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Deer food preference app

CooterBrown

CooterBrown

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
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I have "picture this" and it is very good at identifying species of plants but it does not tell if it if preferred by deer or any idea if deer can or would eat it. Is there an app that helps someone to know what deer can, will or prefer to eat?
 
Not one that I am aware of and not sure how beneficial it would be anyway. There are definitely regional preferences that I have noted hunting different states. For instance, an area I hunted years ago with a high deer population saw zero usage of persimmon. I spotted a group of trees that were loaded and dropping heavily. I went to check them out and my buddy who grew up there asked what I was doing. I said I was going to check those trees and pick a tree to get in. He started laughing and said deer dont eat persimmons. I looked at him like he had 3 eyes but sure nuff there was not a single track anywhere around those trees and piles of ripe persimmons laying all under them.
 
I don't think you could make something like that really. If you listen to MSU talk about it, it's easier to list what a deer won't eat than what it will. I think they need something like 1lbg of food per 10lbs of bodyweight every 24 hours. That's a lot of browse, so they pretty much are constantly browsing or chewing cud. I don't know that I've ever seen a deer that wasn't running that wasn't also nibbling.

I know they prefer hard and soft mast when they can get it during the fall, and new growth forbs in the spring. You see the moat deer grazing on the side of the road or in fields or food plots during late summer or late winter when those food sources are gone and they're forced to grass and woody browse.

Actually, locally we're in the lean times for the summer right now. You can tell because dead deer start showing up in greater numbers on roadsides in high-density areas. Theyre having to move more to get their calories and hit the roadside browse that they'd really rather stay away from when cars are about.

I can tell you that I've seen lots of deer eating acorns (more red than white, despite a disproportionate effort to find and hunt white), yaupon, huckleberry, sparkleberry, deerberry, beautyberry, and Jackson vine (smilax). Smilax vines without the tender green ends is a dead giveaway that there is an acceptable deer population. Yaupon shows browse well too. Generally deer "squeegee" leaves off of the branches. They don't cut, they tear.

You can make note of what's in their mouths, throat, and stomach too. Sometimes it's hard to identify. But I don't remember ever not seeing yaupon leaves. I don't know if they like the caffeine or what.
 
Out of 4000 Alabama plant species, I've identified a handful that I know they regularly eat. I assume they're heavily preferred but that's a WAG. I came to that guess after years of seeing a deer eating a bush and making an effort post hunt to walk over and figure out what that deer was browsing on.

But I don't know how useful it is. There's so much browse down here. I've rarely found spots where there weren't deer and food, and when I have its been obvious. Look around...nothing green growing. Walk a mile, still nothing green growing. Conclusion, deer aren't eating here.

And it's so dynamic. There are hundreds if not thousands of species in an area, and each species will be more or less nutritious depending on dozens of parameters that aren't static. A good rain may change what they like, or a hard freeze. And even if they love one species and it's hot right now, pressure may keep them off of the area its found during daylight hours.

It's a puzzle that's easier to piece together after the deer is dead than before
 
I use 'Picture This' as well. I thought I would take pictures and then google 'hey do deer like this stuff' and most of the time I would get results saying no. I sensed this could not be accurate because deer don't look that finicky to me, and reading through these post is supporting that feeling. (Deer not on persimmons. No way! I don't think you looked that hard. Just teasing.)

However I still use the app because the information of what plants are in the environment may give me clues to something else down the road. For example, if I knew a plant had a higher water concentration level then others, then it may be good to find the plant during dry conditions or when scouting areas away from a water source.
 
If I saw a deer eating wild spinach, I'd shoot him just to have it for myself. Stuff's pretty good.

Pleased that I was familiar with over half of those. Never have thought about beggars lice or ragweed as deer food, but we saw deer yesterday in a parcel that was nothing but ragweed, fennel, and sumac.
 
What kinda sumac Nutter? The busy type stuff with the redish cone like flowers? Or is that a northern plant?
 
Horn said:
What kinda sumac Nutter? The busy type stuff with the redish cone like flowers? Or is that a northern plant?
Click to expand...
That's Staghorn Sumac. We have a lot of it up here. Bucks love to rub it. Its a great successional species indicative of cover and cover areas deer and many bird species tend to like to utilize.
 
woodsdog2 said:
That's Staghorn Sumac. We have a lot of it up here. Bucks love to rub it. Its a great successional species indicative of cover and cover areas deer and many bird species tend to like to utilize.
Click to expand...
Thanks
 
BTaylor said:
Not one that I am aware of and not sure how beneficial it would be anyway. There are definitely regional preferences that I have noted hunting different states. For instance, an area I hunted years ago with a high deer population saw zero usage of persimmon. I spotted a group of trees that were loaded and dropping heavily. I went to check them out and my buddy who grew up there asked what I was doing. I said I was going to check those trees and pick a tree to get in. He started laughing and said deer dont eat persimmons. I looked at him like he had 3 eyes but sure nuff there was not a single track anywhere around those trees and piles of ripe persimmons laying all under them.
Click to expand...

Spartanforage? We all have seen how well that app works haha.


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