In the maple forest

[Alexhei]

Was out hunting and found a ton of tracks and pawing of the ground in a maple bush. Just wondering if anyone has seen this before? Don’t know what they were eating..

[EllieTheChubb]

Not sure why they would be pawing the ground but deer love to browse on maple tips.

[brancher147]

Should be pretty obvious what they were eating. Go back and look what was browsed. My guess would be grass/forbs or ferns. I see all those a lot in maple woods.

[hambone]

I would say they are eating the Maple leaves. This time of year, around here, they seem to prefer leaves from Maples, Hedge and bush Honeysuckle.

[gunner24]

My guess is what others have said. some kind of browse or possibly even the maple leaves. I've thought I read somewhere Dan talks about when the deer go through a maple leaf phase. My guess is this is when they first start dropping off the trees in the fall when they are fresh off the tree. Not sure if they go for them when they have been on the ground for months? Dan any insight on this? I guess I'm curious to hear more on the maple leaves as well as I have a maple grove tucked along side a bedding area I like to hunt. When is the best time to hunt maples?

[ghoasthunter]

my area deer are digging fern roots mushrooms and way myrtle. they are browsing on maple buds and rhododendron buds and eating there leaves along with mountain laurel leaves.

[Alexhei]

Thanks for the info.. guess I’ll go back and have a look!

[may21581]

I agree with them eating maple leaves. I've watched them with my own eyes eat the leaves. This year in north east ohio we had really warm temps late into the fall, later than normal anyway. Also we have had lots of rain that is way above average. Most of the trees including maple held their leaves much later into the year. They really didnt go through the bright color phase for several weeks then fall off. They started to change then all fell off in a big wind storm. Trees that normally let their leaves off in October were still holding on in the beginning of december. So in my neck of the woods there was lots of natural browse late into the season.