Considerations for Winter deer feeding

I thought this is kind of interesting:

https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/winterdeerfeeding.pdf


I did a little research on the winter corn feeding topic, since I hear of a lot of people in Wi feeding corn. 1 thing that kind of stands out to me is the apparent possibility of deer getting something called acidosis from too much winter corn eating. I heard that deer that aren't used to farm crops are at more risk from winter corn feeding (i.e. such as the Central FOREST). I guess it can result in death, some biologists claim.

It mentions something about how predators may 'gang' up on deer feeding stations. Makes some sense I suppose.

Yes. What happens is the deers digestive system slows in a sense to pull as much nutrients from the browse they are getting as they can. When a food like corn is introduced it can and will kill them. Now if those deer are consistently getting fed corn daily thru the winter the deer are better able to digest the corn.

Sorry the are some other variables but thats the jist. Bernie has a good article about it on his website

I’ve witnessed white tailed deer killed by well intentioned winter feeding a few times. Acidosis and enterotoxemia are not pleasant ailments.

Unless there is 5 feet of snow then feeding the deer is a waste of money. They are adept at finding the food they need to survive but deer are a huge market in regards to every aspect now. I suspect people want to feed them to keep them in the area year-round for easy targets next season and those who just want to look at deer in their backyards every day as if they have never seen one before. I believe it is more detrimental to most wildlife (not including birds) to feed them for any reason other than severe winter extremes that would prevent them from finding food on their own.

I have never and will never use bait of any kind in the pursuit of deer, it is just like a canned hunt IMHO.

Introducing feed to a population late in the winter season is a guaranteed way for feed to kill animals.

i believe its illegal to feed them here in Minnesota, as it causes them to gather to one area, and may help promote the spreading of CWD.

Things have to be pretty tough for deer to eat corn.

There Is a 30 acre standing corn field where I'm snaring coyotes and today after that fresh snow there wasn't a deer track to be found any where near that field.

I know In the past the WI DNR would go out and cut down cedar In the north woods to feed the deer.

From what I understand it is only illegal in the CWD zones and is legal all over after Feb 28th for some reason.

Your kidding right?

No I'm not kidding.

Not much corn up in my country, but the couple of fields that are here won't have a cob left in them by March .

If you feel that food is in short supply grab a saw and drop some young popple or birch. Give them something that their guts have evolved to for winter survival rations.

Bryce

Deer in my neck of the woods are hitting what's left of the corn.
out before the latest storm they are in the corn fields during the daytime.
They also will hit the popple tops I drop as I thin my woodlot.
If I believed that feeding them corn in the late winter would kill them I'd do it.
I don't think it does. They have corn available from fall till the fields are tilled in the spring time.
I have seen waste piles of corn in the fields from harvest that would go untouched at times.

Our deer must be smarter, I can show you some stand corn fields and corn stubble that have a pile of deer in them.

same here...

Deer do not commit suicide by eating corn. their body tells them what they need. It takes some very unusual circumstances for them to be harmed by eating corn.

No corn around me for miles. So what I do is buy 7 or 8 bales of alfalfa and put it out through out winter. They seem to like it.

I read it has to do with the bacteria that is in a deer stomach. If the don't have the correct bacteria to digest corn they can't. The deer in Texas must have the correct fauna in their gut cause they eat tons of corn at the deer feeders down there.

If there are corn fields in your area, it's unlikely that feeding corn will do them any harm. When deer are stressed from a tough winter and not accustom to eating corn, introducing a pile of corn into their diet can kill them. In such areas dropping trimmed branches and hinge cutting trees is a much better way to help them.

Usually when deer are not eating standing corn, there is a reason. Most likely, it has mold on it. The next likely reason is because someone close by is dumping shelled corn. Deer are lazy and will take the shelled corn first. Other reason is you lack the thermal cover close by.

Here is my understanding of the deer's winter digestion cycle told to me from a MI biologist that I did some wildlife clear cuts for many years ago. Their system turns from summer (green plants) to winter (Browse) and that takes a while to change over so feeding hay, corn during the tough winters do little as they don't get the benefits if they are in the browse stage of winter.

He said even after a harsh winter and a warn spring arrives their system needs to change over so they are still at risk of malnutrition with green grass available because again they get next to nothing out of it until the chemicals to digest it switch back.

In the winter dropping a few aspens will do more for the deer/snowshoes then corn and hay, clearing some hardwood areas out of everything bigger then 3 inches while leaving the fruit/nut trees is the way the DNR did it back then. The regrowth would be thick for years until it thins itself out over the coming years.

I've seen both deer and elk dead from malnutrition with bellies full of corn. We had a few elk die a couple years ago that all they were eating was corn put out. It's a pretty horrible death.

Corn is like candy to them. Like stated above if they aren't in the standing corn there's something wrong with the corn, not the deer.

If you live in a farming area with a lot of cornfields they should be able to tolerate it in moderation pretty good.

This one is being fed down the road from me a ways. This is a friend of a friend doing the feeding. Looks like shelled corn.

Somebody is going to pop that one next year.

He's already been trained to come to feed.

There can be standing corn but if deer don't have good thermal cover very close by, they may not feed there.

That's what the same biologist said they track the thermal index I believed he called it and that was a predicting factor on figuring stress/loss.

Dunno about corn, but around here deer eat piles of grain, literally, and thrive. They know, unlike domestic animals, not to overindulge. If they didn’t, we would not have elk and deer as thick as they are here.

I've seen deer do awfully well on 14% horse feed mix along with alfalfa.

Osky

I think it's that the shelled corn is much harder for them to digest coming off their summer/fall staples. I know the biologists here are dead set against it.