Deer Hunting

Northeast/Mid-West Deer

A white tailed deer's diet will drastically change as the year goes on. The transition from green foliage in the summer, to twigs and sticks in winter is a gradual process.

These areas contain many forests, which house two very important trees: the oak and the white cedar. The oak is very important in the fall because it drops its acorns to the ground. Deer love acorns, and they are rich in carbohydrates, which helps the deer develop their fat reserves. Acorns also stay on the ground for a long time; thus they are a great food source in the middle of winter, when all the other plants have died.

Where available, the white cedar plays the most important part in a deer's diet. The white cedar is a conifer, which means that it does not lose its leaves in the winter. It is also very rich in nutrients. Thus, the white cedar is an excellent year round source of nutrition.

During the winter, deer head toward pine tree plantations, where warm shelter is available. There, they eat anything available and often will dig through deep snow to uncover food. In these plantations, cedar and hemlock are an important part of the deer's diet.

The rest of the seasons provide many feeding options. There are very few droughts in these areas. Thus the only real problems stem from overcrowding and overgrazing of food. However, this too is seldom a problem, due to the abundance of foliage.

Here is a chart of Northeast and Midwest Deer feeding options:

Southwest Deer

Leaves become a valuable food source to deer during drought and winter.

The winters of the Southwest are very mild which causes few problems with food supplies. However, droughts occur frequently in this area and that can cause most of the plant life to die, which severely limits a deer's choices for food. The lack of water also dehydrates a deer.

The Prickly-pear Cactus is found across the US. This plant is very important to Southern deer, just as the white cedar is to Northern deer. The cactus, which is able to survive year round, is also rich with water and can prove very essential during the dry days of a drought.

Below is a chart of Southwest Deer feeding options:

Southeast Deer

In the transition from fall to winter, bowhunters have to change their tactics and specific hunting locatins to fit the new lifestyle of the deer that the seasons bring. Hunter shown wearing Lost Camo.

The Southeast also presents very few problems for hungry deer. The winters are never severe, and the area is covered with a wide variety of foods. Overpopulation is the limiting factor in food availability. However, overpopulation seldom causes shortages severe enough to kill a majority of the deer population. Usually, it just forces deer to eat less healthy foods, which leads to malnourishment later in life.

Fall foods are available for a longer time in the Southeast, since the mild winter does not kill the plant life.

Below is a chart of Southeast Deer feeding options: