Every animal on this planet has a right- a right to live, a right to eat and sleep. As one of the most intelligent (Probably, the most intelligent) animals, it is the duty of a human to ensure these animals survive. While we often have to hunt to survive, in other cases, we can always be kind and give these animals what they need- while taking in the beauty of their existence.
If you have a backyard and a deer habitat around your house then it can be quite easy for you to feed a deer. In fact, if you follow the right tips, you can make visiting your house for food a habit for the deer. For that, you will have to know how a deer lives and what it eats and what can necessarily drive them away.
So, let us find out the answer to how to feed deer in the backyard.
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How to feed deer in the backyard: The things to be aware of
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Learn about Their Habitat- Address it with measures.
Where the deer lives are not much of your concern. But, how it lives and where it goes when are things of concern. In fact, you will find deer living in all kinds of weather and all kinds of places- even deserts and mountains. Now, when do they come to your backyard? That is the question.
If it is the time you want to focus on then it is usually before dawn and after sunset, that deer get close to the human area. Because that is when they feel they are safe and can hide if a human somehow shows up.
Furthermore, there is another thing you can ‘do’ to attract the deer towards your house. You can make a path for it. In fact, deer-like many other animals like to save their energy. As a result, rather than exploring and taking the hard path, they follow the path that’s easy.
If you can track down where they reside, you can easily make a path for them which they will follow to the backyard of your house. There are more such behaviors that will tell you strategies in which you can attract the deer to your house.
For example, deer like to mark their territory, very much like dogs. And, you can get the sign from plants eaten in your backyard and also scratches on the smaller plants. Apparently, the deer moving in that way is a sign that they have marked their territory.
How do you know it’s a deer? They do not have the bottom incisor for which the leaves they eat will have a rough edge, not a clean cut. And, that is a deer bite for you.
So, knowing where they like to visit, you can just make up an easy path for them to reach you.
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Give them shelter and water.
Yes, we will be getting to the food part really soon but you have to get the deer visiting you regularly, right? So, bear with us for better results. You should have something in your backyard that will hold water for the deer. If they find food and water in the same place, they will visit again.
On the other hand, if you cannot manage that and have a lake or water body around, you can, again, make up a path for the deer to reach that place easily. So, food and water out of the way- you have to give shelter as a bonus.
The catch here is that the shelter is not only for the deer to save itself from the other animals but it is for the deer to save itself from you as well. You are providing them with food and water, yes but they still do not consider you a friend.
So, if you suddenly open the door or make a loud sound, the deer should be able to hide behind a tree or branch or other shelters. So, keep something behind which the deer can hide.
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Favorite Foods.
Deer is an herbivorous animal. Thus, all you have to do is keep plants they can east, and sometimes seeds too. Luckily, they are not very choosy about their food and eat whatever they get.
But, they are also fond of sweet plants and you can observe for months what they like more and fill up the backyard with exactly that.
Among the trees that deer eats are- Apple, Willow, Crabapple, Oaks, Cedar, Hawthorn, Dogwood, Yew, etc. The bushes they eat are- Arborvitae, Azalea, Holly, Euonymus, Rhododendron, Blueberry, etc.
Make sure you keep these in enough amount so that the deer do not eat plants that you do not want it to eat. Keep track of what it eats more and provide it with exactly that to make the visits more frequent.
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Winter Food.
In winter, you obviously cannot keep giving them regular food because they won’t even grow. Deer, like many other animals, conserve energy by eating buds and seeds that contain a lot of nutrients to keep them going. As a result, many people consider giving corn to them in winter as the weather does not affect it.
However, this could lead to the deer’s death as corn can cause digestive problems. These problems make it sick, unable to digest the food and supply energy.
Therefore, you will have to choose the winter diet carefully, keeping portions of all nutrients in it. Apparently, the woody browse- saplings, briars, honeysuckles are the best choices as winter food for the deer.
Other than that, you will have to maintain the proportion of the different items you provide. In this case, you can take the help of a deer feeder if you have a really busy schedule.
In conclusion
You see, if you know what you are doing, feeding a deer will not be a difficult task. But, you will have to do it diligently. One wrong move can scare the deer away for life. The wrong diet can send it towards death as well. So, learn and accordingly, take steps.