What is the best food for whitetail deer?
[36] Douglas Fir: In the west, fir needles are commonly the best available food where whitetails, muleys, and blacktails take winter shelter. Deer seem to have a special fondness for red maple leaves.
What is the best thing to feed deer in winter?
What Is the Best Deer Feeder out There?
- Moultrie Feed Station – it has a 30 lb. capacity and is made of resistant plastic.
- Moultrie Pro Magnum Deer Feeder Kit | All Metal Housing – it has a battery indicator and vermin guard.
- Wildgame Innovations Pail Camo Steel Feeder – it has a 50 lb. capacity and is made of a steel material.
What is a whitetail deer favorite food?
- Mouth The teeth structure, jaws, and stomach of the white-tailed deer are strong and very useful for masticating & eating vegetation, but they don’t use them for thick grass. ...
- Stomach Another reason is that white-tailed deer have a different set of microbes in their stomach. So they don’t process mature weed as normally. ...
- Fruits & Nuts
What is the best temperature to hunt whitetail deer?
What is the best time of day to hunt deer?
- Morning Hunts. A lot of hunters prefer to hunt in the morning. This was always my dad’s favorite time to hunt. ...
- Mid-day Hunts. In general, you might have a better chance hunting at dawn or dusk because those times are when the deer are most active.
- Evening Hunts. Evening hunts are my favorite time to hunt. ...
What do you feed wild deer in the spring?
Deer can eat a variety of plants, including:Acorns.Soybeans.Oats.Alfalfa or hay (Warning: Do not feed during the winter)Turnips.And many others, depending on the time of year.
Can you feed deer corn in the spring?
If you are providing deer with protein supplements, corn can make it more attractive to the deer. Feeding deer properly in spring and summer will lead to a healthy, more robust deer herd come fall hunting season. Before feeding deer, remember to check the local laws for baiting in your area.
What is the best food to feed whitetail deer?
What To Feed:Natural Food. If possible, it is best to feed natural food. ... Deer Pellets. Most farm feed outlets carry a specially formulated ration for deer or can tell you where it can be bought. ... Cereal Grains. ... Hay or Alfalfa. ... Fruit & Vegetables.
How do you attract deer in the spring?
Native browse, food plots, habitat projects, and new growth vegetation will fulfill the food need of deer, but supplementing these sources with the right minerals creates more mineral uptake for deer and more opportunities for hunters. For antler growth, deer feed ingredients such as calcium and phosphorous are a must.
Are salt licks good for deer?
All hooved mammals love salt, so licks made only of salt do a fine job of attracting deer. Licks with added flavors, minerals and nutrients can be even better, especially if you find one the deer in your area really love.
What is the cheapest thing to feed deer?
An inexpensive way to feed deer is with corn. Deer love corn and many hunters rely on it for supplemental feeding. That being said, corn is not an excellent source of protein, which is essential for antler growth and the nursing of fawns.
What should you not feed deer?
Do not feed hay, corn, kitchen scraps, potatoes, lettuce trimmings or any animal proteins from animals rendered into feed. Deer may actually starve when fed supplemental foods during winter if they have a full belly of indigestible foods.
What should I feed wild deer?
A wide variety of fruits and vegetables – including apples, grapes, cherries, pears, carrots, and snap peas – are eaten in nature by deer. Therefore, it is safe to feed deer these fruits. Acorns are another safe food source.
Are carrots good for deer?
Carrots have proved to be among one of the best vegetables to feed these deer with. They contain vital nutrients such as beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, Potassium, and antioxidants.
Should I feed deer corn?
Corn is high in starch and a good source of digestible energy, but can cause problems in a deer's digestive system. When deer eat too much corn or other high-‐carbohydrate food, many complex changes occur in the rumen. Some microbes proliferate while others die.
What can you feed deer instead of corn?
