| Some mistakes which the hunters do are that they | | | | palatable deer food is during the hunting season. This |
| always wait the deer in the places they were eating | | | | varies from place to place and from year to year and |
| previously. In this article you will learn that the deer | | | | must be determined in each place and in each season. |
| can eat in various places. This is because their foods | | | | Here in Maine, when we have a beechnut year, most |
| are seasonal and they have similar foods to what the | | | | of the deer abandon other food and flock to the |
| sheep and goats eats. The deer changes their | | | | beech ridges. |
| feeding places according to the availability of foods. | | | | Deer even travel several miles from their home range |
| One of the many things that a hunter should know | | | | in search of this food and, if not disturbed by |
| about deer is their feeding habits and the food, which | | | | hunters, do not always return to their home range |
| they eat. A deer, like any animal, needs to eat to live. | | | | between feeding periods. On other years, they |
| The hunter who looks for these animals in an area | | | | depend on acorns, apples, browse and plants that |
| where there is no food available is wasting his time. | | | | have not been destroyed by frost. There is no hard |
| Deer resemble sheep and goats in the food, which | | | | and fast rule that can be used, but careful |
| they eat. Like goats, they like the coarse fibered | | | | observation on the first day of a hunt should give a |
| plants and bushes. Like the sheep, they prefer the | | | | man some idea of what the deer are feeding on. |
| broad-leafed plants and weeds to the narrow-leafed | | | | What deer eat is not as important as when they eat |
| grasses. They like many cultivated crops as well as | | | | it. Most hunters know that deer feed twice a day, |
| many berries, fruits and nuts. Most of their foods are | | | | night and morning, but many men waste a lot of time |
| seasonal. This is the reason why it might not be wise | | | | watching feeding areas at a time when there is little |
| to look for deer in the same place they were seen | | | | chance of a deer visiting them. I have seen deer |
| feeding a month previously. | | | | feeding as late as nine o'clock in the morning and as |
| Every year we hear people remarking about the | | | | early as three o'clock in the afternoon, but this is |
| ability of deer to know when the hunting season is | | | | unusual and it is a waste of time to watch these |
| about to open; how they leave their usual haunts at | | | | places between these hours except in times of |
| about this time. Yet people never seem to realize | | | | inclement weather. Deer seem to be very |
| that the hunting season is usually preceded by | | | | weather-conscious and will sometimes feed just |
| several frosts that kill vegetation upon which the | | | | before a storm and sometimes during a light warm |
| deer have been feeding and that they are forced to | | | | rain. They seldom feed during a bad storm unless |
| change their location in order to find sufficient | | | | they are feeding on browse in a heavily wooded |
| palatable food. Of course, the rutting season and the | | | | area that provides good cover, such as a cedar |
| presence of bird and rabbit hunters in the woods at | | | | swamp. |
| this time of year have an upsetting effect on a | | | | Traveling several miles to search for food can change |
| deer's nervous system; nevertheless, the change of | | | | the locations of the deer. They vary from place to |
| feeding grounds is the most important reason for | | | | place and year to year. So before going for hunting |
| their change of location. | | | | for the deer, you must be aware of what kinds of |
| It is not necessary for the hunter to know each and | | | | food do they eat and where can you find them and |
| every plant and bush that deer eat, but it is desirable | | | | in which seasons of the year. This will definitely help |
| for him to know what the most abundant and | | | | you to locate the deer better. |