A deer diet question

[grizzly63]

I was out Muzzy hunting yesterday and I saw quite a few deer. None with horns of course. I like watching the decoys anyway. This lead doe which happened to be the biggest among them was the closest one. They were coming out of a wooded river bottom and into some conservation reserve grass. 2/3rd of the deer seem to be browsing on grasses. The big lead doe was doing this really weird stuff. Putting her head straight back, nose straight up and then moving it around in weird motions. It finally dawned on me she was nipping the cottonwood saplings in the grass, starting from the top and working her way down. Never seemed to eat any grass at all. There are no leaves left on any of the saplings so I could not actually see them, I just know they are there from passing through. For a little background, there is only one small plot of standing corn on a public area which I would guess is pretty well picked clean by now. It is probably 3/4 mile away from where I was. All the surrounding ag fields were harvested, and most have had field work done with not a lot of food left on the surface. The only nice thing about strong winds is it blows the snow off the fields. Plenty of pheasants out there in the fields so there has to be some food left. Are the saplings a good food source or is this an indication of problems before spring gets here? The deer are moving early and maybe browsing all day.

 

[Gellar]

I was out Muzzy hunting yesterday and I saw quite a few deer. None with horns of course. I like watching the decoys anyway. This lead doe which happened to be the biggest among them was the closest one. They were coming out of a wooded river bottom and into some conservation reserve grass. 2/3rd of the deer seem to be browsing on grasses. The big lead doe was doing this really weird stuff. Putting her head straight back, nose straight up and then moving it around in weird motions. It finally dawned on me she was nipping the cottonwood saplings in the grass, starting from the top and working her way down. Never seemed to eat any grass at all. There are no leaves left on any of the saplings so I could not actually see them, I just know they are there from passing through. For a little background, there is only one small plot of standing corn on a public area which I would guess is pretty well picked clean by now. It is probably 3/4 mile away from where I was. All the surrounding ag fields were harvested, and most have had field work done with not a lot of food left on the surface. The only nice thing about strong winds is it blows the snow off the fields. Plenty of pheasants out there in the fields so there has to be some food left. Are the saplings a good food source or is this an indication of problems before spring gets here? The deer are moving early and maybe browsing all day.

If I plant a tree in my yard a deer will walk a 1/4 mile from the woods through corn to eat my new tree.

 

[Treeshark]

Are the saplings a good food source or is this an indication of problems before spring gets here?

Assuming this was a whitetail, I’ve read that their diet shifts to roughly 60% woody browse in the winter.

 

[CowboyLeroy]

Deer are strange. Kind of like cows, they know what they're looking for. If she's selecting those little twigs there must be some particular nutrient in there she wants or needs.

 

[Gellar]

Another thing about deer doing weird stuff. When we were building our house if there was fresh dirt exposed from digging or grading or anything deer would be in that fresh dirt within an hour after the last truck left. I always surmised they were licking the fresh minerals that were exposed.

 

[raghornbull]

Deer do have selective tastes and they need higher quality food than elk that focus on bunch grass. Those tender buds and newly sprouted trees/plants are higher nutrient value for them and they know it.
Deer and beaver near my house definitely have selective tastes as well.
Figured out pretty quick that the beaver love the western red cedar and had to protect them near the base.