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Guys and Gals, if you have wildlife around, put out some food for them. This winter will be a hard one for them. Here, with the thick snow cover, birds can't get to seeds that are laying on the ground, can't get to grit for their gizzards, etc. We had rain on top of snow, and there is a crust on the snow now. It's thick enough here that coyotes can run on top of the snow and not break thru.

I plowed an area, and within an hour it was covered with Slate Colored Juncos, Sparrows and other birds that were picking thru the dirt. I saw a flock of Robins in the Arborvitae trees last night, I don't know if they were there for cover or for the berries. What they are doing here now is a mystery.

Deer and Turkeys will be expending more energy finding food too. I'm putting out about 50# of whole kernel corn a week, and I could be putting out more.

I have a couple of hawks that are picking away at the deer carcasses from the last 2 deer that I shot. The pile of guts was gone in 4 days. I put a trail cam over it and the cleanup crew was a flock of crows and 2 different hawks. One I couldn't identify. It had black patches on the underside of it's wings at it's elbows like an Osprey does, but it was in the middle of the woods. It was about the size of a Redtail Hawk.


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Good point Scott. I read somewhere that if you do start feeding the birds you need to keep it up through winter as they get dependent on the seed. It said some people just stop cold turkey (no pun intended) and the birds can starve.

I see I have a feral cat traversing the property and the evergreens at night. I wonder if he's getting any of the birds or rabbits. I haven't seen him but I've seen the tracks.

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/05/14 10:36 AM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Been out dumping corn every weekend if I can. My Brother and his buddy dump apples and corn all fall through deer season then quit. I don't agree with the quitting part.

Many of my trails have sand that I dumped to make passable in wet times. The turkeys know right where to go for their grit.

Our larger field was in alfalfa last year and had a pretty solid growth coming into winter, but now its buried so deep the deer can't really get to it.

Our snow is quite deep and there's nothing to speak of for layers in the woods. It's all pretty loose and never really melted or packed in. I've kept my mile or so of trails passable for the Ranger and the deer are using the trails quite regularly. Not much Coyote action as they can't get on top here. Dog hunters haven't been out much either as a result.

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My mom has seen bald eagles at our place for a couple weeks now. Not a common sight -- we are 25 mi from the Missouri River. They must be searching far and wide since so much of the river is frozen.

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Lookin' out my kitchen window.





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Deer are very adapted to harsh winters. Do not feel sorry for them and start feeding them now when you haven't been feeding them all winter. It does more harm than good. Deer are ruminants meaning they have four-chambered stomachs. Their digestion relies on a community of microorganisms to help break down and digest their food. They can processes large quantities of low-nutrient foods. Deer love corn, it's easily in their top 5 most preferred foods and is the most common food people feeling sorry for them feed them in the winter. The issue is that breaking down and digesting corn requires a very different microorganism community than what the natural food deer are currently eating requires. This means, if deer go from eating natural food to corn, they will not digest it properly. At a minimum they will get little if any good out of the feed and will simply starve more. At worst, they will die of acidosis. You ask what that is, see this article: Recent Article Elk and deer are much the same in their digestive biology and deer are just as likely to die of acidosis.

In the winter deer are primarily browsers. They are well adapted to and capable of browsing. They feed on the twigs of bushes and low growing trees as these are generally the most nutritious food source available in winter. Winter can cause to yard up because of extremely heavy snow fall that last over extended periods of time. When I say heavy, I am talking in excess of 2 feet. In general, deer and turkeys are well adapted to winter survival. See here for further info: Winter Feeding of Deer and Turkeys

So you ask what can I do to help the deer? First and foremost is to keep their numbers at a natural carrying capacity for the habitat they live in. That would be somewhere around 20-30 deer per square mile of available habitat for this time of year. The only natural predator deer have in most areas currently are coyotes. Coyotes are not overly effective predators on deer. They will prey on fawns, smaller deer and sickly deer, but generally do not prey on adult deer. That leaves hunters to control the deer population.

The other thing is habitat management. Deer like "edge" it is why you always see them at the edge of woods. Whether it be your backyard or the side of the road. Edge creates sunlight and sunlight makes deer food. Big tall mature forests are good for deer to an extent. The mature oaks trees make acorns and acorns are the #1 most important deer food. However, acorn failures happen and acorns don't last all winter. Agriculture is also a huge food source for deer in farmland areas. However, today's modern farming doesn't leave much food behind in the winter for deer to eat.

Logging, specifically clear cutting areas of forest create edge and deer food. The stumps left behind grow sprouts and deer love to eat these sprouts. Both in the spring and summer as green new growth and in winter as browse. However, it's really too late to do either population or habitat management right now.

