Do Deer Eat Apples?

Deer sometimes eat apples, although they are not necesarily their first choice. Deer seek nutrition when it is available, and since apples tend to be a ready source of food during the autumn season, plenty of deer will dine on them. Read on to learn more about the diet of deer.

Apples are among the sources of sustenance for the North American whitetail deer, mainly because apples grow more frequently in wild areas than most other fruits that are grown and harvested commercially.

So, deer do eat apples, but how big a part of their diet do apples make up?

• The number one source of food for the whitetail is the white oak acorn, but they also eat other nuts as well.
• The nuts offer the deer necessary fats and oils that help them to produce thick layered coats and necessary insulation for the colder months that affect the northern regions of North America.
• Deer aren’t finicky eaters, however. They will eat virtually any kind of nut, and though they prefer acorns and pecans, they’ll also eat any fibrous fruit such as apples and persimmons. 

Deer also thrive on finding the easiest attainable source of food, so either ground fall or low branches that bear nuts or fruit are their first haunts. They’ll also feed on a variety of plants if their food sources are limited, including clover or spinach patches, rhubarb, and even sweet corn straight from the stalk.

Thus, while deer do eat apples, they’ll tend to gravitate toward the food source that offers the highest protein and fat content to ensure that they are taking in enough substance to maintain their necessary layers.