Favored Food Sources for Whitetail Deer

As mentioned in the previous chapter, Whitetail Deer have been recorded eating over six hundred different species of plants! Plus, because the foliage varies from location to location and habitat to habitat and even with the time of year, deer in any given location may or may not consume the same types of forage. Therefore, the first step to understanding deer foods is to be aware that it is classified as either "browse" or "mast" and the difference between the two types of deer foods are that browse is defined as annual and perennial plant species such as wheat, rye, millet, milo, corn, clover, beans, peas, ect. as well as the buds and bark of certain species of trees and, Mast is defined as fruit and nuts that fall from the trees in the late Fall season as well as fruits that grow on vines. Thus, below you will find charts of some of the common foods that Whitetail Deer eat throughout the year.

Spring Food Sources For Whitetail Deer - During the spring Whitetail Deer are often found around open areas such as clear cuts, burned areas, and meadows where new growth first begins to appear.
Spring Woody Plants		Spring Forbs		Spring Crops		Spring Fruits		Spring Nuts
Red maple	Blackberry	Dandelion	Trefoil	Clover
Elm	Trumpet	Fleabane	Wild clover	Winter wheat
Willow	Strawberry bush	Spring beauty	Lespedeza
Azalea	New Jersey tea	Fungi	Violet
Sassafras	Grape	Wild Strawberry	Wild pea
Dogwood	Black gum	Aster	Trout lily
Red Cedar	Greenbrier	Spiderwort	Jewelweed
Hydrangea	Poison Ivy
Honeysuckle	Blueberry
Deerberry
Summer Food Sources for Whitetail Deer - Summer is the most abundant season for Whitetail Deer food sources but, there can be problems. For instance, during dry years or, on crowded deer ranges, the plant species that deer prefer to feed on can suffer the same fate that farmer's crops often do. Thus, the months of June, July, and August can be particularly stressful due to heat and/or drought conditions that can adversely affect the plant species the Whitetail Deer feed on.
Summer Woody Plants		Summer Forbs		Summer Crops		Summer Fruits		Summer Nuts
Red maple	Dewberry	Wild lettuce	Pokeweed	Vegetable crops	Soybeans	Huckleberry	Blackberry
Honeysuckle	Sassafras	Jewelweed	Legumes			Dewberry
Sumac	Hawthorn	Asters	Violet
Rose	Blackberry	Ragweed	Wild strawberry
Elm	Greenbrier	Skullcap	Spurge
Hydrangea	Dogwood	Petunia	Sunflower
Cinquefoil	Grape	Fungi	Lespedeza
Trumpet	Horse mint	Goldenrod
creeper	French mulberry
Fall Food Sources for Whitetail Deer - Fall is a critical time for Whitetail Deer since it represents the close of the bounty of food that has sustained them throughout the Summer. Therefore, during the Fall, deer must consume foods high in carbohydrates in order to store fat for the coming Winter months as well as to provide the energy necessary for mating.
Fall Woody Plants		Fall Forbs		Fall Crops		Fall Fruits		Fall Nuts
Oaks	Black gum	Composites	Pussy’s toes	Wheat	Soybean	Persimmon	Apples	Acorns	Hickory nuts
Hawthorn	Greenbrier	Wild lettuce	Beggar’s lice	Rye grass	Clover	Grapes	Muscadines	beechnuts
Jessamine	French mulberry	Bellflower	Pokeweed	Sorghum	Millet	Pokeweed berries	Autumn Olive berries
Blackberry	Rose			Corn		Mayapples	Maypops
Honeysuckle						Common Pawpaw	White Oak Acorns
Winter Food Sources for Whitetail Deer - As winter approaches, many of the plant species that Whitetail Deer feed on tend to die back and thus, available food sources become very limited. Therefore, the availability of food during the Winter months is often a limiting factor of both the health and size of deer herds because deer require more energy to maintain their body temperature during Winter.
Winter Woody Plants		Winter Forbs		Winter Crops		Winter Fruits		Winter Nuts
Dogwood	Blueberry	Sedges	Pussy’s toes	Wheat	Clover	Coralberry	Sumac seedheads
Strawberry bush	Honeysuckle			Rye grass
Black gum	Privet
Jessamine	Sassafras
Willow	Sumac
Red cedar	Oaks

Last, the plants that Whitetail Deer eat can be classed as “preferred”, “common”, or “emergency” food sources with preferred plant species being the most nutritious whereas, common food species are consumed during shortages of more nutritious food plants and, consumption of emergency food plants is often an indicator that deer are too plentiful in a given area for the amount of food available.

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