So how can you help the deer right now? Cut some trees down! If you have any of these species: Cedar(white or arborvitae), Apple(crab or domestic), Sassafras, Red maple, Flowering dogwood, Alternate leaved dogwood, Basswood,Staghorn sumac, Elderberry, Red berried elder, Mountain ash, Highbush cranberry, Highbush blueberry, Willow species, Silky dogwood, Red osier dogwood, Honeysuckle, Nannyberry, Cucumber tree(magnolia), Hemlock, Wild raisin, Arbutus, White ash, Sugar maple, Oaks(especially of the white family), Black birch, Yellow birch, Hickory, American chestnut, Black cherry, Witch hazel, Spicebush, Choke cherry, Elm, Black walnut, Shadbush, Winterberry, Lowbush blueberry, Butternut, Black ash, Hazelnut, Wild grape, Bush honeysuckle and Leatherwood you can give deer some food.

Break out the chainsaw! Cut these trees down... When the trees fall, their tops which were well out of reach of deer are now within reach of deer. The deer can now browse on them and obtain natural food their stomachs are used to digesting. As a bonus, these trees will send up stump sprouts in the spring the deer with relish. If you want to get fancy, you can do "hinge cuts" on these trees. You basically cut the trees 75-80% through the trunk and then push it over on its side. The area of the trunk you didn't cut lets the tree live but it's now laying on its side where the deer can get access to it. In the spring, the whole tree will begin to sprout and in doing so will become prime deer food. An area of several hinge cut trees provides excellent bedding cover for deer as well.

If you must feed the deer corn. Make sure you choose a sheltered location that is near thermal cover(think hemlock, white pine, cedar, other pines, etc.) Also, you must feed them year round! This allows the microorganism community in their stomach to be capable of digesting corn or what ever other feed you choose to feed them.

Deer and turkeys are very winter hardy species and are capable of handling brutal winters, even like the one we are experiencing this year. Sometimes our best intentions can actually hurt the wildlife we love so much.

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CJ I admire your passion, and I realize that everyone will have different priorities, but the idea of cutting cherry, walnut, ash, or maple just to leave it lie and feed the deer, probably won't fly very well to anyone with an interest($$$)in timber management.

On the other hand, some of those scrub varieties you mentioned sound quite plausible.

A new, or possibly uninformed property owner might be shocked to learn just how much value those seemingly all alike trees just might contain.


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Oh yes, I am well aware of timber value. However, many of these trees species with value have individual trees that don't have value because they are rotted out or are already deformed. I am not an idiot and go around cutting down $500 trees for the deer to eat. Most trees I cut down are less than 8" DBH. At that size they have limited value and by thinning out the deformed lower quality trees, you sunlight the ones that are better formed and cause them to grow better. It's a win, win...

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CJ, here, deer eating corn is not a big deal - they eat it all year round from the farmers fields. There is a huge difference in the way the deer meat tastes here and from the big woods in Northern Wisconsin where they only eat browse.

But, the points that you bring up is valid. I'll put out corn from the end of hunting season 'till things start to green up in the spring. I believe years ago they killed a bunch of elkk out west by feeding them hay when they ran out of food. They starved with full stomachs because the bacteria couldn't break down the hay.


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Here in central Texas, even though we're experiencing a colder winter than usual, I've noticed an unusual increase in the number and types of birds in the area. I surmise this is due to the even harsher weather conditions in the north..... It currently sounds like a jungle around here.

Good points concerning deer, CJBS2003. I might add, that it can also be a danger to humans, to feed deer in a way that the deer can associate the food with humans, particularly during rut.

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If anyone really wants to help deer out during the winter, they have some very good food plots for deer available. If you have the land just a 1/4 acre food plot will be the enough. 1/2 acre would be better.

You want the kind that stays green all winter like clover, oats, alfalfa etc. They have several mixtures available now days. Green leafy browse is much better for deer than sticks or woody browse.

In the long run it is much more cost effective making a food plot than putting out corn for half the year. And corn is about 6% protein compared to over 30% protein for some of the food plots.


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Don't forget feeding wildlife is illegal in many areas (IL). By wildlife I referring to deer and turkey primarily. I have 3 acres of Clover and Alfalfa along with 2 acres of standing corn, 2 acres of standing beans and 2 1/2 acre brassica plots. That pretty well takes care of my deer and turkeys until spring comes along. Plus 25 acres of harvested corn field. Been seeing 9 to 11 deer in it each night for a while


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Originally Posted By: MSC
If anyone really wants to help deer out during the winter, they have some very good food plots for deer available. If you have the land just a 1/4 acre food plot will be the enough. 1/2 acre would be better.

