deer foods | Buck Manager

Winter Deer Browse Gets More Important as Temps Fall

White-tailed deer are primarily browsers. They typically eat very little grass, with most studies estimating grass comprising no more than 7 to 9% of a deer’s diet in any season. Browse consumption is important to deer, but learning to read browse utilization can be important to your overall deer management program. Browse is defined as the leaves, twigs, and buds of woody plants. Browse is the bread and butter of a white-tailed deer’s diet on almost every landscape, but the importance of browse becomes particularly important during the winter months.

Why? Well, winter is the most nutritionally stressful time of the year for deer. Not only does a deer require massive amounts of energy to regulate its body temperature during the coldest part of the year, but food in many cases is not readily available. This is especially true at northern latitudes where extreme winter conditions prevail. In the southern part of the white-tailed deer’s range, winter temperatures are simply mild inconveniences. However, prolonged periods of cold weather at southern latitudes can take its toll on deer populations in this area simply because deer densities are higher. There may be more browse in southern forests, but there are also more deer! Continue reading “Winter Deer Browse Gets More Important as Temps Fall”

Food Habits of White-tailed Deer in Texas

Landowners, deer hunters, and deer managers and biologists have long recognized the need for a comprehensive study on food habits and the seasonal preference of plants eaten by white-tailed deer in Texas. Knowledge about the food habits of deer is fundamental to deer habitat management and wildlife managers for a better understanding of the food requirements important to whitetail and other wildlife species.

Food habit studies conducted in other parts of the U.S. do not represent the seasonal availability or preference for plants used by white-tailed deer in the north central portion of Texas.

In the mid-1990s, a research study was initiated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to address these deer-related questions. Prior to this work, no definitive research had been conducted in north-central Texas. The purposes of the study were to identify what plants are seasonally important in the diets of white-tailed deer and which plants they prefer with regard to seasonal availability.

In addition, foods represented in deer diets could be grouped into general forage classes (grasses, forbs, browse, mast) by season to provide land managers information for conservation and management of key habitat components for white-tailed deer.

White-tailed Deer Diet in Texas

To accomplish this task, whitetail were collected from private ranches in six counties located throughout the area. This counties included Bosque, Brown, Erath, Jack, Parker, and Wise. Collection sites were grouped specifically to represent the two major soil and geologic regions containing sandstone and limestone based soil groups and associated plant communities and habitat. As you would expect, a wide variety of habitat types and land management operations occurred on these properties.

The properties included high and low fences, different livestock densities and grazing systems, poor to excellent range conditions, the presence of absence of agricultural crops, supplemental feeding programs, and varying densities of white-tailed deer. The study differed from many previous works describing deer foods in that data was collected over a broad geographic area and wide variation of land uses.

Deer diets and available food sources were studied year-round for two consecutive years. Deer diets were described by examining stomach contents from deer collected across each of the ranches where samples were collected. Available food sources of food were described by conducting vegetation surveys. A plant list was developed of all plant species identified on each of the sites. A minimum of 5 white-tailed deer, primarily does, were collected during feeding hours following sundown on each site for two years during the months of May, August, November, and February. Over 230 deer were collected!

What do Deer in Texas Eat?

A sample of rumen contents for each deer was collected and washed to address deer food habits. Plant fragments were studied and identified to genus or species where possible by general leaf shape and other external characteristics. Identification of fragments was based on a plant reference slide collection prepared at the beginning of the study for each site.

Identification of browse — tender growth and leaves of woody plants — and forbs was based on epidermal and morphological characteristics of leaves and stems. Forbs, by the way, are broad-leafed weeds. Monocots, commonly referred to as grasses, were identified by the size, shape, absence or presence of hairs and specialized epidermal cells. Keep reading to find out more about the food preferences of white-tailed deer.

Grape is Good White-tailed Deer Browse

Deer Food: Grape (Vitus spp.)

