What type of fern

Peplin Creek

5 year old buck +
This is central wisconsin. Stays green all fall and winter. Doesn’t grow large at all. Deer seem to take a liking to it.

Wish the picture was better.
 

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Interesting. I never had known a fern to stay green in the winter. It looks like a Braken fern, which dominates my woods in NW Wisconsin. But they die back in the fall. I know deer do eat the Braken ferns in the early stages of their growth, but don’t touch them once they develop.

Google says these ferns stay green all year, but I don’t know anything about them.

Heucheras, hellebores and pachysandra
 
I noticed them a couple years ago in November when I had nice plot of rye right next to I would guess 2-3 acres of this stuff growing in the woods around it and they totally staged on this stuff before going to the rye. The weird thing is, in the summer time I can’t really notice it. But once everything else dies for the fall. There it is.
 
Yeah I’m not complaining… If I could figure out what it is I would try to see if I could establish more around my tree stands.
 
We have a fern of some sort here in the Pa. mountains that stays green in the winter. I'm not sure what kind it is, or if deer eat it. It seems to grow on the north and east sides of the mountains. Now I'll have to ask our foresters what that fern is. It looks similar to your pic, but I'm no fern guy. If I get an answer to what we have here, I'll post it.
 
After some research, the most common evergreen fern is the "Christmas fern." (Polystichum acrostichoides) It grows in marginal soil without much need of moisture like other ferns. We have it here in Pa. and it stays green all winter - when it's most noticeable after all other ground-level plants are dead. I see it on rocky northern and eastern slopes in hardwood forests here in Pa.

Hard to tell from your pic if that's what you have there. Christmas fern is reported hardy to zone 3, and also a widespread fern. Maybe check into online pics of Christmas fern and compare to what your pic shows. There's also another evergreen fern called a wood fern that's supposed to stay green in winter.
 
Thanks for the response BNB. Christmas ferns look to have smooth edges so I don’t believe it’s what I have here. But all the other characteristics seem to fall in line though.
 
^ ^ ^ ^ I hope you have some luck identifying your ferns. There are a batch of different ferns out there.
 
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