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What Deer Eat in Brutal Weather

USSHornet

USSHornet

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2018
Messages
333
Location
Kentucky
Here in KY and the weather has been brutal cold got about 3” of snow but my ph says I got 5.

Anyway last night I noticed spots in the yard and tracks. My first thought was kids traipsing thru the yard but this morning checked it out and it was fawns and does scraping my yard to get to the grass.

I had a lot of clover in the summer that is the only thing I could think they were looking for but sadly they did not find the spots that had the clover and moved on. There were several spots that looked like scrapes where they tried.


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What with the snow and wind, low temps, they’ll straight-up eat wood this time of year. If you have something like nice green leftover grass or clover, a deelicious portion of corn, some soybeans left in a field, or a few brassicas holding on for dear life, then you might as well rename your property Applebee’s cuz they’ll be eating good in your neighborhood.
 
I’m logging a piece of property I own this winter, the snow is ridiculous deep right now, over my knees, I have a small herd of deer feeding on the tops of every maple tree I cut, I came back this morning for a second hitch of wood with my skidder and 3 deer were already feeding on a tree I just cut a couple hours earlier, a couple days ago those same 3 deer, I assume, bedded right down on a fresh top after feeding and spent all afternoon watching me drive by skidding wood.
 
Cedar trees. In deep snow. Red willow. No till corn fields
Saw some apples still dropping from trees.

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Last edited:
DelaWhere_Arrow said:
What with the snow and wind, low temps, they’ll straight-up eat wood this time of year. If you have something like nice green leftover grass or clover, a deelicious portion of corn, some soybeans left in a field, or a few brassicas holding on for dear life, then you might as well rename your property Applebee’s cuz they’ll be eating good in your neighborhood.
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There’s no real intimidating competition around me from a food stand point, just pesky corn bait piles and some small food plots. Talked to the neighbor about a half mile away and he’s hunting a buck that I’m seeing almost every day heading out to about 2 acres of brassica / cereal grains plots at our place. Good reminder for me that yes Dec / Jan is an arms race of bait and crops, whoever has it has better odds for sure in late season.
 
I hunt the mountains of North Georgia. Our mast production was very spotty this year. I shot a buck at 3000 feet in early December. Zero acorns to be found. Opened his stomach to find nothing but mountain laurel leaves. I am amazed they can survive the winter with nothing more than that.7D19E5BD-4986-41C3-A089-0E15D7FFF2DD.jpeg
 
I watched a young 8 point here in Tennesee this week voraciously ripping up and eating ferns in the woods... I had heard the stickboys talk about that but never witnessed it myself
 
jbogg said:
I hunt the mountains of North Georgia. Our mast production was very spotty this year. I shot a buck at 3000 feet in early December. Zero acorns to be found. Opened his stomach to find nothing but mountain laurel leaves. I am amazed they can survive the winter with nothing more than that.View attachment 78784
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Mountains of Georgia…elevation 3000 ft lord I had no idea GA had that kind of elevation. Thanks for the info!


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USSHornet said:
Mountains of Georgia…elevation 3000 ft lord I had no idea GA had that kind of elevation. Thanks for the info!

I haven’t hunted above 4000 feet yet, but plenty of people do. Deer hunting can be tough since densities in the mountains are very low. Hunting bears has become a new favorite pastime for me. Unlike out west, you’re not able to sit on a glassing knob and look across a canyon to plan a stalk. It’s all boot, leather, and hunting feeding sign.
CE89357E-30DF-4676-B6F2-02A10A393848.jpeg


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Up in the bigger woods of PA fern roots seem to be the hottest cold weather food. Obviously if there's a lot of snow they may have trouble getting to them but I love hunting up there later in the season because they tear the ground up so bad it's not real hard to figure out where they're eating.
 
Up here, it’s willow and dogwood but they’ll eat evergreen as well though it’s hard to digest. They was a major kill off in my hunting area last year in an evergreen stand. About 20+ dead and piled up as a result of cold, deep snow and poor evergreen needles.


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