Yum, yum, nice thorny briers...tasty

[Native Hunter]

 

[Native Hunter]

Yes, that's what it is. Needed some fiber in the old diet I guess.

 

[Native Hunter]

Makes you wonder why we worry about our food plots becoming "unpalatable." :D

 

[Native Hunter]

lol
On my old place I'd see the new tender growth of MFR browsed...but not very frequently. While working on the neighbor's plots earlier this week I observed browsing (heavy) on a number of weeds. I've become less obsessed with perfect plots...weeds are oftentimes favored over what we think the deer are supposed to eat.

I feel the same way. And, providing free food has a never ending appeal for me.

I watched a doe that has twins browsing up a grown up fence row recently and just shook my head and laughed. There wasn't many plants she missed taking a bite of as she traveled along.

 

[SD51555]

Every so often a biologist will write a story about the stomach contents of deer at different times of year. I always find those fascinating. It's also a hobby of mine to cut open a critter to see what they were eating when harvested. I'll never forget the pheasant I got that had a crop full of grasshoppers and mosquitos during one of our indian summer hunting seasons.

 

[wiscwhip]

Makes you wonder why we worry about our food plots becoming "unpalatable." :D

Yup, I love it when guys say deer won't eat "stemmy" red clover and alfalfa, but then you get pics like these where they are essentially eating a woody stem full of thorns. Kinda throws the "stemmy clover" theory out the window IMO.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I had video from a trail cam last year on a soybean field edge. Deer walked the edge eating the weeds but rarely the soybeans. Not that they wont eat soybeans, they definitely will, but when deer want something in particular to eat they will find it.

 

[Native Hunter]

I think an awful lot of the "information" out there about food plot maintenance has simply been "copied and pasted" from agricultural sources dealing with cattle. I also believe that a lot of the "tips" offered from the "pros" are all about backing up their sponsors.

Deer are browsers, not grazers.

LOL, you can see below how well I follow typical food plot maintenance rules. Now, if I saw a thistle or pigweed I would walk out with my shovel and take it out, but I like letting plots grow and go to seed if reasonable to do so. I have oat and clover seed already and with the blue flowers appearing, the chicory isn't too far away now.

This will get mowed because I saw some marestail in it. But I will wait and let it get tall first and mow just before the MT seed are viable.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Boy that MFR had to hurt if the deer didn't grind everything up to paste !! I saw deer up in Maine heavily browsing raspberry and blackberry and I thought THAT was some tough eating !! MFR ..... WOW.