Some good fall food sources include hard mast (e.g., oak acorns, beech nuts, chestnuts, hickory nuts, etc.), soft mast (e.g., apples, pears, persimmons, etc.), and agricultural crops (corn, soybeans, brassicas, cereal grains, etc.).
When should I start giving my deer protein?
Summer. Summer is the best time to feed deer protein to grow bigger bucks. The bucks will be ramping up antler growth, while does benefit from the protein while they are nurturing their new fawns.
What is the best food for whitetail deer?
If you’ve planned well, your food plots and native vegetation, in addition to her management should carry all of the nutritional needs whitetails require. Plots planted with high-quality forages like the Deer Delight mix from Arrow Seed provide very productive, palatable, and protein-rich forages from which deer can easily extract all the nutrients they need during the summer. Of course, throughout spring and summer, and even into fall and winter, every bit of energy, protein, and nutrition can go a long way.
What minerals do whitetail deer need?
For antler growth, deer feed ingredients such as calcium and phosphorous are a must. Does, generally, will require a range of nutrients and trace minerals during the spring fawning season. What they don’t already get through the environment they can obtain from a good mineral block like the Big Tine Block.
When to Start Feeding Deer in Spring?
Beyond weather, focus on paying attention to vegetation. Spring triggers new growth in the fields and woods and deer know this. Their nutritional requirements shift from survival mode to growth mode for both bucks and does.
What is the best food for deer to grow antlers?
For antler growth, deer feed ingredients such as calcium and phosphorous are a must. Does, generally, will require a range of nutrients and trace minerals during the spring fawning season. What they don’t already get through the environment they can obtain from a good mineral block like the Big Tine Block.
Why is it important to feed deer in spring?
To conclude, spring and summer deer feeding are extremely important to overall deer herd health and to maximize antler development. However, don’t think of it strictly as supplemental feed and minerals.
What happens to deer in spring and summer?
Transitioning between spring and summer deer feeding relates to the next phase of the whitetail’s lifecycle. Bucks are continuing to grow their antlers and now fawns are starting to drop. In conjunction, seasonal changes are also occurring.
What is deer feeding?
Deer feeding can take on multiple aspects. As a whole, it includes planting food plots, providing supplemental minerals and feed, and working on habitat projects to improve native forage production. Deer management is all about providing the best resources, at the right amounts and the right time. Feeding deer in spring and summer correctly enables you to improve your herd during critical times, which leads to a healthy, more robust deer herd come fall hunting season.
What Do Whitetail Deer Eat In The Fall?
During the fall the deer builds up fat reserves for the winter. High carbohydrate foods like pears, apples, and other fleshy fruits are preferred. Nuts that have high-fat contents are also sought out by whitetails.
What is the best food for a whitetail?
When the whitetail is lactating, high calcium and high phosphorous food are preferred. The calcium is necessary for milk production. Mushrooms are perfect sources of calcium and phosphorous.
What do deer eat in winter?
It is, therefore, a time when deer are least selective. They will eat acorns, hickory nuts and buds of available woody plants. When hunting during the winter, try protein foods like soybeans and fruits like pears. In short, what the deer cannot source elsewhere.
What predators eat whitetail deer?
All the big predators have a love for venison. Bears, mountain lions, wolves, and coyotes will hunt deer. Smaller predators go for the fawns. This combination is what eats a white-tailed deer.
Do whitetail deer eat dead animals?
They will eat hatchlings and dead animals occasionally. They do this when they are desperate for calcium. You cannot, however, use meat as bait. They do not like it that much. Now, armed with the knowledge of "What do whitetail deer eat" map your hunting grounds.
Do succulent forbs keep deer water?
Succulent forbs are well-loved in the summer. The high water content helps the deer keep its water levels up without visiting the watering hole. Predators and some hunters usually lay in wait for whitetail at the watering holes.
Do whitetail deer eat wheat?
Do whitetail deer eat winter wheat? Yes, that and anything else they can find. They will, however, still prefer food plots with fruits and soybeans.