You want the kind that stays green all winter like clover, oats, alfalfa etc. They have several mixtures available now days. Green leafy browse is much better for deer than sticks or woody browse.

In the long run it is much more cost effective making a food plot than putting out corn for half the year. And corn is about 6% protein compared to over 30% protein for some of the food plots.


Took a wheeler ride through my place last weekend- all 3 plots were pawed down. They're hitting the clover just as hard as the turnips. I'm clearing for my next pond also- been leaving the tops where it makes sense- they are hitting these shortly after I leave. I've read that deer can handle deep snow for up to 60 days without much trouble but after that is the danger zone for them. The couple thaws we had here means they'll be just fine.


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I planted 1 ac of indeterminate soybeans last year, and the deer kepth them mowed to about 3" height. There's enough deer in the area that this year I'll have to put up an electric exclusion fence to hopefully let it grow large enough so they can't eat it down to the ground again.

I'll try brassicas at this property. At my place (12 miles away) the deer won't touch them, even in the middle of winter.


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Mine where that way till last year (barely touch brassicas). Last year I planted ground hog radishes and with the drought keeping the natural browse way down they found the radishes and loved them. This year they where hitting the radishes in Sept/Oct long before the first freeze and kept hitting them. They are totally gone now. I still have a little corn and beans that they can get at. Keep planting them Scott they will learn to like them


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We used to farm a really small patch of soybeans (couple times around the "field" and it was planted) that was surrounded all the way with woods not far from a medium sized creek that is a major deer pathway through our area. Maybe 10% of the beans would get over a foot tall. The rest the deer kept "mowed down" like esshup talked about to 3". They love the emerging trifoliates, so munch one set off and as soon as the next set emerges they get it in a day or two.

We finally gave up on growing beans in that patch and put it to corn. I was really glad when the landlord gave the ground to someone else. Of the three fields, one really big enough to be farmed economically, the deer and other critters destroyed at least a third of it each year. He always wondered why his crops did not yield as much as others he heard about but would never consider thinning out the deer "herd". And it really was a "herd". Sometimes >30 in a group. They are a menace in our creek bottom ground and do some damage in the upland.

Last edited by snrub; 02/06/14 09:55 AM.

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Even in high quality deer habitat, 30 deer per square mile is about all the more deer that should make it past hunting season. Some of the parks around here have over 200 deer per square mile and are poor habitat to begin with. You can see 300+ yards the deer have over browsed the forest so much... Most areas should have around 20 deer per square mile.

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Around here they are more concentrated around the creek areas. From there they cross roads and follow sloughs and seasonal streams ranging far from the creek, with open farm land surrounding the cover. So at times of the year they become more concentrated than others.

This particular area was a safe haven because it was at the confluence of streams where the county did not build roads all the way through the area because of the need for multiple bridges and flood plain. So there was a much larger undisturbed area than usual. Also it is right on the edge of the city limits so gun hunting is discouraged. Also it has city land owners that like to watch the deer, so most do not let hunt.

The perfect area for deer overpopulation. We have these type areas outside of town, but this one close to town with houses adjacent it I think is the worst.

Last edited by snrub; 02/06/14 11:38 AM.

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Tree tops... Like CJ said, I've seen it. One summer a lightning strike took out a 25' top from a beautiful 65' tall tulip poplar on my property. The deer walked right through my Imperial Whitetail clover patch and wanted to get to the leaves from the poplar.


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Food plots are all the rage because companies that sell seeds make big money doing so. Hinge cutting, selective cutting, clear cutting and fertilizing native/naturalized vegetation is far more important.

Having some food plots is always a good thing and it certainly can make harvesting a deer easier. However, deer even when given all they can eat, corn and high quality pellets, they will turn to native browse to fill their bellies if available.

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That reminds me I better put cage material around my young sapling trees above the snow before the deer find them!

The deer seem to be staying in the woodlots though.

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/06/14 09:34 PM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Agree on the corn and natural browse Travis. I recall 3 or 4 years ago when most of Texas had a rainy summer and the acorn drop was huge. Deer ignored corn feeders that year. I finally shut my feeders off because it looked like a gold mine under them.

I have wheat planted 3 different places but, given an option, they prefer the wild rye.


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My turkey's seem to be doing okay! grin



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How close did you get to them? Oh wait that was a game cam right?

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/08/14 11:51 AM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Originally Posted By: Cecil Baird1
How close did you get to them? Oh wait that was a game cam right?


Correct on the game cam, but as I went out this morning to grab the chip, I ran into about 50 turkey's walking around. They're all over the place out here!


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