What Do Deer Eat?

Deer are among the most observed wildlife in North America. To attract deer to your yard or fields you need to know what they eat. Making an area attractive to them will require you give them the proper and favored food, a place of shelter from the prying eyes of hunters and predators and a clean water source. If you make a safe spot for them in your yard or field, you will find them coming to eat often and returning, especially when the weather turns towards cold in late fall and winter.

One of the most important things to know in order to prepare a safe feeding spot is what deer eat? You should endeavor to supply their favorite foods and those that provide them with all the nutrition they need.

Nuts

Nuts are the most preferred foods for deer. They eat acorns, beechnuts, hickory nuts and pecans. Acorns are the fruit that falls from oak trees. The deer prefer acorns that come from white oak trees to those that fall from red oaks. The white oak acorns appear to be sweeter than those from the red oak.

Fruits

Fruits are another of their favorite foods. Deer obtain quick energy from the sugars of the fruits. The top of their list of favored fruits includes apples, persimmons and sumac heads. While they will eat other types of fruits, these appear more often in the rural wilderness than fruits that are cultivated commercially.

Fruit that has fallen to the ground at the edges of commercial orchards is also consumed by deer, provided they don’t sense danger. These items are only available in limited quantity, so while they may be preferred by deer, they do not make up a major part of the deer's diet.

Grasses and Plants

Deers also enjoy dining on grasses and plants, including flowering weeds and other non-woody type perennials. Fields that grow a large quantity of wild flowers are ideal places for the deer to forage.

Dandelions, wild roses, mushrooms and red clover are plentiful in most of the meadows and fields in the land near forests. Deer can also use the forest to provide cover and to travel along trails to reach water and other places to find food. 

Cultivated Crops

Deer also are extremely fond of cultivated vegetables. Crops of beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, soybeans, wheat and rye are a few of the favored crops that they will take the opportunity to feed on. Any grain or grass grown for livestock is also good for them as well.

Unfortunately, this makes deer unwelcome visitors for farmers and gardeners, who may try to scare the deer away using various tactics. The edges of fields are the most likely places to observe deer who are scavenging, because from the edge they can slip into the woods if they sense danger. 

Winter Foods

When late fall and winter arrive, the deer don’t normally have such a large selection of foods to choose from. With no other choices, they select items that can provide some nutrition, even if the nutrition is limited. They will eat fallen leaves, twigs, and small buds from trees and bushes. These foods generally come from woody type plants. They provide less nutrition than the non-woody plants but they are better than staving.

Food Needs of a Deer

Deer need to consume between five and eight pounds of food for each 100 pounds of body weight each day to maintain their bodies. They also have a need for one and a half quarts of water every day.

Their water needs can be partially satisfied by the foods that they eat, because most plants have 50 to 90% water content. They also look for water sources along the paths that they follow in the forest to go from one food source to the next.

Feed Mixes for Deer

Most farmers' feed stores sell bags of deer feed. Deer do eat feed that is spread out for them; however, they won’t go out of their way to eat it. Most deer feeds contain chopped corn and some molasses to sweeten it. Chopped corn and plain corn kernels are the best bet for feeding them artificially.