I started using these and have been having trouble with deer or something eating the grass clippings either leaving the trap fully exposed or setting it off.
Any ideas? Thanks!

You sure the wind isn't blowing it off? It's unlikely anything is eating it.

Are you using fox urine? I can’t use it at certain times down here...Deer magnet, and have trail cam pics to prove it.
I’ve used yard clippings and grass/brush clippings from the actual area and never had anything eat it.

Had that happen a couple times. It's basically like putting hay out for them, and we have a lot of deer. I would just clip up the grass at the set if possible.

Unless its a very particular type of grass, deer aren’t eating it. They can’t eat/digest most grasses. Around here they won’t even touch alfalfa hay, let alone grass.

You must be using that smokable grass and have a band of hippies following you around gather what you leave behind. Nothing has bothered the grass i use.

Your deer dont eat grass or alfalfa? Our deer love my alfalfa field and i know they eat grass. Not sure thats what is messing with your set or not though. Mice are often a pain here this time of year there building warm nest to survive the winter, anything easy and that will add R-value to there nest is gonna disappear.

Interesting. Up here they seed the roadsides after new ditches are scraped and use a mix of rhy, clover and other things, deer love it.

Osky

This year I am trying that set and a very close adaptation. I am using natural swamp grass, cut up, and I am going to mist it over with a spray bottle of lake water to freeze and keep the grass in place.

Osky

Deer here do massive damage to my hayfields and other hayfields in my area. They consume lots of grasses, alfalfa and clover.

Especially when there's snow, the deer and rabbits will consume the hay the come across. I have rabbits eating hay under my overhangs in my barns. My friend Don has deer eating hay under his 1 overhang. I have bowhunted them there before.

Keith

Deer are ruminants so they do eat grass and alfalfa along with other things. They have the same digestive system as cattle whom as a animal cannot independently digest grass or more defined the cellulose in the grass. They however have microorganisms in there digestive tract that will utilized the cellulose and turn it into glucose that they can utilize. I feed grass and alfalfa to lots of cattle as thats how i make a living and the deer around here eat the same grass feed from my bales lots of it infact.

Our deer here dont touch baled hay and we have thousands of bales setting out if the wanted them. They well eat alfalfa if it is green and growing. They will eat the most tender fresh shoots of some grasses but mostly just browse, beans and corn.

Deer and cattle do not have the same digestive system. Similar, but not the same. Their rumen isn't capable of digesting most grasses efficiently. They can and do eat certain grasses like cereal grains and such. Alfalfa and clover are legumes, not a grass.

Here's one article with more detail than I can provide.
https://www.buckmanager.com/2007/08/17/what-do-deer-eat/

[quote=M.Magis]Deer and cattle do not have the same digestive system. Similar, but not the same.

Not arguing with you at all, I am curious on the difference is between a deer and cow digestive system for my own knowledge. Im sure they have some different bacterium but that is fluctuated by type of feed they are primarily eating same as in cattle. If cattle are on a high grain ration they lose some of the microorganisms that help them utilize cellulose in grass forage. Also im sure geographic area has alot to do with what deer eat, i live in a vast short grass prairie that is mostly all there is, some crops mostly cereal grains, sugar beets, beans and corn, when the crops are out there are not many options for deer besides grass or alfalfa in bales or fields. Most trees here are conifers so that greatly limits foraging options.I feel like were off topic here, something about a pipe dream set i think....

As I understand it, and I'm certainly no expert, but the whitetails digestive tract has evolved to digest smaller and easier to digest/higher nutrient foods like buds, legumes, sprouts, etc... To digest grasses takes a much larger rumen and more time, and the deer's rumen is much smaller in relation to their over all body size vs cattle, so most grasses aren't can't be digested thoroughly enough to get any real nutrition. There are exceptions, like cereal rye, wheat, etc. But a deer would starve if all they had was the same grass we graze our cows on, like orchard grass, fescue, rye grass, etc...