Feeding Corn to Deer During the Late Season
Filed under: Ask Grant, Deer Biology
I love your show and the way you are not just killing deer, but managing them.
I’ve been hearing a lot about not putting out corn and corn piles for the deer later in the year. People are saying the deer can’t break it down and they burn more energy then they get. Is this true?
Thanks for the shows,
Joe
Joe,
Deer don’t really digest any foods. They ingest the food, and then bacteria in their rumen (gut) digest the foods. These populations of bacteria are somewhat specific to the type of food they breakdown. For example, if deer haven’t had access to corn, the bacteria that digest starching foods will significantly decrease in population. If a deer ingests a lot of corn while the appropriate bacteria populations are low, the corn can’t be digested and the deer will die with a tummy full of corn.
If the deer haven’t been consuming corn, then either don’t start or start feeding only very small amounts. The deer will literally have to grow the appropriate bacteria before gaining any benefit from the corn.
Growing Deer together,
Grant
