Comments on: Acorns As White-tailed Deer Food

By: Buck Manager

Buck Manager — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:30:11 +0000

Bill, the whitetail deer ‘s diet is comprised of browse (leaves of trees, shrubs and vines), forbs (weeds, deer eat select ones), grass (usually a small percent of diet) and mast (fruits and nuts). Acorns, although an important fall food for deer, are usually only available for a short time. The bulk of a deer’s diet is browse, and this class of food is especially important during the winter when browse, forbs and mast are unavailable.

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 04:12:26 +0000

What do deer eat when there are no acorns available?

By: Buck Manager

Buck Manager — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:01:51 +0000

Mark, whitetail deer will eat a variety of items depending on the individual animal and local habitat conditions. I suspect deer will eat acorns after they sprout, but have no evidence to support this theory. Of course, most acorns sprout in the Spring when many high quality foods are (usually) abundant, so I doubt deer go out selecting for them at that time.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:52:46 +0000

Will deer eat acorns, after they have started to sprout?

By: MTN

MTN — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:55:12 +0000

If you’re planting oaks, planting a mix of tasty white oaks and bitter red oaks will help keep your deer in better condition throughout the winter. White oak acorns are the preferred fall food, so they’re good for attracting deer during the season, but red oak acorns are a more important winter food source and they’ll improve winter survival rates and help ensure a better hunt the following autumn.