winter feeding?
 

I watched Deer And Deer hunting the other day and thay said its a bad to feed deer in the winter to help them make it threw the winter thay said corn will make deer sick hay will kill the deer.do you think thats true and what should I do to help my deer stay healthy threw the winter

RE: winter feeding?
 

anybody know

RE: winter feeding?
 

i could be wrong but i was told if start feeding during the winter the depend on it and if stop or miss a few feedings they can die.i dont think it is what you feed. you just cant stop til spring.

RE: winter feeding?
 

Don't feed anything in the winter. Whitetails are adapted quite well to survive in winter. The best thing you can do is shoot as many does and fawns in the fall as the law will allow. This way, there's less competition and stress in the herd during the winter. The animals that do survive will be stronger.

RE: winter feeding?
 

Deer's stomachs and metabolism change to prepare them for winter survival. The food they eat in the winter is different than that which they find in the summer. They eat high protein foods during the warm weather and low protein foods in the winter. According to stuff I have read they have a difficult time digesting food like grain and other high protein food in the winter and can die of starvation with full bellies of the wrong type food. If you want to do anything for them especially when the snow gets deep cut some cedar boughs down so they can get to it. They often winter in cedar swamps due to the shelter it provides and the food available. Supplemental feeding creates an unhealthy diet and tends to group them together often promoting disease and over browsing conditions. Do them a favor and leave them alone. They will be better off in the end.

RE: winter feeding?
 

I am in agreement with the last two posts. If you have to feed to get the deer through winter, then you have too many deer.

Reducing the deer population and improving the habitat to increase winter browse are both preferable to feeding.

RE: winter feeding?
 

huh thats interesting......we feed deer corn thrue the winter all the time nuttin has happend the past years strange I dont think that will stop us though but im not in charge at my deer camp so i have no athority but I dont believe everything i read or hear im not saying you do you are just asking us for advice :)for me I need a lil more proof than from a forum for me to completely stop my feeding time for the winter and also it doesnt get as cold down in the south (north louisiana)as up there were you guys hunt if tempeture has anything to do with it

RE: winter feeding?
 

I try to feed about 5 bails of hay during the winter only during the very worst part of winter and they never seem to eat it. They do however like to bed down on the hay. We have numerous pictures of them doing that.