What the HAY!?!?!

[gundog870]

So guys what is the deal with deer hitting the hayfields as hard as they did this year? I have never seen this before. Always on the corn, was it because of the ice or what?

Also are they still hitting it for you. Everything wen dry friday night. I am in trouble!!

 

[Earl E. November]

I know here in Nebraska it has been a strange year for snow cover.
Normally all of our snow lays in piles and most of the terrain is blown clear.. With about a foot of flat crusted snow on everything, my deer have been feeding heavily on all types of secondary browse I normally don't see.. Hedge apples, locust beans etc. We haven't had any snow for a while and areas are opening up around the bases of many trees exposing small patches of grass. .The deer just move from tree to tree feeding on the little islands. I am guessing all of this is easier than digging thru the crusted snow for the corn that is left.

 

[Highmark]

I agree! I usually see them hit the beans hard after they've been picked but this year they have stayed on the alfalfa and continue to do so. On my fields the farmer who rented it cut the third crop of hay pretty early so and with the warm wet sept oct it was really long and looked like it could be cut again. All the neighboring fields were cut very short again in mid oct and I've seen maybe 25% of the deer I usually do in them. My field looks like a cattle yard. I know it depends on the weather but I will be talking to my renter to make sure if possible this schedule happens every year.

 

[Earl E. November]

Nothing hotter for deer than a fourth cutting of alfalfa in a remote area