Whitetail Deer Feed

Some have asked us what type of whitetail deer feed that we put in our deer feeders. Since our feeders are just a supplement to the natural forage, we use whole corn year round. In the winter we often use a few bags of deer feed pellets to help boost their protein intake through the sparse winter months. We put this out in separate trough feeders since we didn’t want it broadcast out onto the wet ground.

There is some writing in books and magazines that decry the feeding of corn as whitetail deer feed. It is said that they do not digest corn properly. We fed corn to deer before I had ever read these warnings and had not noticed any problems. I also know that whitetail deer feed on field corn, much to the dismay of farmers. I have also read forums on deer farming websites where I found that corn was part of the mixture that they used as whitetail deer feed.

It is my opinion that they are both right. If you have penned deer, a diet of corn alone would probably be very harmful, or if you provided a large enough quantity that a deer could founder itself. On the other hand, as a supplement to natural forage corn provides carbohydrates that are an excellent energy source.

I had always thought that it was the field corn that helped the farm belt deer grow so big. I have realized that it is a combination of good quality forages that produce these deer. If farming is similar throughout, which I think that it is, there are other crops rotated with the corn from year to year. Both alfalfa and clover are rotated with corn in the fields that I drive by; two great protein sources as whitetail deer feed. These bucks get the best of both worlds in protein and carbohydrates. In addition, these fields are very large, not just the small plots that we deer hunter’s plant. The deer in these areas have large quantities of good high quality forage.

With our little piece of deer hunting land we try to give the deer a similar variety of whitetail deer feed. We grow food plots and add a small amount of whole corn as well as maintaining other open spaces for natural forages to grow.
There are several varieties of deer feed available today. You can purchase different brands of deer feed at local feed supply stores. We often buy ours at the local Tractor Supply.

We always wondered exactly what was eating the feed that we put out for deer. If we were just feeding the varmints we didn't want to waste our money so we put a digital game camera on our feeders. We were pleased to find that it was in fact deer that came to the feed. The picture below is of a doe and button buck that visited the feeders. It wasn't until the last weeks of March that we started getting pictures of raccoons at these feeders.

We will probably continue to feed them in the winter as long as most of the visitors are deer.

Leave Whitetail Deer Feed and visit the Whitetail Deer Management Page.