Vet Judy

In my last blog, I focused on some deer nutrition basics.  This blog will contain some seasonal basics on deer feeding habits.  Because many landowners or managers plan deer food plots for Trophy sized whitetail deer year around. That is to say deer food plots that provide nutrition and attraction in the late fall and winter months, I’ll emphasize nutritional needs during these months.

            While specific plants consumed by whitetail deer may vary by geographical region, an important feeding characteristic of deer—and an essential consideration for food plot design —will not vary by your geography.  It’s this: cover and habitat, not the attractiveness or availability of food sources, is a major consideration for where the deer go to eat.  This helps explain why deer graze on a variety of plant matter throughout the year—they’re utilizing the food that fits both into their habitat/cover preferences, as well as food that also happens to meet their seasonal nutritional needs.

            That is critical to keep in mind as you decide when and where to position the food plot that will help meet the nutritional and seasonal dietary needs of the deer on your land.

            Spring

            Spring means both doe and buck need lots of protein, and young plant growth helps provide a ready protein source.  Grasses that green early, forbs, and shrubs all provide tender new growth selected by deer in the spring.  Early-maturing legumes provide tender plants that help supply the higher protein requirements during the later spring.

            Summer

            Moving into summer months, deer typically reduce their grass consumption.  Maturing legumes like alfalfa and clover are important summer food sources, especially for lactating doe and growing fawns.  In many parts of northern and western North America, forbs become the most important food choice for Trophy whitetail deer in the summer.  During the later summer, shrubs become a preferred source.  In Minnesota, for example, asters, sumac, goldenrod, honeysuckle and jewelweed are all preferred by deer in the late summer.

            Fall

            Fall finds white-tailed deer transitioning to shrubby vegetation that is not as affected by fall frosts.  The “woody browse” season is here, as deer utilize shrubs and forbs in the native stand.  In farm areas, deer will also begin to utilize grains like corn and soybeans still standing before harvest.

            Part of the purpose of fall-feeding for deer is to begin storing fat and energy for the winter months.  A well-designed deer food plot will provide crops that can help deer accomplish this.

            Winter

            During the winter months, deer respond to less daylight with a lower metabolism.  Their appetites are naturally reduced, as they conserve energy and reduce the amount of food needed.  Trees and shrubs are making up at least three-quarters or their food supply, along with hard mast like acorns.

            While some food plot crops might supply deer with in-season protein needs and some mixes might promise to maximize the rack, responsible food plot design has to keep the nutritional needs of deer in the winter months in mind.  Providing crops like brassicas (like turnip) and grains (like soybean) that can be browsed through the winter will help ensure high-energy food sources during the lean winter months.

Source Consulted (Summer section, “In Minnesota, for example….”)

“Managing Your Woodland For White-tailed Deer”

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, January 2003

Before planning your next successful deer food plot, or as you evaluate your current plot, it will help to review the basic dining habits of deer.  In this blog, I’ll review some seasonal basics of nutrition.  The next blog will review the kinds of plants deer typically enjoy eating throughout the year.

            This will help you in the food plot planning process as you seek to identify what plants or nutrient needs might be lacking in your native habitat.

·         Four Stomachs, One Deer

            Just like cattle or sheep, whitetail deer are ruminants.  In common terms, this means that they have four stomachs—or think of it as four compartments that food goes for digestion.  In the main compartment, called the rumen, bacteria are present that help the deer digest cellulose—which is why deer can utilize woody plants and shrubs in cooler months.

            Rumination is why deer will rest at various times throughout the day, “chewing the cud.”  They essentially regurgitate their food after a given stomach compartment (including the bacteria that live there) does its job of digestion.

            This allows deer to utilize a variety of plants for food.  However, just because deer can eat many things doesn’t mean they will.  Where they eat is also based on the proximity of cover and how available similar foods are in their environment.  Nutritional needs of deer also vary by season. For complete seasonal planning information for different planting zones consider: Deer Food Plots Made Easy. Guaranteed or Your Money Back.

·         Knowing the dining season

            deer food choices aren’t about what holiday is around the corner.  Instead, food choices have to do with a combination of their seasonal food needs and how available their food sources are.  These seasonal needs vary for bucks and does.

            For bucks, antler development creates a large nutritional need.  Protein makes up almost half of antler tissue; another third is calcium and phosphorous.  Healthy bucks will access a high-protein diet in the springtime and very early summer to support antler growth.  Tender plants, especially those naturally high in protein like legumes like alfalfa and clover, help meet the buck’s protein requirements.

            Doe require maximum nutrition and protein while they’re pregnant and lactating.  The timing of the natural breeding season takes care of this, with lots of succulent growth in the early spring that supplies the needs for pregnant and nursing doe.

·         Incorporating Nutrition into Your food plot Design

            By now you’re probably thinking, “Sure, I already knew my deer nutrition basics anyway.”  But have you considered nutrition as you design your food plot strategy?  For example, if your ground is not abundant in grasses, legumes, and other early spring growth, some additional plantings that emphasize spring forage could help supply the natural nutritional needs of the deer.

            And deer—just like people—are much at home in a place where they’re able to eat well all year long.

I found my first shed deer antler purely by accident. I nearly tripped over it while climbing a fence on the way to the farm garden. It was so neat, I now spend time every year searching out deer sheds. My daughter is particularily interested in these peices and it is a nice time spent outdoors together.   

Where can you find these shed antlers?

* Look for bedding areas, food sources and also the routes in between these areas. If you use deer food plots be sure to check in the areas surrounding or on the way into your plots.

          Now that you know where the deer are, there are some specific locations to key in on. While checking the food sources, and fringe areas near these sources, you should easily be able to find the entrance trails. Walk these trails back into the woods about fifty yards. Bucks will hang out in these “staging” areas before coming out into the field.

* Look where the deer are concentrated during the process of shedding antlers.

           Other key locations where deer shed antlers can be found are areas where deer may be forced to jump or jar their bodies: like fence crossings, creek bottoms and gullies.

           That oak flat which proved to be a hot spot when the mast was falling, may not have deer traffic in between January and March when most deer will lose their antlers.  Don’t forget to recheck locations more than once, as an area may have had deer traffic since you were last there.

*Use good optics if you have them:

           You can find a good number of shed antlers by simply glassing a food source, such as a hay or soybean stubble field for example, and looking for something out of place.  You can cover a lot of ground by simply standing in one place and scanning an area with your binoculars. 

*Improve your odds of actually seeing these shed antlers:

       Finding a shed antler is much like finding that first spring morel: the first one is the most difficult to see.  I know darn well I’ve looked right at a shed and my minds-eye just didn’t identify what I was actually looking at.     

      Here is a TIP:

     Bring a shed antler with you and toss it out each time the terrain, field type or cover type changes.  Sounds a little geeky I know, but you do need to train your eyes and your mind to work together in order to identify what you are actually looking at. Without that recognition you may look right at a shed you actually don’t even see. 

Be Consciensious: Don’t disturb the herd though. If you go traipsing around their key bedding areas during January and early February, these disturbances could cause the deer to move and could put them under undue stress. Early in the deer shed hunting season, through January and early February, focus your attention on those food source areas and make your best effort to stay out of the bedding areas.  You may follow a few access trails back into the bedding areas early solely to identify key spots to check later in the year.  

If you are in an area with a lot of snow like we are, you may have to make the trek out later in the spring. Be aware though that weather and rodents have a way of making a good antler peice really poor: so you have to beat the rush, so to speak. Get out there early when the snow starts melting.

Have fun hunting for your antler sheds:)

Dr. Judy