Will Deer Eat Carrots And Celery? (2024)

FAQs

Can you feed carrots to deer? ›

Fruit & Vegetables. Although deer will eat apples, carrots, cabbage, etc., their use is not recommended. They are like candy to a child� tasty but of little value in providing a well-balanced and nutritious diet.

Do deer eat celery? Yes, they do. Deer will eat your celery plants to the ground if you let them. Therefore, you need to invest in the right deer deterrent methods to keep them out.

Vegetables that deer seem to prefer include beans, lettuce, cabbage, and cole crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts.

Deer will primarily eat browse (woody portion of leaves and stems), forbs (broad-leaved plants), mast (acorns, apples, etc), and grass. Although these are the main foods deer like to eat, the quantity of these different foods differ throughout the year and the region you are hunting.

As ruminants, deer have a specific blend of microbes in their stomach that break down their naturally high-fiber diet. Large amounts of carbohydrate-rich, low fiber foods like deer corn can disrupt this microbiome — leading to bouts of severe diarrhea and dehydration that could be deadly.

An inexpensive way to feed deer is with corn. Deer love corn and many hunters rely on it for supplemental feeding. That being said, corn is not an excellent source of protein, which is essential for antler growth and the nursing of fawns.

Jimsonweed, a nightshade, is so toxic it often grows in cow lots untouched. Deer resistant vegetables in the nightshade family include tomatoes and tomatillos, potatoes, eggplant, and some peppers. Other plants toxic to deer : Rhubarb and cucumber leaf are toxic to deer.

Deer usually avoid root vegetables (which they have to dig up), and prickly vegetables such as cucumbers and squashes with hairy leaves. Sharply-odoured plants like onions, garlic and fennel are not palatable to deer.

Salt licks are vital parts of animal lives and nourishment. They play a key role in the health and growth of most of the animals, both wild and livestock. As a matter of fact, one of the most commonly-known animals that consume salt is a deer. A salt lick for deer can be quite attractive.

Can you feed deer apples? ›

Apple as Food for Deer

Deer love apples and other vegetables and fruits. The ample nutrients and tasty flavor contained in apples provide their nutritional needs and keep them healthy. Whether these apples are fresh or rotten is not really a factor for these deer.

When it comes to fruit trees, deer have a clear predilection for pears, apples, and persimmons, although they will not shy away from plums. Some pear and apple varieties are particularly cherished and appreciated by deer.

Deer are attracted to the smell of soil as is, but if you want to up the attraction factor, pour some buck or doe urine, or scrape starter into it. This will create an exceptional trail camera site, as bucks will continue to check the scrape every time they pass by or are in the area.

A wide variety of fruits and vegetables – including apples, grapes, cherries, pears, carrots, and snap peas – are eaten in nature by deer. Therefore, it is safe to feed deer these fruits. Acorns are another safe food source.

From larger plots of forage soybeans covering 10 or more acres, to small parcels of broken tree canopy planted to brassica; various crops including corn, milo, turnips, peas, clover, and alfalfa will attract and keep deer. One of the surest ways to attract deer is through their stomach.

Supplemental Feeding Can Harm Deer

attract predators and increase risk of death by coyotes or domestic dogs. spread disease among deer. cause aggression, wasting vital energy reserves and leading to injury or death. reduce fat reserves as deer use energy traveling to and from the feed site.

Deer need to drink and if they feed and bed on your land, but you don't have a water source, they will leave your property to find one. Offering water keeps deer on your property,” Reed said.

Deer that die with full stomachs are regularly hauled away from neighborhoods throughout Bend, killed by well-intentioned people who think they are helping by putting out food, including bird seed. “It's not a well-known thing that birdseed can kill the deer and that we shouldn't feed these animals,” Chase said.

Corn and grains are full of carbohydrates, while soybeans provide a lot of carbohydrates and fat. These are both great for the unique nutritional needs for deer in the winter.

If you're looking for something else in the mix or what to feed deer instead of corn, a better and safer option for winter deer feeding is to use deer food pellets or other high fiber deer feed. This is nutritionally more in line with what they naturally eat anyway.

What attracts deer better than corn? ›

Peanut butter has physical properties that will help deer hang around in front of your trail cameras better than corn. It tends to leave a longer-lasting residue than corn, so whitetails stick around wherever you smear it.

Yes deers will eat anything during the winter including potato peels. Do not feed hay, corn, kitchen scraps, potatoes, lettuce trimmings or any animal proteins from animals rendered into feed. Deer may actually starve when fed supplemental foods during winter if they have a full belly of indigestible foods.

Do deer eat potatoes? Yes, they do, especially the sweet potato variety. They will also eat other potatoes, including toxic potato leaves if hungry enough. Potatoes are equally used in certain areas to feed deer, so they are not deer deterrents.

What smells work best at deterring deer? Some smells that deer react negatively to include eggs, garlic, cloves, and mint. They're also driven away if they smell danger, so using predator scents, such as wolf urine, may work.

Corn is high in starch and a good source of digestible energy, but can cause problems in a deer's digestive system. When deer eat too much corn or other high-‐carbohydrate food, many complex changes occur in the rumen. Some microbes proliferate while others die.

