My neighbor' s son plans on growing pumpkins (and gourds) on a 2 acre piece with-in a few hundred yards of my house. It used to be corn which the deer loved. Do they like pumpkins--and/or gourds?

Yes, deer will eat pumpkins. Don`t know about gourds.

Oh no!My cousin was going to plant them NOT for the deer.May make a great food plot anyway.LOL

bob; not to disput you post,but deer will not eat punkins or gourds.
I plant punkins every year,last year I picked 150 that I sold.some we keep for our use and for friends,probley had over 200.
they are grown in the hunting club every year,it it low grown,rich,and moist.I plant where they bed and plant the pine trees,I just plant on there beds.
the deer walk all through the vines,but never touch any of the punkins.
they don' t eat any thing that has the little stickers(fuze) or what ever you want to call them on the vines.

I have dipper and bushel gourds planted also,never had them bother any of them.

Deer will eat the inside of a pumpkin. Our neighbor dumps all of the pumpkins he does not sell in the corner of a field. Every year the deer smash open the pumpkins and eat the inside. Ohh, there was snow on the ground so we could see all of the deer tracks
2 years ago another farm had a hole pumpkin patch destroyed in a weekend. this was about 5 acres. He even called the game commision. They told him he could sit out in the field and shoot a deer a day.
eddie

Deer will absolulely eat pumpkins. The thing is that its like many things deer eat..........timing is critical! Pumpkins are eaten very late when many pumpkins are starting to rot. Most people pick the pumpkins way before the deer would ever touch them. You might only have a week maybe 2 weeks in your lucky.

Good Luck!!

They will eat turnips too.

Tree climber, not to dispute your post, but it looks like everyone else agrees with me.

Deer can also ruin a watermelon patch. They will punch holes with their hooves, lick out the juices, then go to a anmother and repeat. Don' t want the whole melon, just a drink. But they can mess up a bunch of them.

I guess the deer in my ares just don' t like punkins.
I have planted them in our hunting club for the last few years,and have never had a punkin touched by a deer.there are deer tracks all around the vines.
they last all winter,I start picking the week of thanksgiving and finisn when the vines die ih Jan.last year I had some stay in the woods till the rotted.

I' m glad they don' t like them here in my area of Fla.