So You Want To Feed Deer!

[MoLandOwner]

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[SD51555]

This is why I've been saying from the beginning our program on our land is thermal cover and winter woody browse. The winter before we bought our property it was logged off. That property had herds on it feasting on the tree tops. When it was gone, they were gone. It wasn't until we got a plot in this year that we could buy a deer track after December 1st. This is why we put in nearly 300 RO dogwood the second year we planted. It's why i'm slated to do another 300 in '16 if I don't see enough red stems out there by this coming fall. I'm also lobbying the board hard to start a mowing program for our large basswoods in winter to get some tops to the ground for feed and screen.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

this topic has always interested me. I have several observations. This year in my neighborhood there is about 80 acres of standing corn....yet while shed hunting I have only found one dead deer...and it was most likely a roadkill. Obviously the local deer fed on grains all fall and winter. I assume that because the deer had been feeding on the corn over a long period their rumens had the correct microbiology to digest it effectively without complications. So....in an area like mine....people feeding corn to deer really shouldnt be worried about the potentially negative consequences as say if it was an area with little to no agriculture and the deer are not exposed to the grains over the long periods of time.

I would think that supplemental feeding of deer in the winter would be highly dependent on the local area and what food sources the deer have available to them during the winter.

 

[bowhunternw]

this topic has always interested me. I have several observations. This year in my neighborhood there is about 80 acres of standing corn....yet while shed hunting I have only found one dead deer...and it was most likely a roadkill. Obviously the local deer fed on grains all fall and winter. I assume that because the deer had been feeding on the corn over a long period their rumens had the correct microbiology to digest it effectively without complications. So....in an area like mine....people feeding corn to deer really shouldnt be worried about the potentially negative consequences as say if it was an area with little to no agriculture and the deer are not exposed to the grains over the long periods of time.

I would think that supplemental feeding of deer in the winter would be highly dependent on the local area and what food sources the deer have available to them during the winter.

Correct even cows get acidosis if a big change in diet, if they don't have time to adjust to it. Feeding if done correctly wouldn't be bad except for disease transmission. It is just that a lot of people think those poor deer are starving, I should give them a big pile of corn in the middle of winter.

 

[Rally1148]

this topic has always interested me. I have several observations. This year in my neighborhood there is about 80 acres of standing corn....yet while shed hunting I have only found one dead deer...and it was most likely a roadkill. Obviously the local deer fed on grains all fall and winter. I assume that because the deer had been feeding on the corn over a long period their rumens had the correct microbiology to digest it effectively without complications. So....in an area like mine....people feeding corn to deer really shouldnt be worried about the potentially negative consequences as say if it was an area with little to no agriculture and the deer are not exposed to the grains over the long periods of time.

I would think that supplemental feeding of deer in the winter would be highly dependent on the local area and what food sources the deer have available to them during the winter.

I think that another factor is the rate of change in the diet and consistency of the diet. If you "feed" deer all year long from feeders, I think that the negative effects will be less than if you ONLY do it in the winter. If the food is there all year, then there is no reason for those specific microflora to not be in the stomach. Essentially, if there is still food for those microbes to break down, they will be there. Now, say they haven't been eating ANY of that stuff, and now all of the sudden there is food in their stomach that can't be broken down, and problems occur.

 

[buckvelvet]

My name isn't harry but i fed them all winter long just to see whats around with 2 cup fulls of corn ever 2 days since January. :)