you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

I've heard this stuff called old man's beard. Deer eat this stuff all the time. If they find a tree with this stuff growing on it they will chow down as if it were candy



Anyone else know of any other unusual food sources?

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

I've heard that stuff starts fires pretty good!

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

yes it does

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

cotton candy .. who doesnt love that!

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

I have never seen that Magic. Welcome back btw how the trip go?
Might be a link in here already so I will go check in a bit.

T

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

trip was great. there's a thread of some wildlife photos. more to come in the near future.

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

I read before that deer will eat dead fish and other seafood on the shores of rivers and lakes. Also, they will eat baby birds and chipmunks that have fallen out of nests.

Ive never seen it happen though,

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

That stuff reminds me of Spanish Moss like you see down south.

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

I've been told they'll eat poison oak leaves, around here....but I haven't seen that, either.

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

Tes, that is moss. Down here in Florida, deer will definatly eat it, they love it. If a bad storm comes through, deer, as well as cattle will head to downed trees with moss, and moss blown to the ground. One of the oddest things I have witness, was a doe and 2 yearlings stripping a 6 ft Marajuana bush, of all leaves and buds they could reach in Nebraska. No, the marajuana was of the wild type. It was everywhere and gave my allergie hell!

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

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

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

DeerLOVE poisen ivy, multi flora rose (thorns), and mile a minute vine (tiny thorns). At least in my area.

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

Ditto!! It never surprises me what I see an animal eat.

I wouldn't want to follow their lead[8D]

Dan

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

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!

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

It looks like moss to me, i wouldnt be suprised if the florida deer did eat moss:Dthey dont have any other nutrition down here by me

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

I guess they do eat moss:D

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

Yea thats what we call it here in LOUISIANA,and I've never seen deer eat the stuff,but I will pay closer attention now that you say they will.

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

those deer would be nice and easy to hunt, they'd be so baked that you could walk right up to them.

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

^ LOL i never thought of that. all you would need is a knife for that hunt, or mabye just a rope:D

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

same here thats the only thing ive heard

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

I once hunted an area right next to some property that had a bunch of marijuana growing on it. I neverr could get the deer onto the property I was hunted. I tried calls, scents, you name it.Nothing. After a month of not seeing a deer, I decided to do something drastic, I decided to litter the ground with Cool ranch doritos, Potato chips and hooked up a small radio with Greatful dead playing on repeat. The next day 30 to 40 deer were at my stand. I just had to think to myself, "What would I want if I was a deer!"

That whole thing was made up, but it would be pretty funny if it happened!

I used to hunt When I was in College at the University of Kansas. I would find that stuff growing while walking for birds. Groups of 100-200 plants. I never wasthe smoking type (Beer is all I need) but I would take pictures and show them to my buddies. They werealways try to get the location from me. Ya, give away my hunting spots so a bunch of people can go smoke weed, that's not going to happen!

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

You could bait them with Oreos!

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

Hey Magic, I don't want to see you take that stuff home and make any fancy brownies with it either!

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

Now thats the funniest thing I have read in a long time.

RE: you wouldn't believe what a deer will eat
 

Does the moss have some type of healthy mineral property to it?