Deer are beautifully adapted so they can survive and fluorish in a wide vary of environments.

From the Hunting and Fishing Library on Whitetailed Deer: "The rumination process allows whitetails to digest a wide variety of plant material. Primarily grazers, deer gain weight quickly during the growing season by consuming grasses, forbs, legumes, agricultural crops (especially corn and soybeans), flowers, nuts, fruits, vegetables, emergent aquatics, mushrooms, winter buds of woody plants, and high-moisture succulents such as cactus."

Beacause deer have no upper front teeth they pinch food off between their lower front teeth and the tire tread roof of their mouth. So BSK you're right, they can't mow grass down like a cow can, but grass is one of their main foods.

Dan O.

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BSK; could you please refer me to your literature sources? There is a section on this website which lists common foods of deer:

http://www.whitetaildeer.com/about/

If you are correct we need to have the lists modified to offer the most accurate information to the public.

Dan O.

Edited by - dan o. on 02/16/2002 10:09:59

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BSK; I've got my information from the Ontario government, Hunting books, this website even the North American Hunting Club includes grass seed in their seed mixture. You may have knowledge that the average person doesn't have access to. If that's the case, then I would hope the moderators would seek out that information so they could have the most accurate site possible.

I've learned a great deal from this site and I believe that it has helped many people to avoid repeating others mistakes.

Dan O.

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ok guys back to the question. does salt actually help deer. ive heard people say the deer need salt to help digest food and ive also heard it provides them with everything they need. then there are the people that say it does very little for the animal itself. i am not talking about mineral mixes, just plain salt. ive heard ofpeople using everything from table salt to rock salt to water softener salt. can to much salt have harmful effects on the deer?

St. Croix is putting out a mixture that is high in calcium and phosporus. This would seem to be the best route.

Dan O.

From what I've gathered in my studies - Plain salt is craved by most animals, and trace amounts are indeed beneficial to animals by providing Na+, or K+ and Cl- for cell metabolism. In most ranges, the ions provided by salt exist naturally in sufficient quantities to allow for a healthy deer herd. I understand that lactating does can benefit from excess salt (NaCl) in their diets, and is often seen when salt licks are hit especially hard in May and June. Milk quantities are increased as a result of increased water intake and excretion.

That being said, too much salt can indeed be harmful to deer, and other animals. The primary knock on salt is that it causes deer to drink more water (just like it does for a person). Food consumption decreases as much as 20%, because the digestive track is full. On poor ranges, this can be a problem because the needed quantities food required to obtain the correct nutritional balance is cut down. An argument can be made that on good ranges, with excess nutrients, additional salt does not hurt anything. But...my feeling is why would you want to limit the feeding potential of your herd??

My advice...Yes provide good mineral supplements year round for the deer... Increase the Salt content to 30-40% in the fawning months, then go back to a 10-20% salt content for the rest of the year. The salt in your mineral mix is important to bring the deer to your lick - but do not over do it.

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