beaverboy687

I was reading an article about feeding deer corn the other day and thay were saying it the worst thing you can do because it casues death within 72 hours of them eating a large amount. IMO i think this is a bunch of bolony! How many of you guys out there feed deer corn.. or put corn in front of your cameras and yet you still see those same deer come back right? So what do you guys think FACT Or FICTION on this?

Terasec

Think there is some factual science behind it.
Might be a northern issue,
As in winter deer physiology changes to be able to digest different foods in harsh winters,
When this occurs there are some studies showing deer can't digest corn normally and toxins can build up and kill then.
How much corn, and what stage in winter this can happen I don't know, but there are a few studies that validate what you mentioned.

jsk1968

I find it hard to believe, I think the farmers around here would agree. The Deer literally live in the corn fields. Actually running out just in front in the combine. The other day a farmer actually got one caught up in the combine harvest head. The state issues crop damage permits and gives hunters an early start on August 15, Doe only. The Deer here eat alot of corn and I dont see any falling over dead from it. I myself bait one spot 50lbs. a week and it's gone every Saturday. All my deer look very healthy and full of energy. In my area that info just doesn't hold any weight.

White-tail-deer

http://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/...nce/14324.html

RockinGlock

Guess all the deer in Missouri, Iowa etc should be extinct by now eh? Sounds like a liberal trying to write an article freaking the good sportsman like hunters out..

bandgod

There is science behind it, but if a deer has enough food besides corn to eat it is pretty much a non-issue. In the North as someone mentioned, deer yard up and sometimes will eat all available browse. If all they have to eat is corn it can become a problem. I've seen the feces of the deer around here that eat mainly corn...it's like someone has diarrhia, certainly not a healthy looking thing. Mos tof our deer survive because there is plenty of low browse in the form of blackberry brambles and maple twigs. Every year we have several deer that do die even though there is plenty of corn in the cornfield for them to eat. It seems like i find more carcasses in the years when we have corn on our property than I do when there is beans. Of course that could be because the deer congragate and then the coyotes come too. But I do believe that a deer that eats ONLY corn is not a healthy deer and on the road to death. As for baiting with it, the deer find other browse.

j76

From what i gather.... again, at least here in the north, corn is like candy to a deer. They love the stuff and eat it all they can. but it has very little nutritional value, especially in the winter months. So i guess if it's all they have to eat it could be a bad thing.

Gunplummer

Terasec is correct. It is a northern thing. Hay is also a killer in the dead of winter when their metabolic clocks slow down. The Pa Game Commission has warned clubs and people about it as far back as I can remember.