Red clover is the Easiest Food Plot for Deer. Spread the seed and spray the grasses to act as a mulch for the clover, or spray in the fall and frost seed in late winter right on top of the snow. The freeze thaw patterns of spring creates cracks the seed falls into to germinate.

Deer love soybeans, but no single crop can meet all of a deer's year-round needs.

Mineral salt also has a potent scent to attract deer, particularly when wet. And in taste tests, most prefer salt rocks over manufactured blocks. Deer will lick mineral rocks year-round and seek the nutrients they provide during every life phase.

What can I feed wild deer in the winter? ›

Other good choices for winter forage are brassicas (greens and root bulbs) and sugar beets (greens and root bulbs). Both of these food types are favorites of deer because they are palatable and provide the nutrients necessary to help deer thrive during the winter and are particularly high in protein content.

Whitetails, especially bucks, need sodium during the spring and summer. This is why deer will commonly visit and use pure salt licks during a select few months, but they do not provide the overall benefits that a whitetail-specific mineral will.

A small amounts of white bread cannot do any harm, but if a single deer were to eat anything more than a few slices of bread there is always the potential for life-threatening lacticacidosis. It is certainly not wise to put out large amounts because you cannot control how much each deer might eat.

But, because their overall water needs are reduced this time of year, and because deer get most of their water from foods they eat anyway, northern deer satisfy most of their winter water requirements by eating green needles within reach on coniferous trees, like hemlock and white cedar, the last year's growth of buds ...

Chestnuts are chosen by deer over other nuts because of their taste and nutrition. They are high in carbohydrates at 40 percent and contain up to 10 percent high-quality protein. This provides a critical and easily usable energy source.

Grasses, sedges, the leaves and shoots of trees and other woody plants are all on the menu. Fruit and berries are sometimes eaten too, while tree bark is taken when other food is scarce.

It takes between 1 or 2 days for deer to find corn, but in some cases it can happen sooner, if the area is well traveled.

Scent compounds also come from the human body itself when it breaks down molecules to make energy. The odors are emitted through the skin and breath. These substances — the VOCs — evaporate into the air and can spook deer when you're hunting.

According to an article in Hunting Lease Magazine by Ben. H. Koerth, human urine does not frighten deer.

Whitetail deer can absolutely smell cigarette smoke, but they do not seem to mind it. Many hunters have reported that it has zero effect on their hunt, which is hard to test.

What do deer farmers feed deer? ›

Protein is an important part of the deer diet and should be supplemented when forage is low in protein. Protein pellets may be mixed with corn for quick energy and feeding during cold periods. Deer will eat good quality alfalfa hay whenever supplemental feeding is necessary.

Major deer feeding times are during the twilight hours of sunset and sunrise. During the day, most deer sleep, making it difficult to hunt or snap a shot. They usually feed in the early morning hours before going to bed, then again in the evening and throughout the night.

With that said, some folks will still feel the need to help out "the poor wildlife." If you decide that you simply have to feed the deer, at least feed them the right foodstuffs. Whole kernel corn and course cracked corn are good. But the best supplementary food might just be horse pellets.

For deer to survive they need food, water, shelter/cover, and space to move about and find their daily requirements. These are the essential components of habitat.

Fruits and Vegetables Deer Love

If you grow beets, cabbage, apples, berries, beans or broccoli in your garden, deer will want to stay and feast. Deer also love lettuce, leafy greens, pears, spinach, turnip, cauliflower, carrot tops, kohlrabi, peas, strawberries, plums, sweet potatoes and sweetcorn.

While it is a tasty treat for them, consuming too many edible vegetables like carrots can be harmful. Just as a child shouldn't always eat candy, deer shouldn't eat a daily supply of carrots. So if you are wondering if whitetail deer eat carrots, the answer is yes, they do, but they should not eat a large amount.

Often the tops of root vegetables such as potatoes are less palatable to deer, but deer love sweet potato plants, beet tops, and radish tops. When they are hungry deer have been known to dig for beets and other root vegetables. Deer love and will dig for carrots. (Some commercial deer attractants use carrot flavor.)

Supplemental Feeding Can Harm Deer

attract predators and increase risk of death by coyotes or domestic dogs. spread disease among deer. cause aggression, wasting vital energy reserves and leading to injury or death.

What is safe to feed deer in winter? ›

The best option is to give them more of the winter foods they are already adapted to eating: winter browse. This includes buds and twigs of woody plants. Introducing new foods in the middle of winter, especially in high quantities all of a sudden, can actually be more harmful to deer than not feeding them at all.

Potatoes as a deer deterrent

The answer to your question is No. Like other root vegetables, deer do not like root vegetables.

Deer eat a variety of food types, including browse (leafy parts of woody plants), forbs (herbaceous broad-leaved plants, including agricultural crops), hard and soft mast (seeds), grass and mushrooms/lichens.

As previously mentioned, oats are highly favored by deer and they consistently rank among the top species consumed by deer in forage preference trials. Oats are highly nutritious as well. In well-managed food plots with a neutral soil pH and good fertility, oats can contain more than 25% crude protein.