Do white tail deer eat acorns?

Many hunters depend on food plots to attract the deer they want to harvest, yet some fail to realize just how important acorns are to whitetails. Acorns, when abundant, are both. They are easy for deer to find and preferred as a food source. In fact, acorns are the preferred food source of white-tailed deer.

Do deer eat acorns shell and all?

Are you asking about the shells or the caps? My unscientific opinion is that deer eat the acorn shells, caps and all. They ain’t picky! If you find a lot of caps laying around, it is the squirrels at work there.

What is the white-tailed deer’s favorite food?

“What do deer eat?”, is a common question posed by deer hunters. This page goes through some of the naturally occurring foods that are favorites of the whitetail deer. Nuts are the most preferred foods for deer. They eat acorns, beechnuts, hickory nuts and pecans.

Do deer eat acorns when they are green?

Yes they’ll eat green acorns if they can reach them.

How long do deer feed on acorns?

Deer will consume acorns as long as they are good. White oak acorns tend to rot to germinate by mid winter. Acorns from red oaks have a higher acid content which allows them to remain eatable longer. Some red oaks may remain eatable until early spring.

Which acorns do deer prefer?

White Oak acorns
Generally speaking, White Oak acorns have the lowest tannic acid levels which provide them with a sweeter flavor over Red Oak acorns. Thus this nut is what deer prefer when available and will continue to consume them throughout the year while they are still edible.

What time of year do deer eat acorns?

When hunting over acorns, white oak acorns are definitely preferred. Find the acorns and often you’ll find the deer gorging on these tasty morsels. That period from late September through the first week or two of October is often called the October lull.

What kind of acorns do deer eat?

white oak
Just as acorns are the preferred deer food in autumn, white oak are the preferred acorns. Deer judge acorn taste, and subsequent preference by the level of tannic acid in the nut. White Oak acorns have the least tannic acid and the large rock oak the highest content.

Do deer eat acorns in winter?

Acorns fall off oak trees during the fall, but if they are still on the ground during the winter, deer will find them. Acorns are high in carbohydrates and fats.

Which acorns do whitetail deer prefer?

So with White Oak acorns being preferred, Red Oak acorns falling later and slower they become a solid food source for whitetail deer in the late season. Red Oak acorns take 24 months to mature, so there will only be a crop every other year.

Do deer like water oak acorns?

Water Oak The water oak produces high yields of acorns. So while the taste is bitter, the abundance is there and the acorns will help carry deer through the winter months. This is critical when acorns from the white oak group are long gone.

Do deer eat acorns?

Deer will consume acorns as long as they are good. White oak acorns tend to rot to germinate by mid winter. Acorns from red oaks have a higher acid content which allows them to remain eatable longer.

Do whitetail deer eat chestnuts?

Whitetail deer mostly love to eat two types of nuts like chestnuts and acorns. Although deer eat both but prefer chestnuts to acorns. However, both serve different nutrition requirements for Whitetail deer. They prefer to eat nuts on acorns because nuts are low tannins plants and easy to digest.

What do white tailed deer eat in the wild?

White-tailed deer eat the following types of food: Browse: young leaves, tender shoots and twigs, plants and vines. Forbs: weeds. Legumes: pulses. Grasses: hay, Spanish moss. Nuts, acorns. Fruits. Corn, grain.

Do deer eat poisonous plants?

Although it may come as a surprise, among the food white-tailed deer eat we can find poisonous plants that would harm other animals – such as ourselves. Acorns and oak leaves are very rich in tannin, but these deer eat them anyway.