Prefered Winter Food

[Maya]

I just went out to look at a few things around the orchards and some areas I have done some cuttings. We finally have some snow here in the northeast so I did some tracking. In an area where I had cut a couple years ago for a chestnut and oak planting there is all kinds of browse coming up. Ash, cherry, maple, birch, sumac, and the chestnuts and oaks. The only thing browsed is the .................sumac!

I also looked at which apples were being eaten, and as usual it seems to be the sweeter varieties that were lapped up first. Honeycrisp, Honey Gold and Fuji seem to be cleaned out faster than other more tart varieties.

It's been a very mild winter here and very little snow, so the deer have free range to eat pretty much whatever they want, but this is what I noticed here. Oh they have hit rape in a food plot and not the turnips so much.

What have you noticed them eating for winter food in your areas?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

We had a big acorn year in NC Pa. where my camp is located. The red oak acorns are still available - the white oak & chestnut oak acorns are sweeter, so get cleaned up quicker. We have standing corn and a 1 acre plot of brassicas that are getting big attention. Stump sprouts of maple and oak from 2 recent loggings are also getting nipped.

The last of some variety of late-hanging apples are cleaned up regularly. We don't know what these apples are ....... yellowish-green, hard, sweet with a little tartness. Tree has dropped slowly since late October, and had LOADS left on it at Christmas. Someone planted it around 20 years ago and it had no tag on it. Good tree to have though !!!

We also have some clover plots that get lots of sun and with only 2" of snow which melted within a week, the clover still gets attention.

 

[bueller]

Don't know, haven't been to my property since November :(

 

[chummer]

I don't need to be there to know it is sticks, sticks, and sticks...no particular order

 

[ruskbucks]

Two acres of raddish,der,kale,tunips were all gone as of Jan 4. The winter rye/oats/ww that were getting hit all hunting season, didn't see any use when I was there. They were just starting to really file into the tree tops left over from the logging.

 

[Bill]

Haven't been there but my cameras show them heavy in the beans. I'm getting pics of bucks and does coming out to the beans at noon.

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[John-W-WI]

Haven't been there but my cameras show them heavy in the beans. I'm getting pics of bucks and does coming out to the beans at noon.

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Hard to beat beans if there isn't too much snow. Corn picks up after the beans for me.

With the buck factory you have, I'm surprised you have any beans left?

-John

 

[Bill]

Hard to beat beans if there isn't too much snow. Corn picks up after the beans for me.

With the buck factory you have, I'm surprised you have any beans left?

-John

Do you mow the corn? I left them 6 acres standing last winter and it was still there in the spring. No more corn for me, it's too expensive and these deer seem to prefer beans over corn.

 

[John-W-WI]

No, I don't mow it. Need to keep it standing in case we get lots of snow. One winter I had a ton left (planted about 12 acres) because we had a very mild winter. Now I plant about 5 acres and it's cleaned up by spring.

I would much prefer to go straight beans. Much easier to plant and disc down in the spring. And as you mentioned, way cheaper. About the time I do that we will get 4 feet of snow :(

Sent from my 8g phone.

 

[Bill]

No, I don't mow it. Need to keep it standing in case we get lots of snow. One winter I had a ton left (planted about 12 acres) because we had a very mild winter. Now I plant about 5 acres and it's cleaned up by spring.

I would much prefer to go straight beans. Much easier to plant and disc down in the spring. And as you mentioned, way cheaper. About the time I do that we will get 4 feet of snow :(

Sent from my 8g phone.

I always forget you guys live in Antarctica. MO might get 4 feet of snow but it wouldn't stick around til July 4th.

 

[j-bird]

Beans and corn here. The deer seem to like the corn but I think it may be due to the cover aspect. They grossly prefer those over the brassica and cereal grains. I also like the idea of the food being above the snow - I rarely have a foot of snow on the ground at any given time. I like planting enough where ther is some left in the spring - that means the deer had plenty to eat - rather have a tad too much than not enough.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I agree with J-Bird on the cover aspect of standing corn. We have deer bed right in it - stand up and eat. And when the temp. gets cold, they love the fat calories the corn supplies.

 

[WTNUT]

Mine seem to eat it all. This year there seems to be no strong preference. We have standing corn and bean fields, lots of clover, four type of brassica fields, pure wheat, rye and oat fields, and plenty of natural browse. I will say last year I planted 8 different types of brassica fields and three types were strongly preferred over others. Thus, the ones that were not used much last year were not planted this year.

 

[Spiider]

My brassica plot (Dbltree mix) has deer in it all the time. It looks like a trampled dance floor. Deer bed right next to it during the cold months here. I only have 1 apple tree that produces on my property (I've planted roughly 18 more in the last few years) and that get's hit until everything is gone too.