10 NATURAL FOOD SOURCES EVERY DEER HUNTER SHOULD KNOW

[buttonbuck]

Figured this is especially valuable for the newer guys, I definitely learned a few things though.

https://www.themeateater.com/hunt/white ... Y29tIn0%3D

I’ve killed off pokeweed, muscadine and oaks.

I see honey locust on the sides of the interstate but have yet to find any on the property I hunt.

[greenhorndave]

Thanks man, those are good

[sagDE]

Good read, thanks!

[Sailfish_WC]

[Singing Bridge]

Good stuff buttonbuck.

There are significant regional differences in natural food sources and distribution.

In the Northern Great Lakes States (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan...) and Ontario, mast production (acorns / beechnuts) and fruits such as hawthorns and black cherries are highly preferred. These favorites are very inconsistent and while one year may produce abundantly it is often followed by years of little to no production.

Class One whitetail browse in these states consist of northern white cedar, hemlock, red maple, American mountain ash, and alternate leaf dogwood.

Class Two includes eastern white pine (my bog video), yellow birch, mountain maple, serviceberry and jack pine.

Class Three includes aspen, northern red oak, beaked hazel, paper birch, balsam fir and red pine. It goes downhill from there.

Bridge

[szwampdonkey]

There are two swamp plants they eat heavily Ive discovered on my own. One grows sort of like a bulb it looks like with reddish leaves and it has those little pitcher plant things on them i think for trapping bugs in. One spot its growing they come out along a cattail trail and eat all the leaves off and rip a fair amount of them out by the roots. Ive killed quite a few deer off of whatever this stuff is.

The other grows more like a grass. It real tough and I imagine chewy and grows about mid shin high. The couple "plots" i know are there every year they eat all the tops off almost down to the swamp mud/water line.

Both these plants are in cattail swamps and always in very wet/watery nasty swamp muck type spots that flood with a lot of rain. I have NO IDEA what they actually are called but i know the deer eat them and know what they look like when i find them. This is heavily hunted public areas too where the deer rarely reach the high and dry ground during daylight so I have often wondered if they eat this stuff out of survival mode because they dont have to leave the cattail swamps to get a bite?

I discovered them by glassing from a high ridge about 1/2 mile away where i noticed the deer browsing way out in the swamps and then bedding back down and wondered what they were eating out there? Before that i always assumed there wasnt much for them to eat out there and it was mostly bedding/security type cover but i was wrong.

[Double Draw]

There are two swamp plants they eat heavily Ive discovered on my own. One grows sort of like a bulb it looks like with reddish leaves and it has those little pitcher plant things on them i think for trapping bugs in. One spot its growing they come out along a cattail trail and eat all the leaves off and rip a fair amount of them out by the roots. Ive killed quite a few deer off of whatever this stuff is.

The other grows more like a grass. It real tough and I imagine chewy and grows about mid shin high. The couple "plots" i know are there every year they eat all the tops off almost down to the swamp mud/water line.

Both these plants are in cattail swamps and always in very wet/watery nasty swamp muck type spots that flood with a lot of rain. I have NO IDEA what they actually are called but i know the deer eat them and know what they look like when i find them. This is heavily hunted public areas too where the deer rarely reach the high and dry ground during daylight so I have often wondered if they eat this stuff out of survival mode because they dont have to leave the cattail swamps to get a bite?

I discovered them by glassing from a high ridge about 1/2 mile away where i noticed the deer browsing way out in the swamps and then bedding back down and wondered what they were eating out there? Before that i always assumed there wasnt much for them to eat out there and it was mostly bedding/security type cover but i was wrong.

Do the first plants look anything like this:
https://travaldo.blogspot.com/2018/10/g ... -care.html

[Moose]

This was a cool read.

[szwampdonkey]

There are two swamp plants they eat heavily Ive discovered on my own. One grows sort of like a bulb it looks like with reddish leaves and it has those little pitcher plant things on them i think for trapping bugs in. One spot its growing they come out along a cattail trail and eat all the leaves off and rip a fair amount of them out by the roots. Ive killed quite a few deer off of whatever this stuff is.

The other grows more like a grass. It real tough and I imagine chewy and grows about mid shin high. The couple "plots" i know are there every year they eat all the tops off almost down to the swamp mud/water line.

Both these plants are in cattail swamps and always in very wet/watery nasty swamp muck type spots that flood with a lot of rain. I have NO IDEA what they actually are called but i know the deer eat them and know what they look like when i find them. This is heavily hunted public areas too where the deer rarely reach the high and dry ground during daylight so I have often wondered if they eat this stuff out of survival mode because they dont have to leave the cattail swamps to get a bite?

I discovered them by glassing from a high ridge about 1/2 mile away where i noticed the deer browsing way out in the swamps and then bedding back down and wondered what they were eating out there? Before that i always assumed there wasnt much for them to eat out there and it was mostly bedding/security type cover but i was wrong.

Do the first plants look anything like this:
https://travaldo.blogspot.com/2018/10/g ... -care.html

Yeah sorta, more red and pointy on the top though but looks to be same family of plant to me as these ones.

[Double Draw]

There are two swamp plants they eat heavily Ive discovered on my own. One grows sort of like a bulb it looks like with reddish leaves and it has those little pitcher plant things on them i think for trapping bugs in. One spot its growing they come out along a cattail trail and eat all the leaves off and rip a fair amount of them out by the roots. Ive killed quite a few deer off of whatever this stuff is.

The other grows more like a grass. It real tough and I imagine chewy and grows about mid shin high. The couple "plots" i know are there every year they eat all the tops off almost down to the swamp mud/water line.

Both these plants are in cattail swamps and always in very wet/watery nasty swamp muck type spots that flood with a lot of rain. I have NO IDEA what they actually are called but i know the deer eat them and know what they look like when i find them. This is heavily hunted public areas too where the deer rarely reach the high and dry ground during daylight so I have often wondered if they eat this stuff out of survival mode because they dont have to leave the cattail swamps to get a bite?

I discovered them by glassing from a high ridge about 1/2 mile away where i noticed the deer browsing way out in the swamps and then bedding back down and wondered what they were eating out there? Before that i always assumed there wasnt much for them to eat out there and it was mostly bedding/security type cover but i was wrong.

Do the first plants look anything like this:
https://travaldo.blogspot.com/2018/10/g ... -care.html

Yeah sorta, more red and pointy on the top though but looks to be same family of plant to me as these ones.

There are a lot of different varieties but they are called pitcher plants. That catch bugs to help them grow.

[headgear]

Good stuff buttonbuck.

There are significant regional differences in natural food sources and distribution.

In the Northern Great Lakes States (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan...) and Ontario, mast production (acorns / beechnuts) and fruits such as hawthorns and black cherries are highly preferred. These favorites are very inconsistent and while one year may produce abundantly it is often followed by years of little to no production.

Class One whitetail browse in these states consist of northern white cedar, hemlock, red maple, American mountain ash, and alternate leaf dogwood.

Class Two includes eastern white pine (my bog video), yellow birch, mountain maple, serviceberry and jack pine.

Class Three includes aspen, northern red oak, beaked hazel, paper birch, balsam fir and red pine. It goes downhill from there.

Bridge

Good stuff SB

[heartdart]

When do you hunt over honey locust? When do they typically drop? Do the pods last on the ground for a while? Thanks

[buttonbuck]

When do you hunt over honey locust? When do they typically drop? Do the pods last on the ground for a while? Thanks

Not sure, Warren Womack talks about it in this podcast. I did hear the pods last and they love them after a frost.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d ... 0413740565