“This is because it takes time for the micro-flora – the bacteria that live in the deer’s gut and help with digestion – to adjust and become capable of dealing with the new food source.
“A deer has to eat a new food for one to two weeks before it can start pulling in nutrients from that food,” Kip told me. Kip was involved in many annual winter surveys looking at wintering areas and deer mortality. Before he worked for QDMA, Kip was the deer project leader for New Hampshire Fish & Game. So I talked to our Education & Outreach Director, Kip Adams, who is from Pennsylvania. In my home state of Georgia, we don’t often see big problems with winter deer mortality. 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. This includes buds and twigs of woody plants. The best option is to give them more of the winter foods they are already adapted to eating: winter browse. If March comes in like a lion and eats the lamb for breakfast, can we do anything to give struggling deer a survival kit to help more of them see April? What to Feed Deer in Winter If January and February are mild but winter lingers until the end of March, or brutal cold and snow hit late, deer carcasses can begin to pile up. If January and February are brutal but relief comes on time with warming temperatures in March, most deer will sail through with no trouble. This ticking clock begins winding down in March and is the reason why weather patterns in this month often play the biggest role in deer mortality. In fact, research at the University of New Hampshire showed that a healthy doe begins winter with a 90-day fat supply. The 30 most critical days for winter deer survival have a name, and it is March.ĭeer have a limited supply of fat reserves to carry them through winter. This article was updated on March 24, 2022
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