what do deer like to eat?

[mrszrw]

early this morning I saw two deer in front of my house. We have a big open field across the street from us. (no need to worry about traffic and deer in the road only 5 house on my street then a dead end) I would like to encourge the deer to come closer for the kids to be able to see them more. What kind of plants/bushes should I plant. How about a salt lick?

Thanks

 

[noodleknitter]

Deer are dangerous. I wouldn't encourage them to come closer to your home and kids.

 

[slo]

We have alot of deer that come by my house and we love them!!!!

We always keep a salt lick out for them, and they do use it sometimes.

We also go to the feed store and get some corn on the cob and put it out sometimes this time of year for a treat for them. We don't put it out all the time because we don't want to mess with their natural eating habits.

They are wonderful, peaceful animals to watch

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I do have to echo that deer are dangerous and can kill you. Training them to come close to your house is not a good idea.
Get some binoculars.
They freak out and come through the glass and they have razor sharp hooves.
Not too mention the fact it is hunting season and people are not supposed to kill them in certain spots but well...you know. Have to be careful.

Now if you want to put something in the field to encourage them you could go buy some deer food...saw it on sale at WalMart.

 

[swanmom]

I love wildlife, too, but please consider noodleknitter's advice when deciding how 'close' to encourage the deer to come. Not only will they eat the plants you want them to eat but they'll eat most of the rest of your landscaping (even plants you love) as well. More importantly, they carry ticks and ticks with lyme disease and can be dangerous.

 

[noodleknitter]

Thanks TMM! Binoculars are a great idea!

For the deers benefit, don't put out feed until after hunting season.

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

I've always heard basically deers are like big rodents. They can get into trash & ruin your landscaping. I wouldn't incourage them to get too close.

 

[pumba]

I am a hunter and have seen deer in action......do not encourage them to come close to your home.......they do have ticks and your kids or animals can go out and get those deer ticks......just caution

 

[ktglads]

They will eat anything and everything. If you encourage the deer to come closer to your house you will lose not only that bush but a lot of your shrubbery. You have to love when you have flowers that are just stems since the deer pick off the flowers and the leaves. Plus there are always those lovely presents that the deer leave behind....

Oh, and I hope you don't park your cars in your driveway. I have seen them run into parked cars and leave significant damage.

 

[kaysmommie]

My mom feeds the Deer in her yard, (it is over 2 acres) for years now. The only reason she did this is because one female had a broken leg and had a little baby to feed. Long story short no ASPCA would help her unless she brought the deer there herself. Her other option would be let them shoot her and that is not and option for her. Anyway they are scared of people and no one has been hurt by them. But they stay toward the way back of the yard, which is good and they leave if we come out. We all love to watch them from the windows.
She feeds them some kind of Deer feed that is mostly corn and pellets. Also they like apples cut up and watermelon rind, or even pumpkin rind. Be careful (wild animals) but in our case they are scared of people and nothing but gentle. The Deer are far back in her yard and they use binoculars to see them. If someone tries to hunt my mom's deer near her house they are gonna get it big time . She loves watching all the wildlife in her yard.

 

[noodleknitter]

A scared animal is a dangerous animal. Deer are very large animals that behave like deer, and not like people...Bambi. It isn't a matter of being mean or gentle.

 

[mrszrw]

Oh I dont want them to come to close I was thinking about my kids see them from a window not up close.

thanks for the advice!

 

[reeeoga]

You can plant Beans, corn, and alfalfa (if you can find it). Try putting the plants at a safe distance from any homes (over 200 feet). This will let the Deer come close enough to see well, but far enough away to be safe (unless you get close to them, stay away).

Stay away from a Deer, a 90 pound Deer can kick very hard, especially if it is protecting its kid.

 

[ducklite]

They love hostas and daffodils. Both will easily naturalize and do well in a mixture of sun and shade. The also both make nice borders around the far edges of your yard. I would plant those and add a salt lick as far from your house as possible so you can see the deer but not attract them too close.

When I lived in NJ we had deer in the yard. They were attracted very close to the house by daffs and hostas. I didn't want them five feet from my windows, I had visions of them being spooked by the neighborhood kids or a dog and going right through the picture window or slider.

