Deer Feeding, is it worth it???

[LandDr]

Ha...I always find those statements from DNR or other organizations kinda funny.  Do they really think deer will just eat one thing?  

Deer have a very diverse diet and they know what they need to eat...the species would have been extinct a long time ago if they just gorged on one thing and died.  If there is a field of standing corn...do the deer just stand in that field and gorge on corn until they die?  Of course not...they scratch up some greens, nip off some browse and so on.  Same with the hay.

Now, if your deer were in a fence and did not have access to other forages, that would be like my mom's horses when I was growing up and would require being "given" a diverse diet.

But our deer are not in a fence and they are smart enough to get a diverse diet.

I have always thought that putting out a few round bales of hay would be a great food source for deer thru the winter.  A couple years ago the farmer to the west of me left about 4 round bales on our fence line...they were almost gone by the next spring!  There were deer trails coming out of my place in all directions going right for those bales.  Pretty cost effective food source for them as well.  I didn't see any deer laying dead by the bales from eating too much hay though.  

If you have a winter core area on your property and think the food sources might be a little low for the winter, get some hay squares to put out...your deer will thank you.  But don't put out food just to attract deer to your property for the sake of attracting them in the winter...you might actually pull them away from better winter habitat...which can do more harm than good.