Class: browse; preferred by deer

Description: There are many species of grape throughout the white-tailed deer’s range, but all species seem to serve as good sources of deer forage. In areas with high deer populations, grape leaves will not be found within the reach of a deer, but foliage can be found higher in brush and tree canopies. Common grape species include mustang, post oak, and muscadine.

Grape is deer browse

Grape plants are vigorous and clump forming or high-climbing woody vines occurring on moist sandy soil and loose clay soil in both bottomlands and uplands. Most grape species are very aggressive, often outcompeting other vegetation in an area.

Grape plants are usually found along fence rows, adjacent creeks, and within forested areas. Growth can be encouraged on properties managed for white-tailed deer by loosely stacking brush piles so that small, protected grape plants can establish with the physical protection of the pile and then grow outward where deer can consume the leaves.

The fruits are also eaten by many birds and mammals, including deer and wild hogs. These animals will plant the seeds of the highly sought after fruit directly into the areas they frequent, such as brush piles!

Grape Photos:

Mustang (2 photos above)

Post oak (above)

Muscadine (above)

White-tailed Deer Food Habits – What They Eat

What do deer eat? Deer eat mostly browse (leaves, twigs, shoots of woody plants and vines) and forbs (weeds and other broadleaf flowering plants). They do eat some grass, but only when it is young, green, and succulent. Sheep, goats, and exotic game species compete directly with the whitetail for preferred deer foods.

Deer food shortages usually occur during late summer and winter months. Adequate forage is usually available during the spring and fall seasons because of mild temperatures and increased rainfall. A variety of foods and habitat types is essential to good deer production and survival.

Deer eat a variety of plants, and different plant species become more important at different times of the year and importance can even vary year-to-year depending upon environmental conditions. The following plants are examples of some good deer foods which are readily eaten by deer when and where they are available.

Browse: oak leaves and acorns, yaupon, greenbriar, hackberry, mulberry, sumac, hawthorns, poison oak, American beautyberry, wild cherry and plum, wild grape, honeysuckle, dogwood, elm, blackberry and dewberry, acacias, walnut, and chinaberry. The will utilize additional plants species depending upon the area you are located.

Forbs: Illinois bundle flower, euphorbias, bayflower, tickclovers, clover, verbena, wild lettuce, wild onions, old man’s beard, wildbean, snoutbean, lespedezas, spiderwort, vetches, lamb’s quarters, plantain, groundcherry, pigweed, carelessweed, and partridge pea.

Grasses: rescue grass, wintergrass, witchgrass, panic grasses, sedges, and rushes, as well as wild and cultivated rye, oats and wheat.

Food Habits – What Whitetail Deer Eat

What do deer eat? Deer eat mostly browse (leaves, twigs, shoots of woody plants and vines) and forbs (weeds and other broadleaf flowering plants). They do eat some grass, but only when it is young, green, and succulent. Sheep, goats, and exotic game species compete directly with the whitetail for preferred deer foods. Deer food shortages usually occur during late summer and winter months.

Adequate forage is usually available during the spring and fall seasons because of mild temperatures and increased rainfall. A variety of foods and habitat types is essential to good deer production and survival.

Browse:oak leaves and acorns, yaupon, greenbriar, hackberry, mulberry, sumac, hawthorns, poison oak, American beautyberry, wild cherry and plum, wild grape, honeysuckle, dogwood, elm, blackberry and dewberry, acacias, walnut, and chinaberry.The will utilize additional plants species depending upon the area you are located.

Forbs: Illinois bundle flower, euphorbias, bayflower, tickclovers, clover, verbena, wild lettuce, wild onions, old manâ€™s beard, wildbean, snoutbean, lespedezas, spiderwort, vetches, lamb’s quarters, plantain, groundcherry, pigweed, carelessweed, and partridge pea.

Grasses: rescue grass, wintergrass, witchgrass, panic grasses, sedges, and rushes, as well as wild and cultivated rye, oats, and wheat.