Deer remembering food sources?

I put a new food plot in this year underneath an apple tree the deer love on my property. The plot is planted in WTI bowstand and the apple tree is the only one in this area. I had three nice buck and some doe coming in to eat the apples and eat on the plot all summer and into the end of September. Unfortunately that lone Apple tree didn't produce that many apples this year and once they had eaten the majority of them the deer traffic went to almost zero. My question is, is will the deer "remember" the plot once the weather turns cold and sweetens up the late season stuff and come back or will they have to "re-find" the plot to start using it again?


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i think your does will, old does are smart, plus they will find it again if they don't remember

I read an article a year or two ago that deer can smell food from a great distance, including acorns under 6-8 inches of snow
so I wouldn't worry too much about if the deer with come back to the plot later in season

 

^THIS^ They will come back to it.

 

They will find food no matter what it is including what I don't want them to find. If they find it there once they will return.

 

I hunted Sunday for the first time this fall. I sat at a stand I had baited for a few years. This year no baiting/feeding but it is the only stand I have for that wind. There has not been food there since last Nov. I was there about 1/2 hour and a big doe with a fawn and a maybe a 1 1/2 year old doe came in, looked at the ground, looked at my stand, looked at the ground and then back at me. I am sure if Deer had a finger I would have seen it. Then 2 spikes came to check it too. They remember.

 

Even if they don't remember, they have been traveling to and from that area and have trails established which will eventually bring them past again. Though from my experience it does appear like they remember, walking right to where I've had bait in the past even though it has been a couple years since anything has been put out. So either they remember or there is a scent remaining that is bringing them to the spot. Perhaps on the order of a scrape.