ORIGINAL: _Dan
Magic,
Alectoria Sarmentosa or "Old Man's Beard" is a form of lichen and isalso known as "Witch's Hair". In the big woods its a favorite food source of whitetails and grows on evergreen trees. Up here you can see the "lichen browse line" up to where the deer can reach. I tend to find a lot of sheds under jack pines, where they fall off while the deer are eating lichen.
http://www.lichen.com/bigpix/Asarmentosa.html
Thanks Dan, I have yet to see a deer pass up an opertunity to eat this stuff.
Another odd food source I have noticed is dead leaves that are still on a limb. If a branch falls during the summer while the leaves are still green they tend to stay on the limb and turn brown. Deer will ignor it until winter and there is snow on the ground. Then they will strip the leaves off and eat the branch clean. They will return again and again. A good spot to set a stand!