Choose Your Plants
Cool-season legume perennials (plants that live over two years) like clover, alfalfa and chicory are good springtime options. Usually, clover will produce around two to four tons per acre. It’s easily digestible for deer and provides them with plenty of protein.
Lasting Impacts
The cool-season perennials will go dormant during the winter, but they’ll start to pop back up by spring as temperatures warm up. This is crucial for your deer herd, James said. It gives them a food source at a time of year they need it the most.
Where to put mineral supplements for deer?
Where should you be placing your deer mineral supplements? The most obvious and beneficial spots include food plots, bedding areas, and near water holes. When deer enter food plots ready to feed, they will usually seek salt and minerals as well, so placing a mineral site just off a trail entering the food plot will create a natural stopping point for them. Similarly, providing a slow-releasing mineral block near or within a summer bedding area will make it easy for deer to get ample minerals during the day without you having to constantly replace it throughout the summer. Finally, combining water holes and mineral sites can be a dynamite option. After consuming salt and minerals, deer will crave water and vice versa.
How often should I feed deer?
Depending on the size of your feeder and how hungry the deer are, you may have to refill the feeder several times a week or only every few weeks. If you’re making a commitment to a whitetail deer feeding schedule, you should keep it stocked at all times for the most impact. If the food quality is lacking on your property, you should keep several feeders going. But if you already provide lots of year-round food plot acreage, you can get by with only one feeder or none at all. A good way to combine the best of both worlds is to mix a bag of corn or feed with some Big&J® mineral attractants and a block. This will draw deer in to feed and they can also get their vitamins (i.e., mineral supplement) at the same time. This is a great spot for trail camera surveillance too!
How many mineral sites do you need for deer?
Some farms with limited deer herds or abundant natural mineral sources may only need one mineral site per 200 acres, while others with high deer densities or no natural mineral sources could use one site at each field or bedding area. Let the deer tell you how much deer minerals you need. As soon as your mineral blocks for deer, like the Big&J ® CUBE™ disappear, it is time to replenish them.
What are deer attractants?
Deer attractants are by definition, very attractive to deer and tend to concentrate them in close quarters. This can produce a lot of nose-to-nose interaction and it is believed that bodily fluids (e.g., saliva, urine, etc.) are the primary cause of spreading the disease.
What are the seasons for deer?
As with nutritional/caloric needs (see the section below), a deer’s need for minerals changes throughout the year too. The spring and summer are the most critical times of year for deer to get enough minerals in their system, while fall and winter don’t offer as much of a benefit.
Why are deer supplements called supplements?
They are called “supplements” for a reason. If your property is lacking quality food (e.g., ag fields, food plots, native woody browse, etc.) and shelter, supplements may help, but you need to work on patching those bigger holes in the bucket first. Here’s what you need to know about feeding whitetail deer.
When to use trail cameras for velvet bucks?
Because they are best used in the spring and summer, it also coincides perfectly with monitoring velvet bucks with trail cameras on your property before the fall hunting season. Minerals in bedding areas are difficult to check discreetly, so focus your trail cameras on food plot mineral sites.
When do whitetail buck antlers come off?
At this time a Whitetail Buck will lose his antlers or even before. They come off in the late winter as a rule but every rule has its exceptions. I have had them come off in late December and have also seen them on Whitetail Bucks in March.
Why do whitetail bucks die in the winter?
A lot of big Whitetail Bucks die during the winter because of lack of food and their loss of body weight during the Rut.
Do whitetail deer run down in the winter?
By the time the whitetail deer make it to the spring, they have made it through a winter of dealing with cold, snow, and the scarcity of food. Bucks have a hard time of it during the winter, especially since they are run down after going through the rut season.
How often do deer feed their fawns?
They spend their time nursing their fawns about 2-3 times every day for the first few weeks. During that time often the deer whitetail doe will go out to feed herself, returning to her young after a few hours. Once her fawns get to be about a month old, they begin going along with her when she goes out to find food.
