My screen is getting eaten

Mahindra3016

5 year old buck +
In the last week or so i have noticed deer tracks right along my screen, then last evening i watched a doe come out an eat seed heads from my screen for about 20 mins, sometimes getting on her hind legs to reach. When i got home today i noticed twice as many tracks along the screen as the day before, looks like its time to set up a trail cam. The screen served the purpose though out the summer and fall, and is now a food source, that's a win win in my book.
My screen is a little bit of wildlife grain sorghum mixed with a tall variety of sorghum that hancock was sending in place of egyptian wheat.
 
Sorghum is something I wouldn’t mind trying for late season and over winter attraction. But I bet it’s something that gets wiped out quick.
 
Deer can/will eat the seed heads. "Normally" it's when they get "doughy" if you will, but if the deer like them now then so be it. Normally this late it's the birds that are hammering anything left of the sorghum seeds. Depending on your situation the deer eating/damaging your screen may not be a big issue. A trail cam would sure reveal some interesting pics more than likely as well. if you don't have sorghum much in your area the deer may not have known it was food until now as well. They could very well eat it sooner next year. I try to avoid having screens as a food source as I want the screen to hide me or the deer and drawing the deer to the screen seems counter productive in that manner. The sorghum I have had the birds did more damage to than the deer did, but without a decent amount of it - I would think a few deer could put a hurting on some sorghum pretty quickly. Wait until they can't reach the seed heads....they will knock the stalk down to reach it. I have seen it with corn before....when food gets harder to find they will go the extra effort to reach what they can.
 
Some pics.
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I've heard they won't eat Sudan sorghum seed heads. But like you I've seen them do it. In the dough stage is when I see it. Watched a little buck bend them over and eat over and over again.
 
At my place the deer don't eat my Sudan sorghum heads at any time and I'm okay with that as it keeps the screen intact. I have a high deer density so I would think they would be eating it if they needed food.
 
Must be like a brassica thing. Some areas deer won't eat them. The little buck I watched bending sudan over was standing next to a brown bean field. With lots of beans...

I sure wouldn't plant it for deer but that guy liked it. I hate sardines but my buddy loves to ruin pizza with them so who knows....
 
Yea my deer aren't particularly fond of brassicas either. They will eat them but not heavily. It seems they might browse on them passing by but never chow on them like I see some people experience and know a friend's whose plots get hammered each year. The best year I had with them was a drought year when I planted them late on a busted plot and late rains got them to about 6 inches and they were about all they had to eat in the area.
 
I haven't even checked my brassica plot in a while, I have the same kind of screen around the back side of it, and it is more remote, i will be anxious to see it the deer are eating the screen more that the brassica's down there.
 
Variations in food preference by region always fascinates me

If I wanted a deer "desert" in east texas, I would plant acres of brassicas(turnips,radish,etc)

They grow into picturesque plots here and I am the only animal that includes them in their diet

bill
 
I've heard they won't eat Sudan sorghum seed heads. But like you I've seen them do it. In the dough stage is when I see it. Watched a little buck bend them over and eat over and over again.
Interesting, now that my sorghum sudan grass is flattened from the snow, the deer are digging through to eat the seed heads.
 
I thought that grain sorghum was a winter carry over food source. It looks like it served its purpose. I might plant it a little wider. What is in the other fields?
 
I thought that grain sorghum was a winter carry over food source. It looks like it served its purpose. I might plant it a little wider. What is in the other fields?
I have cereal rye, and brassicas nearby, brassicas are being ignored and rye and sorghum is getting the most use. The field along the screen in the pics has medium red clover.
 
What brassicas did you plant? First time?
 
They ignore my turnips.
 
What brassicas did you plant? First time?

I have been planting them for 3 years, Ptt, radish, and t rapter, deer did use the radish leaves pretty good in the fall, My experience here is that for what ever reason, the deer here wont start eating the turnips unless we get 6-8" of snow cover, last year we barely had any snow and was ignored, the year before that we got a couple good snows that stayed a while without melting, and the plot got good use.
 
I planted a bunch of Sudan grass as well as grain sorghum, peal millet etc. deer aren’t touching them. I planted a bunch of Japanese millet for doves and ducks and he turkeys are in it thick every day/
 
Our experience with wildlife grain sorghum - the shorter 3' type - is much like J-bird's at post #3. We saw some deer eating it when it was green and still growing, but the birds did more eating of the seed heads once they browned in fall. Sorghum fed grouse and turkeys for us in the fall and winter, as well as loads of birds. The deer hit our standing corn and brassicas in the winter - didn't see evidence of deer eating the seed heads. It might depend on what other food sources you have around. We plant it in seed mixes or along a food plot for screen / security cover for the deer.
 
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