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Daver

Daver

PMA Member
Just an FYI regarding the pull of fresh browse. We live on the edge of town and from time to time there will be deer in our side yard (apple tree) and around our yard some too. We lost a bunch of branches off of some of our trees the other day in that ice storm, mainly off of a big maple in the front yard, but also off of a Chinese Elm in the back yard and also a biggie off of the apple tree in the side yard. Harrumph!

I have not yet dealt with these branches, so they are laying out there. Last night after dark, two deer casually walked into the back yard and started chowing down on the fresh browse on the Chinese Elm. Had they not tripped the motion light on the back of my shop, thereby lighting themselves up, I don't think I would have known that they were there.

At any rate, I was reminded of the great draw of fresh browse and while I often drop a scurvy tree, or two, or three, on my farm just for fresh browse each year, seeing those deer tiptoe into my back yard last night was a great reminder of how important woody browse is.
 
Daver said:
I was reminded of the great draw of fresh browse
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How true, best thing to do rather than put out corn or other grains which can cause them issues this time of year. I trim back apples trees in February every year and spread the cut limbs and branches around. They'll be browsing the buds off in a matter of no time.
 
Bucksnbears said:
X2 true!

Both elm and boxelder throw stump sprouts like a mofo. Deer candy.

Maybe not mature bucks, but...
Deer in general will gravitate to most (new) disturbances in their core area.

An ice storm that brings down even small branches can become a magnet.

Good topic Daver.
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Thank you. Something I thought of later...how did those deer find those downed branches? I am virtually certain that they came into the back yard with the idea to get those branches, yet we have never fed deer in the yard and the closest they have been in our yard feeding is about 30 yards away when the apple tree is dropping fruit. So they can't be used to feeding there AND it has been 5-7 weeks since the apples got cleaned up and the deer haven't been in the immediate area for quite awhile..

So, did they see those branches...in the dark? Or did they smell them? I would guess smell, but it intrigues me that they calmly walked around a chain link fence and walked through an open gate and went right to the limbs and started nibbling. It's like they knew where they were going. Weird.
 
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