So I divided the hostas and planted them and some daff bulbs back by the wooded are we backed up to, and then sprayed the plants near my house with a mixture of cayanne pepper and water--that is a natural repellant that won't harm them, your plants, or any pets or kids who happen upon it.

That way they had their own salad bowl in an area 40 feet from my house--a safe distance but we could still watch them. Everybody was happy!

Anne

 

[TinkandAriel]

I've lived in deer country my entire life, and it never ocurred to me that deer are dangerous. Alright, they are wild animals and need to be treated as such. However, I'm more nervous of the thousand pound moose that hangs out around my house. I live on 125 acres and there's thousands of acres of nothing but woods behind my house, we have 5 deer that hang around. My front yard (aka field) is a playground for the fawns, I get to watch them grow and play all summer long. That being said, every one of the deer are skittish and the minute they hear a thing they bound off into the woods.
Now, salt licks are sort of a no-no per se, as they don't really need the salt until the time of year they are growing their antlers. Here at the grain store they sell blocks of deer feed, but be advised, that if you start feeding two or three deer, by the end of the winter you'll be feeding twenty or thirty deer (they get on their deer hotline and tell each other about it, I guess lol). Also know that once you start feeding them you MUST continue feeding them til spring because it disrupts their natural instinct to forage or whatnot and they come to expect the food being there.
Hope this helps

 

[Meriweather]

They have even come into our yard with a lot of people... on July 4th.
They eat leaves off our trees and our tulips Grass.
My aunt feeds them. I think hay....but not sure.

 

[DVC-Don]

It is illegal to feed deer here and they already do enough damage to our shrubs without trying to find something they'd like to eat. We need more hunters.

 

[Deb in IA]

They are wonderful, peaceful animals to watch

I would disagree.

This story was reported just this past Sunday:

Deer Attacks, Kills His Owner in N.Y.
New York Man Killed by Buck He Kept Penned Up on His Property; Details Unavailable

ELLENBURG, N.Y. Nov 12, 2006 (AP)— A deer being kept in a pen attacked and killed his owner Sunday, state police said.

The buck that killed Ronald Donah, 43, was among about a half dozen deer penned up on his property in Ellenburg, about 180 miles north of Albany, said state Trooper Joseph House.

Details of Donah's injuries and what may have prompted the attack were not available Sunday.

Maureen Wren, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said Donah had a license to keep the white tail deer on his property but did not know why he was doing so.

She said deer attacks, at least in the wild, are extremely rare.

Donah was taken to CVPH Medical Center in Plattsburgh, where he died. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.

 

[Deb in IA]

And here's another incident from the spring:

Deer Attack Three at Ill. University
Deer Attack Three at Southern Illinois University, a Year After Seven Were Attacked

By JIM SUHR

CARBONDALE, Ill. May 24, 2006 (AP)— A year after the normally docile creatures attacked seven people on a university campus here, the deer have turned bullish again.

Three people were attacked by deer within minutes of each other Tuesday on a footpath at Southern Illinois University, police said Wednesday. One doe probably was responsible for all three attacks, said Todd Sigler, the school's public safety chief.

One worker needed stitches for a gash on his forehead, another suffered cuts, bruises and a sprained wrist, and a student was left with a scratched jaw. Two of the victims sought medical treatment.

This week's incidents came earlier in fawning season than last year's attacks, which officials attributed to a combination of protective motherly instinct, squeezed habitat and, in some cases, people trying to approach fawns. There was no indication that anyone hurt Tuesday had provoked the deer, Sigler said.

"It's bothersome," Sigler said. "We certainly appreciate the deer, and we don't want to get rid of them. At the same time, we don't want people getting injured. It's a difficult situation."

SIU officials last week launched a public-awareness campaign to implore anyone on the 20,000-student campus to watch out for deer, to not approach the animals and, if a wild-eyed deer starts bounding their way, run.

"The options explained to us last year relocating the deer, tranquilizing them, thinning them out (through controlled hunts) all come with a downside," Sigler said. "We're going to try this education approach first and see what happens."

 

[kaysmommie]

It is illegal to feed deer here and they already do enough damage to our shrubs without trying to find something they'd like to eat. We need more hunters.

Maybe we should hunt some people since we are so overpopulated!