# Do deer like alfalfa?



## txhunt (Jan 8, 2009)

I got some alfalfa at Tractor supply thinking that they would really like it but they ran from it like a hunter was standing on the bale. I had to get rid of it. The deer would not come to my feeder anymore. 

I thought deer liked it...any thoughts?


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## outdoorkid1 (Nov 20, 2010)

Deer love alfalfa, just look at these pictures from the other night. However putting out bails of alfalfa Would not work nearly as well as hunting over a field.


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## bigrackHack (Jun 11, 2004)

Alfalfa as a crop, yes. But I've never known any hunter that had success by putting out a bale. Maybe because it's too foreign in an area?


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## 410gage (Dec 14, 2008)

txhunt said:


> I got some alfalfa at Tractor supply thinking that they would really like it but they ran from it like a hunter was standing on the bale. I had to get rid of it. The deer would not come to my feeder anymore.
> 
> I thought deer liked it...any thoughts?


Deer will not "run from it" unless it had a bad odor, as in strong human odor. Late winter I have had a bit of success with good alfalfa hay if I break it up and scatter it around on the snow or jam some of the "leafs" into low crotches of trees. But deer sign in the snow does tell me they are not "wild" about it, only nibbling a bit and moving on. I can get as much as I want since I help my friend and neighbor make hay during the summer, but I don't hardly even bother anymore.


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## slowen (Jun 27, 2006)

A bear destroyed my bales but the deers had no interest


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## mn5503 (Feb 21, 2006)

They loved the bales around here when I used to feed over the winter.


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## dray223 (May 19, 2010)

ofashea said:


> A bear destroyed my bales but the deers had no interest


hmm...


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## Roskoes (Jun 17, 2007)

Elk like alfalfa.


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## BoHunter0210 (Oct 3, 2011)

We hunt in the woods in North Central PA (away from the highways), and the acorn crop was bad this year. Put out a round bale of alf alfa because corn prices were too high. Deer love it. Have since gotten some corn, and the deer we seen yesterday seemed to like eating the alf alfa as much as eating the corn. Camp a couple miles away say that they go through 2 bales every 7 days.


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## HawgEnvy (Mar 2, 2011)

I was thinking about trying that,too. Guess I wont


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## Stanley (Jan 18, 2005)

If they don't like it they are not hungry.


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## BP1992 (Dec 24, 2010)

Yes


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## Rothhar1 (Apr 1, 2007)

They will forgo all other foods in the area for alfalfa when its right !


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## Rothhar1 (Apr 1, 2007)

txhunt said:


> I got some alfalfa at Tractor supply thinking that they would really like it but they ran from it like a hunter was standing on the bale. I had to get rid of it. The deer would not come to my feeder anymore.
> 
> I thought deer liked it...any thoughts?


If your talking alfalfa hay that is diferent than green growing alfalfa its lost much of its moisture and is harder for them to digest than the soft green mast and flowers that alfalfa produces when its growing.


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## Easykeeper (Jan 2, 2003)

They love it when it's green and growing. Alfalfa makes a great food plot. I have an alfalfa plot that is a magnet until it dies out sometime in the late fall. They won't touch it once it's brown but scratch down through the snow to get the dead and brown clover 50 yards away. 

I think their enthusiasm for it once baled depends on lots of little things. I have never seen a deer even nibble on the round bales I have lined up along my hay field. These bales are a mix of grass and alfalfa. One tough winter I broke one up out back so they could get at the fresh inside (outside few inches of round bales is mostly waste). As far as I could tell they never touched it, but I don't know for sure that they found it. There is a deer farm not far from me and I see he feeds them bales of something, I assume it's alfalfa. 

I think a lot depends on how fresh the bales are and if they have any alternative food sources. Deer can and will eat pretty much anything but I think their digestive system is pretty complicated and if presented with a food they have not regularly been feeding on they might not be interested. I have read that the enzymes in their gut will change over time and are specific to what they are eating. Around here they survive on browse during the winter, maybe the alfalfa is too different.


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## BoHunter0210 (Oct 3, 2011)

Shouldernuke! said:


> If your talking alfalfa hay that is diferent than green growing alfalfa its lost much of its moisture and is harder for them to digest than the soft green mast and flowers that alfalfa produces when its growing.


That stuff we got is green. It smells really fresh. I can smell it 100 yds away, imagine how many deer smell that tasty salad!:tongue:


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## Rothhar1 (Apr 1, 2007)

BoHunter0210 said:


> That stuff we got is green. It smells really fresh. I can smell it 100 yds away, imagine how many deer smell that tasty salad!:tongue:


It dont work like that alfalfa once dried may look green and smell great to you but its not what deer want and it creates an enzyme once cut and dried as hay that they dont care for that much .


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## farmcritter (Jul 23, 2011)

I can't say much about alfalfa, but I have a few hay fields I bail for cattle that are mostly clover and orchard grass with about 20% alfalfa. I have one 2acre field next to a known bedding area which I only cut twice and usually ends up about 1.5 ft tall by sept. They absolutely kill it. They bed in it and feed on it literally all day in the early season. Usually after harvest and into the rut they move but their always back when the snow hits.


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## kansasheadhunt (Nov 27, 2008)

Shouldernuke! said:


> It dont work like that alfalfa once dried may look green and smell great to you but its not what deer want and it creates an enzyme once cut and dried as hay that they dont care for that much .


I agree.


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## Timmy Big Time (Aug 8, 2010)

Easykeeper said:


> They love it when it's green and growing. Alfalfa makes a great food plot. I have an alfalfa plot that is a magnet until it dies out sometime in the late fall. They won't touch it once it's brown but scratch down through the snow to get the dead and brown clover 50 yards away.
> 
> I think their enthusiasm for it once baled depends on lots of little things. I have never seen a deer even nibble on the round bales I have lined up along my hay field. These bales are a mix of grass and alfalfa. One tough winter I broke one up out back so they could get at the fresh inside (outside few inches of round bales is mostly waste). As far as I could tell they never touched it, but I don't know for sure that they found it. There is a deer farm not far from me and I see he feeds them bales of something, I assume it's alfalfa.
> 
> I think a lot depends on how fresh the bales are and if they have any alternative food sources. Deer can and will eat pretty much anything but I think their digestive system is pretty complicated and if presented with a food they have not regularly been feeding on they might not be interested. I have read that the enzymes in their gut will change over time and are specific to what they are eating. Around here they survive on browse during the winter, maybe the alfalfa is too different.


Thanks for the tip on putting it in a plot, never thought of it and I wonder why it is not done more. I don't have any growing in my area should be a draw.


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## brodersen (Jan 28, 2010)

I have fed a lot of alfalfa bales late in the winter. If the hay is not green they don't hit it too hard unless the winter is harsh with deep snow cover. However, if it is a prime fourth cutting that is really green, the deer can not get enough of it. I will go through 5 or 6 round bales a winter and they also lose a lot of their antlers around the bales which is a great bonus.


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## txhunt (Jan 8, 2009)

I always thought they would like it but the deer in my yard act like I just spread out coyote pee.


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