Winter Food Sources in the Woods

Where I hunt on public land everything is pretty thickly wooded. This time of year the deer are pressured and know where/when hunters are going to be in certain spots. I would love to know some late season strategies from others, as well as what deer feed on in the woods this time of year.

 

If you had a decent crop of red oaks they will hammer whatever acorns are left in late season. Other than that I just look for green browse. Which is usually plentiful in thickets, where deer often go to hide from pressure.


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The deer around here will browse on the buck brush and any new growth on woody browse.

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Thanks for the response. What is buck brush?

 

In my area buck brush is red dogwood and hazel nut shrubs. They don't usually start browsing here till there is snow on the ground.

 

Same situation for me as well.

Thanks for the responses.

 

This is what is looks in the fall, here in MO. The berries get a little darker and the leaves fall off after a few hard freezes.

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Here is a big woods food plot I saw today
....lol



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I'm not sure exactly what they are browsing in my immediate area, but a group of deer have been feeding in the same area the last three times I've been to this spot, but out of range. Yesterday morning I set up/trimmed a new stand site right on the edge of this area, so on Wed I'll see if I can get a shot at one of the bucks I've seen in this group.

 

Haha, I have seen a few like this myself!

 

Thanks for the help, do these berries turn more of a dark blue/purple? If so, I think I have come across some of it before.

 

They appear to be more "Cranberry" color.
You're welcome.

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Look for acorns if none available look for cut Area,s from the past couple of years if not available yer guess is as good as mine

 

I could be wrong but that looks like bush honeysuckle to me. It's considered invasive in most places and they want you to remove it if you can.

 

Any input with standing dead soybeans. The bottom field flooded out and the farmer did not cut it. So I have about 3 acres of dead standing beans.

 

IMO that's the best late season food source you can get. Deer absolutely hammer them here when it gets cold.

 

Good to know, figured they wouldn't touch a dead plant. Good news for me, maybe this season will pick up.

 

I'm not familiar with bush honeysuckle, Justin. This is what the MO Dept. of Conservation sells as a ground cover/food source for quail, deer and turkeys.

 

Well if the DNR is selling it, it must not be honeysuckle. MO even put out this great book called Curse of the Bush Honeysuckle.

https://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/downloads/CurseBushHoneysuckle.pdf

 

Since moving to the midwest I've seen several places where deer will absolutely hammer honey locust pods when it's cold. They seem to only drop once it gets really cold too.