Dr. Leonard Lee Rue III, in his book, The Deer of North America, (Lyons Press, 1999) provides a detailed description of the dietary preferences and foraging habits of deer. Rue points out that deer, like cattle, are ruminants, with four-chambered stomachs. Ruminants are able to consume large quantities of low-protein foods quickly, and then chew and digest them slowly. This permits deer to limit the amount of time when they must let down their guard against predators and feed in relatively open places.
During the summer months, deer forage on non-grass plants and leaves. When apples mature and drop to the ground, deer add fruit to their diets. They will also feed on farm crops, and suburban gardeners often wake to find that dining deer have devoured their plantings. However, according to Rue, deer will forsake most other food sources for their favorite food, the acorns of the White Oak.
White Oak and Red Oak Acorns Are Food for Deer
Although deer will eat Red Oak acorns, they much prefer those from the White Oak, as they contain less tannin and are less bitter in taste. Acorns are high in fat and carbohydrates, but low in protein. But, in years when the mast crop is plentiful, deer have no difficulty finding acorns in great enough quantities to provide adequate protein to their diets.
White Oak trees produce heavy crops only once every few years. Red Oaks, however, produce heavily every other year, effectively filling in when White Oak acorns are scarcer. Although deer prefer the sweeter White Oak acorns, they can readily digest other varieties.
Location and Quantity of Mast Crops Affect Deer Movement
After locating areas where White Oak acorns lie plentifully on the ground, the hunter must determine how deer will be likely to approach the feeding area. Deer are instinctively aware of their vulnerability while feeding, so they tend to feed, then take a few steps before putting their heads down to feed some more. The deer will prefer to face into the wind, in order to detect the scent of any predator that may approach.
Theories about what triggers the estrus cycle of does include amount of sunlight, phases of the moon, and falling temperatures. The dropping of acorns to the ground, providing a boost of high-fat, high-carbohydrate nutrition, has also been put forth as a primary factor that sets the rut in motion. Once the rut is underway, bucks will enter the seeking phase, covering more territory and providing hunters with more opportunities for good shots at trophy deer.
Wildlife photographer and writer, Tommy Kirkland, writes in his article, “Deer’s Quality Nutrition: Hard Mast Consumption” (Ohio Valley Outdoors, November – December 2009) that “These high energy foods can really enhance the rut, causing a large number of females to be receptive to rut crazed bucks traversing the land.”
The image of “rut crazed bucks traversing the land” is enough to make any deer hunter eager to be up in the tree stand with bow or gun in hand. Scouting the territory and selecting a place with White Oak acorns on the ground might be the secret to getting a shot at the biggest, wariest deer in the woods.
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