Doc Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 I have heard these arguments against feeding put forth by many other game biologists and I believe they are valid. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTbowman Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? Yes I too have heard this and agree that feeding them during the winter can be adverse to what your trying to do. However feeding them in spring and summer helps them gain back what they lost and more. JMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? Guess where the winters are really hard it might very well change their habits and patterns enough to take them away from the cover they need to survive. Really dont think feeding around here would have that type of an effect though. I tried using a homemade tube feeder in the spring/summer here several years back just to try to get the deer to establish feeding pattern and it worked somewhat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTbowman Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? I think another factor is that the bacteria or whatever in a deers stomach changes for the winter to handle the fiberous browse they basically eat to survive with deep snow, etc. If your keeping them on summer foods then it can screw them up. If you stop feed 1/2 way thru winter, or laspe at all, it can have drastic effects on the deers stomach. The bacteria will die so when you start back up, they will be unable to digests the food even if they fill their bellys.. Winter feeding is not a good idea. However I am a proponant for spring and summer feeding to help the deer get back what they lost and then some. At least until the fields start producing again... After that its baiting which I am not against either... LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? He does have some good points there, but if you read it carefully, he also makes some pretty contradictory statements. Example[ QUOTE ] Feeding can deny access to food for subordinate deer and fawns, and can encourage over-browsing of local vegetation and ornamental plants. It also increases the likelihood of deer-vehicle collisions. [/ QUOTE ] If it's subordinate deer noly, being denied access to the supplimentory feed and the rest of the deer are being well fed by the feeders, how can the feeders be the cause of over-browsing of local vegetation and how are they responsible for more vehical/deer encounters, if indeed natural browse is healthier for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? Dont believe a word of it...weve done it for years and have had great success with it. The big deal is people who start and are not comitted to it, and they start way too late. If you are not already feeding now..its too late to start. You cant just feed corn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTbowman Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? I guess that was my point. If your gonna feed them then FEED them 100%, or nothing at all during the harsh northern winters. "Feeding" them and "supplimenting" are 2 different things. Not sure if I agree 100% with the write-up story that was posted but I have seen deer starved to death with full bellies of hay and corn... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? [ QUOTE ] If it's subordinate deer noly, being denied access to the supplimentory feed and the rest of the deer are being well fed by the feeders, how can the feeders be the cause of over-browsing of local vegetation and how are they responsible for more vehical/deer encounters, if indeed natural browse is healthier for them? [/ QUOTE ] I have seen videos of mature deer driving away fawns and smaller deer from feeders. If they are denied access to the feeders, the surrounding browse will take a beating. The subordinate deer don't seem to have sense enough to go off by themselves, so the feeders draw them and hold them in the area. As far as the vehicle/ deer encounters, he is probably talking about the suburban do-gooders who feed deer just so they can watch them. This draws more deer into the suburban areas and can cause traffic situations with the deer. It also draws more deer into areas that cannot sustain the increased population. Also, I have read about situations where winter feeding has created problems for landowners that they could not afford to keep up with. In other words, their feeding efforts drew in far more animals than they ever imagined, and as a result the artificial food supply was inadequate for the numbers of deer that were attracted. This too can put a real burden on the browse in the immediate area, and the deer don't seem to realize that they should disperse away from the feeders to get to new browse. Deer yards are the worst idea that the deer ever came up with. It certainly does not do them any good for us to be encouraging this kind of behavior artificially by providing spot food sources. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VTbowman Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? Hey Doc and I agree on something! Go figure.. LOL Well said my friends.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? [ QUOTE ] I have seen videos of mature deer driving away fawns and smaller deer from feeders. If they are denied access to the feeders, the surrounding browse will take a beating. The subordinate deer don't seem to have sense enough to go off by themselves, so the feeders draw them and hold them in the area. [/ QUOTE ] Have seen this also occur on natural pasture land. Have on several occasions watched does chase off fawns not only from my plots, but around the rut especially they do chase away their fawns. That is part of nature, and part of the natural pecking order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted December 19, 2004 Report Share Posted December 19, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] If it's subordinate deer only, being denied access to the supplementary feed and the rest of the deer are being well fed by the feeders, how can the feeders be the cause of over-browsing of local vegetation and how are they responsible for more vehicle/deer encounters, if indeed natural browse is healthier for them? [/ QUOTE ] I have seen videos of mature deer driving away fawns and smaller deer from feeders. If they are denied access to the feeders, the surrounding browse will take a beating. The subordinate deer don't seem to have sense enough to go off by themselves, so the feeders draw them and hold them in the area. [/ QUOTE ] Sorry Doc, I should have elaborated a bit more. I didn't mean it to sound like that doesn't happen. Like Willy said above, that happens over natural food sources as well. It's part of natural deer behavior. Out west here, especially in more mountainous regions, deer have been known to migrate for great distances in the winter to find a good natural food source. Yarding up is a natural phenomena out here and always has been. The article makes it sound like that sort of deer behavior is contributed to artificial feeding, father than natural browse. Anyway...out west here the deer will follow the snow line down into the valleys below to get browse for the winter. During harsh winters in some regions, there is very little natural browse in the valleys also, so the deer move on in search of elusive food sources. It is the farmers and ranchers in these regions who value wildlife, who are the ones who put out alfalfa and hay bails for the deer so the winter kill is not so severe. If they were to discontinue there love and respect for the wildlife, you would see the deer populations drop right off to devastating proportions during some of the harsher winters in the regions. It would take many years to get stocks back up again and some areas could be ruined for many years to come. To say that natural browse makes a deer hardier, may have some truth to it, depending on who is feeding them and what is being fed to them, but as a whole, I think winter feeding is a blessing to deer herd survival in the cold months and even more so in very harsh winters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Re: What do you think about Feeding Deer ? Understand that my comments on this subject and others centers on the perspective of a U.S. northeasterner. I really can't comment on the propriety of practices in other parts of the world. I realize that deer have infiltrated a few climates that perhaps they are not suited for and our assistance might be warranted in those few cases. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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