do deer like tall grass or mowed grass better?
07-03-2008, 01:10 PM
#11
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: IL
Posts: 6,575
RE: do deer like tall grass or mowed grass better?
mowed-food
tall- cover
all depends what you're looking to do.....but if you meant which would attract/hold more deer, that may be up for a debate....while food may lure in some deer, cover will hold them, but why would they come to your land simply for cover, if another area has both cover and food.
I'd give them everything they wanted if I was managing some land.
tall- cover
all depends what you're looking to do.....but if you meant which would attract/hold more deer, that may be up for a debate....while food may lure in some deer, cover will hold them, but why would they come to your land simply for cover, if another area has both cover and food.
I'd give them everything they wanted if I was managing some land.
07-08-2008, 05:03 PM
#14
Fork Horn
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: pa soon to be greenup county ky
Posts: 315
RE: do deer like tall grass or mowed grass better?
ORIGINAL: Remnard
Actually deer don't eat eat "grass" very often. When you see a whitetail in a field it is usually browsing on forbs, growing up between the grass shoots, which are native herbaceous tender or soft perennials. Most grasses, unless just starting to grow have a very high lignin (fiber) content and offer very low protein contents.
Often when you do see deer eating grass it is actually a wheat or oat that looks a lot like grass.
As the grass maturesand gets taller it will become very fibrous. if you take a clump of taller mature grass try to rip it. You will see how tough it is. Look at it closely and you will see the fibers sticking out where you tore it. Then take tender new shoots from a newly seeded lawn. It tears very easy and doesn't show those tell tale fibrous strands. deer need about 16% protein in their diets. Corn provides 6%. Grass provides about 2% crude protein. These animals are intelligent or conditioned enough to know what is good for them. They will walk past a mile of red oaks to get to some white oaks. They won't waste their time on most of your common lawn grasses.
Next time you see one feeding, mark the location and walk out there and see what has been nipped off or torn from browsing. I'll bet you that you will find forbs growing up between the garss nipped right off.
Actually deer don't eat eat "grass" very often. When you see a whitetail in a field it is usually browsing on forbs, growing up between the grass shoots, which are native herbaceous tender or soft perennials. Most grasses, unless just starting to grow have a very high lignin (fiber) content and offer very low protein contents.
Often when you do see deer eating grass it is actually a wheat or oat that looks a lot like grass.
As the grass maturesand gets taller it will become very fibrous. if you take a clump of taller mature grass try to rip it. You will see how tough it is. Look at it closely and you will see the fibers sticking out where you tore it. Then take tender new shoots from a newly seeded lawn. It tears very easy and doesn't show those tell tale fibrous strands. deer need about 16% protein in their diets. Corn provides 6%. Grass provides about 2% crude protein. These animals are intelligent or conditioned enough to know what is good for them. They will walk past a mile of red oaks to get to some white oaks. They won't waste their time on most of your common lawn grasses.
Next time you see one feeding, mark the location and walk out there and see what has been nipped off or torn from browsing. I'll bet you that you will find forbs growing up between the garss nipped right off.
07-08-2008, 06:06 PM
#15
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: North East, PA (outside of Erie, PA)
Posts: 769
RE: do deer like tall grass or mowed grass better?
If you talk to a farmer who cuts hay for feed, the most protein is obtained when they cut every 28 days....after the 28 days the protein content decreases rapidly.
So I would think if it wasn't cut like that, then the only attraction for deer would be cover, but not preferred in my opinion
So I would think if it wasn't cut like that, then the only attraction for deer would be cover, but not preferred in my opinion
07-09-2008, 10:15 AM
#17
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 1,462
RE: do deer like tall grass or mowed grass better?
I'd do a mix of both, maybe 85% long, 15% short. Personally, I would make the short grass in the form of shooting lanes. The deer will bed in the tall stuff and when they are beginning to feed for the night they will start off and stretch and do a little feeding in the short stuff. Heck, you could go one step further and turn areasof the short grass into small food plots. Then youu'll have plenty of cover for them to bed and in and food nearby, best of both worlds. I have a buddy who does this and it is amazing how these deer just appear from no where at his food plots.
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