# Deer favorite food



## TEXAS 10PT (Apr 6, 2005)

Number one food for deer is acorns.


TEXAS


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## perchjerker (Sep 25, 2004)

A deer will step over acorns to get to a peanut field.I think they are the absolute favorite food when around.


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## Ohio Bow (Jan 15, 2005)

Dont have peanuts around these parts. Ive always found the deer in my area to love acorns over anything else.


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## horseman308 (Apr 17, 2006)

acorns and apples, but mostly whatever is close and in good cover


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## Cornfed (Oct 15, 2002)

I'd have to agree. When and where available, deer will pass by anything in this area to get to fresh fallen acorns.... whitetail candy!


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## Rexxer (Jul 30, 2005)

White oaks are preferred over red oaks.White oaks have rounded lobes on their leaves,red oaks have pointed leaves.To remember this go by the saying------white man's bullets round-------red mans arrows are pointed!!!


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## Breeves (Aug 17, 2005)

Persimmons in my area.


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## Dave2 (Jan 24, 2003)

White Oak acorns are the deers favorite in my area.


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## deerhunter3241 (Jun 7, 2004)

brk said:


> what is a deers favorite food i read somewhere that corn is at the bottom of the list of foods they eat but they have to settle for it because the amount of it and the cover they like also what else is at the bottom and what else is at the top?? thanks for your answers


Not sure where you heard that about corn...I would have to put it near the top of my list, but to each his own...Acorns are the deers protein cash crop, but I think they only come to them by nature's design...They are everywhere around here and the deer don't have to go out of their way to find them...I would say deer travel the furthest out of their way to munch on fresh fruits...Anything from berries, persimmons, apples and pears to cantelope and watermelon (where applicable of course)...


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## gmherps (Jul 18, 2005)

TEXAS 10PT said:


> Number one food for deer is acorns.
> 
> 
> TEXAS


And if none of that try some good ol' CORN!!!!!


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## Harley Rider (Nov 11, 2004)

Deer eat most foods at peek nutrition times. Like when the flowers are just about to open. Or when the tender new branches just push out. At these times deer will pass acorns but only for a couple meals. They will always be back to the acorns. Main food and protein source bar none. 

I was kneeling behind a couple Oaks watching 2 Doe’s the other day waiting for one to get into my very small shooting lane. They both walked over Red and White acorns to eat wild grapes. Then they walked over them again and munched some big white mushrooms. After that they did eat some acorns. An hr with 2 Doe’s with in 30 yds and I never got my shot off.


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## SCOutdoorsman (Sep 18, 2006)

Muscadines are often over looked in the Southeast!


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## 12point chaser (Apr 11, 2006)

corn would be on the bottom of my list because all corn really is is a filler. if you live on farm land soey beans all the way because of the high fat and protien content.

in the early season der will eat alfalfa over corn until it freezes. but they will eat soey beans over all


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## RxBowhunter (Feb 16, 2005)

The Missouri farm I hunt is all in soy beans this year and the deer love them. 
I think deer will eat whatever happens to be plentiful at the time and where they feel safe while eating it. I hunted a pumpkin patch for years in Kansas. Just try to tell the landowner that deer won't eat pumpkins.:wink: He might disagree.:wink:


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## old Graybeard (Nov 3, 2005)

Acorns rule where I live


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## TheCamoGhost (Nov 16, 2005)

acorns and muscadines...


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## hayslope (Aug 22, 2006)

*Almost anything edible*

I've seen them "zone" in on many things, depending on the season. However, if you ask my wife, she would say "her flowers" !


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## fixerupper (Jan 29, 2004)

hayslope said:


> I've seen them "zone" in on many things, depending on the season. However, if you ask my wife, she would say "her flowers" !


Yep.... they LOVE hostas.

In the wild I gotta vote acorns.


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## huntnfish21 (Jan 1, 2005)

Where I hunt, I have acorns, alfalfa, soybeans, and corn. Right now they are on the alfalfa and beans real hard but in next few weeks it will be corn and acorns so I belive it depends on weather conditions.


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## RangerAngler (Jul 15, 2006)

brk said:


> what is a deers favorite food i read somewhere that corn is at the bottom of the list of foods they eat but they have to settle for it because the amount of it and the cover they like also what else is at the bottom and what else is at the top?? thanks for your answers


It really depends on the time of year. In Wisconsin deer will actually live in the corn once it is mature until they start chopping for silage, or combining for grain. Standing corn not only provides food source which they gorge themselves on, but also provides great cover from predators. The property I hunt in broken farm country you might as well not even bowhunt the woods until the corn is down. You focus on water supply and hope they need a drink inbetween meals. Once the corn harvest starts the deer will move back to the woods and eat acorns and feed in alphalpha and oat fields in the evening. In the summer months the perfered food source is soybeans, yet when the plant matures they won't touch them until December again. The whitetail will adjust its diet for what it needs depending on the time of year.


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## maxx (Aug 23, 2006)

perchjerker said:


> A deer will step over acorns to get to a peanut field.I think they are the absolute favorite food when around.


yep thats about right...here in the eastern part of the state youll see over a hundred deer in a peanut field at night.but heck theyre nothing but a goat and will eat anything thats available,theyll just their favorite first.

maxx


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## befus (Oct 10, 2005)

Although here in the Ozarks acorns are the food of choice, a long time older hunter told me the other day to get a jar of peanut butter and cut the bottom out and then nail the lid to a tree and screw the jar on and stand back cuz they will knock you over getting to it! I have not tried it yet, but with the comments on the peanut fields I think this weekend I will slap a jar of chunky in front of a trail cam and see what happens.


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## bigbennett42 (Aug 11, 2006)

Not a lot of crops in the river bottom hills where i hunt so i would say white oak acorns, but we do have a couple of fields full of clover and alfalfa. I would say the last two are the best for deer in my area.


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## Mykey (May 20, 2003)

Deer around here hit the corn and soybeans until the white oaks start dropping but once they do the deer will walk over everything to get to white oak acorns. They absolutely love them and if their dropping thats the place to be until their gone. Once the acorns are gone they'll go back to the soybeans and corn again.


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## BIGBEN (Sep 22, 2005)

*Everything in my Dad's Garden..*

That's what he would say. Acorns top the list round here, but they seem to like mustard greens too. And apples of course.


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## treestand22 (Nov 21, 2004)

In these parts,I would say acorns,apples,corn and after the first frost- PERSIMMON's


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## buckhunter2054 (Aug 3, 2005)

It all depends on what part of the country and time of the year we are talking about. Like right now in most areas that have oaks they are going to be hitting the acorns. In other areas it maybe soybean and clover fields. I know at my parents house when the apples are falling off their trees they almost come running to eat the apples. So it depends I think.


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## Strider (Mar 8, 2006)

*no acorns*

We don't have any big oaks on our property and they would take forever to grow advice? Our property is pretty much surrounded by corn though. . .


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## Viper69 (Feb 4, 2003)

Definitely the white oak acorns around here. I have watched several deer pass right by red oak acorns to get to fresh fallen white oak acorns.


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## bigbowman14 (Sep 14, 2006)

acorns.....then sex


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## bear45 (May 23, 2006)

Seems to be white oaks when they are falling. 

But they eat about anything that is in season.

Don't overlook strawberry bush and honeysuckle


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## HunterSmith (Feb 24, 2005)

I would have to say apples, the field at are camp not an apple on the ground deer eat them as soon as they fall


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