much more valuable…any thoughts?


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Jimmy wallhanger
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby Jimmy wallhanger » Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:46 pm

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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby brancher147 » Sun Oct 10, 2021 8:50 pm

I’ve never seen it and we have a lot of sugar maple in places. I can’t imagine it would be any maple probably just sugar maple and must be in certain areas not in my area
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BRoth82
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby BRoth82 » Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:40 pm

Not sure about maple trees, but I've seen them hammer the buckthorn leaves at certain times of the late fall.
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby MichiganMike » Sun Oct 10, 2021 11:48 pm

Yes Maybe leaves are definitely a food source. I’ve seen them eat on them numerous times. Witch hazel and buckthorn are others as well
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby HunterBob » Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:13 am

I'm not great at identifying sugar maples from the other Maple species that we have here in the south,but I have seen deer feeding on Maple leaves, even during the middle of the day
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Ryan549
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby Ryan549 » Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:13 am

On my home property, when I cut lanes or hinge a maple, the leaves are gone in just a few days. The deer hammer them. My property is mainly Red Maple, the love it.
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greenhorndave
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby greenhorndave » Mon Oct 11, 2021 12:49 am

Big woods deer hammer young maple shoots, although generally green. I found a good buck’s core area and it looked like a weed wacker went through the young maples at a 3 foot height in a 10 acre opening,

Never saw them eat the leaves that literally just fell, but I think it has something to do with the sugars in the leaves. Downside of a lot of the places I hunt is that maples are really common, so finding the one they decide tastes the best is like finding a needle in a stack of needles.
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby Jmitch » Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:06 am

I've seen them pick the leaves off of trees when they first started to turn in. Especially in northern Wisconsin big woods. Have seen them eat them in southern Wisconsin ag country but never specifically targeted that pattern. It possible if you had a small isolated stand of then maybe it would concentrate deer around them when the time is right but I cant say I've personally witnessed it tho. I'm probably missing something but the areas I know with maple have lots of maples generally so I would think it may be hard to target that pattern specifically.
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby dan » Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:39 am

Not to sure I would say a better draw than acorns... However, sugar maples can be a huge draw, but its a short window, and whether that helps you or not is dependent on how many maples you have, and if they are in isolated patches... It is only sugar maples I refer to, and it is only about a 1 week occorance right when heavy leaf drop occurs...
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Jimmy wallhanger
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby Jimmy wallhanger » Mon Oct 11, 2021 2:41 am

dan wrote:Not to sure I would say a better draw than acorns... However, sugar maples can be a huge draw, but its a short window, and whether that helps you or not is dependent on how many maples you have, and if they are in isolated patches... It is only sugar maples I refer to, and it is only about a 1 week occorance right when heavy leaf drop occurs...


This could helps me as my forest has no Oaks but some Maples. Mostly Birch and Pines
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Re: Maple Leaves

Unread postby mauser06 » Mon Oct 11, 2021 3:24 am

I've seen it in a few places. The common denominator between the spots was sugar maples and isolated. A lot of stuff I used to hunt was mostly oak and cherry. So a small cluster of sugar maples gave them something different. Like Dan said, it seems short lived.


Same goes with mast ID. A lot of guys can spot an oak tree but can't get on the deer because they are hammering a white oak or chestnut oak down the ridge.


I had a spot that had like 4 chestnut oaks on it. When those trees were dropping, it was on fire.

I went from having a couple does and fawns behind my house to having a deer farm. Literally have to chase them off the driveway to park the truck. Why? A large white oak was dropping. Deer came from all over. It was interesting to see the shift in my own yard.


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