A Whitetail's life revolves around its stomach.  Find the food and you will find the deer.

Whenever I start thinking that some other factor of a deer’s behavior takes precedence over food in determining its daily routine, I am always humbled.  Let’s face it, food is king when it comes to deer behavior.  Late in the season, they will even give up a part of their security to get it.  The sooner you realize that everything revolves around the food, the better you will do hunting whitetails.  It dictates nearly everything.  Largely, where you find the food, you find the deer.  It is as simple as that.  This is why knowing all the available food sources in your hunting area, and when deer will utilize them, is so important.

Deer will eat a wide variety of things.  Here a bowhunter looks at a patch of weeds that have been browsed heavily.

BROWSE PATTERNS

Noted whitetail researcher, Dr. Harry Jacobson made the following statement, “It is easier to say what they won’t eat than it is to say what they will.” 

This ability to consume all manner of leaves and stems makes it very tough to hunt browse patterns unless the preferred browse is very concentrated.  Generally, this won’t be the case.  Instead, the deer nibble their way along as they travel more or less randomly through the forest.  The only place where browse becomes an exploitable pattern is when it is the only show in town, when there are no agricultural fields nearby. 

 I don’t hunt browse and I honestly don’t know anyone who does.  It doesn’t make sense in most areas.  To bowhunt food sources effectively, you need the deer to be concentrated so you can set up on their trails and have better control over the variables of the hunt.  Random patterns and bowhunting don’t go together.  Scout the browse if you like, but from a practical standpoint, knowing where it can be found (everywhere) probably won’t help you shoot a deer. 

HARD AND SOFT MAST

Whereas browse is a tough food source to hunt, mast trees are just the opposite.  They are concentrated locations that make great stand sites.  Starting in the month of June, mast becomes a fast growing portion of the deer’s diet.  As a percentage of diet, mast utilization peaks in November and then begins dropping off again.  When given a choice of food sources, deer will select mast over almost every other food source available.  Where I live in the Midwest, deer will practically vacate the agricultural food sources when acorns begin falling in late August.  They will stand for hours under one oak tree gorging on the high energy, high fat food source.  In a good year, deer can literally fatten up on acorns alone.

Now is the time to determine how strong the acorn crop will be this year.  Look at all the various subspecies of oak that grow in your hunting area.  Though they prefer white oak acorns, deer will eat acorns from all of the oak subspecies.  This type of scouting doesn’t need to take a lot of time.  Using a good pair of binoculars, you can quickly study the undersides of the branches on several trees of each oak subspecies.  You’ll soon know which ones are carrying the most acorns.  Now, spend a few more hours cruising wooded portions of your hunting area to find concentrations of these trees. 

Get a stand in place.  Check these areas a few days before the season opens to determine if the acorns are falling.  When they start falling, hunt the stand immediately - morning and evening.  Honey locust pods are another preferred hard mast found in many areas of the country.  Deer will hit these hard throughout the fall.  Locust pods aren’t as attractive as acorns, but deer will eat them when it is convenient. 

Don’t overlook soft mast.  In fact, it would be smart to find every apple, pear, plum or persimmon tree in your hunting area.  All of these will draw bucks like iron filings to a magnet during the early season.

If you are wondering how to identify all of these various trees before going out to look for them, log on to the Internet and look up “Trees of Michigan” (or whatever your state may be) in a popular search engine and you’ll quickly find several identification guides.

AGRICULTURAL CROPS

Crop rotation always influences deer behavior.  Divide the food sources up by seasonal preference.  For example, alfalfa, clover and winter wheat are good all fall but primarily early, corn and beans tend to be better late.  Of course, you need to know where these obvious attractions can be found, but don’t overlook non-traditional foot plots.  I have hunted over, or near, just about every kind of crop grown in North America and there are a few surprises out there.  For example, deer love turnips (leaves and all) during the fall and winter.  They also feed heavily in other brassicas such as Dwarf Essex Rape and Biologic.  Barley is another good late season food source.

Deer are slaves to their stomachs.  Now is the time to determine where they will feed this fall.  You may choose not to hunt right on the field, but you will find the best stand sites for afternoon hunting somewhere near these food sources.

First, with landowner permission, cut all the junk trees away from oak trees so they get more light and moisture.  Second, place 10 pounds of triple-13 fertilizer in a ring around a few selected trees at roughly the drip line (the outer edge of the tree’s canopy).  This will increase acorn production.  Finally, plant soft mast trees such as persimmon, apples or pears (depending on your geographical region) in isolated areas where you can hunt them effectively.  Buy good-sized trees and fence them in to eliminate deer damage to the young tree.  Within only a few years, you can be hunting over them.