When do whitetail deer leave their mother?
Another interesting fact about whitetail deer doe in the spring is that this is the time when she often kicks out young males who were born the year before. Usually young bucks stay with their mother until they are almost a year old, but during the spring they usually leave on their own or the females will drive them away.
How long does it take for a whitetail deer to have babies?
The average gestation period of the whitetail deer doe in North America is 200 to 205 days. This period can be shorter or longer depending on the availability of food.
What color is a whitetail deer's coat?
She loses the thick, grayish coat that she usually has in winter and fall, and the coats becomes a shorter coat that is a reddish tan color, and the hair is thin and wiry as well.
Do whitetail deer have babies?
So, for the female whitetail deer, the spring is a very busy season, filled with late pregnancy, giving birth, and then starting to raise her new fawns. During this time you may see does and their fawns out together, and is more rare to see groups of doe together, since they are busy caring for their young.
What to plant for deer in spring?
When it comes to spring food plots for deer it does not get anymore basic than sorghum, corn and soybeans. All of these plants will perform well across the whitetail’s range. In addition, the seeds of all 3 are easy to purchase and plant, with sorghum being the easiest and probably the least attractive overall (at least initially until they become accustomed to it).
What is the best food plot for deer?
Grain sorghum, milo, or sometimes even referred to as maize, can make a great and simple spring/summer food plot for deer. Sorghum is a solid choice for food plots where high whitetail densities prevent most other grain crops from making it through the summer. The plant itself is not consumed at all during the summer, but the seed heads are well-used during the late-summer and fall.
Can deer eat iron and clay peas?
Iron and clay peas make a high protein deer forage and are tougher to kill due to grazing. They grow good in the southeast as I plant it for myself and a number of clients in the Clarke City, Alabama, area. The down side is once whitetail deer know what they are looking for a year or two down the road, it’s hard to create any type of food plot using beans or peas into a 1 to 2 acre plot. They just overgraze it too early.
Is sorghum consumed by deer?
The fact that a sorghum plant is not consumed by deer all but guarantees an annual crop. Sorghum is a more resilient plant than corn and will compete well with weeds — and still produce heads!
Do deer herd soybeans?
Of course, once seed pods dry down, white-tailed deer will herd to soybean food plots during the fall and winter.
Is corn good for deer hunting?
In short, if you have moderate to low deer numbers and the proper soil and rainfall, corn is a strong winter attractor, provides much-need carbs during the hardest time of the year, and can improve your late season deer hunting.
Can deer eat milo?
Once deer become familiar with milo, deer in areas with moderate to high densities will eat the heads to the stem just as the seeds reach the “dough stage.”. This is the point when the seeds take shape but have yet to dry out.
What to feed deer during a rut?
Food plots, acorns and mast crops do a wonderful job of priming deer for the taxing rut, but you want to be sure to have some supplements available during and after the rut to limit weight loss. Fill deer feeders with the following mixture:
When to introduce supplemental feed to deer?
If this is the first year you are going to introduce supplemental feed, wait until the spring when a deer’s stomach has the right microorganisms to digest it.
Do fawns need protein?
Growing fawns will make use of the protein, while bucks and does will benefit from the carbohydrates and fats.
Is there a lot of contradicting advice on internet about deer feeding times?
I agree that there is a lot of contradicting advice on internet about deer feeding times. Worst of them give concrete advice without pointing out that you need to always check your local laws first!
Do whitetail deer eat corn?
Of course, diets change with the region. You’ll notice that Midwest whitetails are eating tracts of uncut corn straight off the stalk well into February. In timber country, maybe you don’t want to start a feeding program in the winter. It’s likely that the deer will not be used to the supplements and their digestive system will struggle to break down the feed. If this is the first year you are going to introduce supplemental feed, wait until the spring when a deer’s stomach has the right microorganisms to digest it.
