Plants every mule deer hunter should know

[robby denning]

The Rokcast episode OP mentioned launched today:

What Mule Deer Eat with Luke Schultz

Learning what mule deer eat is one of the top questions Luke Schultz and Robby get from mule deer hunters and this episode aims to answer that question.

www.rokslide.com

or search "What Mule Deer Eat" on Rokcast wherever you listen to podcasts

Good work @Bull_n_heat on this thread and the episode

 

[The Harbor Master]

I bookmarked this thread. Great info, thank you.

 

[Skers99]

This is awesome information! Always heard about some of these plants in podcasts.

 

[Ghostman]

Great post, thanks for all the information.

 

[OrangeMan73]

How about ceanothus? My observations have shown this stuff to be like candy in snow covered November...

 

[Bull_n_heat]

How about ceanothus? My observations have shown this stuff to be like candy in snow covered November...

Appreciate the feedback. Robby and I talked a little bit about that on the show. Ceanothus is definitely one that is in the mix for deer, depending on what else is available for food. Can I ask generally where you are talking about? If you are in the more granitic mountains, that shrub seems to be much more prevalent and used (Central Idaho, Wind River Range of Wyoming).

We didn't speak specifically about fall foods, instead focusing on summer scouting, but Ceanothus might make that list if we did. Let us know if this is a topic you'd like to hear more about, and I can work with Robby to get another one of these together based on fall food items.

 

[Beagle001]

Midwest muley guy here, so this episode was SUPER informative, and this thread is excellent. Thank you! I’d definitely listen to another podcast on fall foods etc

 

[crowlja]

Great information!
I'm sure most of the food sources cross over, but I would really be interested in an Elk Diet podcast and thread as well, along with a break down of what are good summer vs fall forage.

 

[silasbowhunter]

As someone with a Rangeland Management degree and a plant nerd at heart, thank for this. I love it

 

[go_deep]

I listen to the podcast, it was great!
I do think something specific to in season food would be great, pre and post frost September and October would be awesome!

 

[Cantharellus]

As a plant nerd, this is a really cool post. I've never paid much attention to what the deer were eating aside from noticing browse on plants or mushrooms in passing. Definitely going to pay more attention to this going forward.

 

[Bull_n_heat]

Great information!
I'm sure most of the food sources cross over, but I would really be interested in an Elk Diet podcast and thread as well, along with a break down of what are good summer vs fall forage.

Appreciate the feedback here. Elk are much more generalist feeders than deer (they can, and do, eat about everything), so it would make for a shorter episode. However, if there is interest, I'm certain there is some value to be had there. It would be a fun dive into some info on them though, and I'd be happy to either do it myself, or recruit an actual expert!

 

[Bull_n_heat]

I listen to the podcast, it was great!
I do think something specific to in season food would be great, pre and post frost September and October would be awesome!

Good to know. @robby denning and I talked about doing something for the fall, so stay tuned. Spoiler: it's mostly shrubs!

 

[swavescatter]

Great info - saving this one!

 

[nomadicbohunk]

Not mule deer, but this is interesting enough I thought I'd share. Due to the kind of work I do, I really know my plants. Like when I'm working at a university I get stuff brought in other plant nerds can't ID without keying in hopes I just know.

I was back where I grew up and archery hunting for a week in late October. The wind was right, so I was hunting the same stand a few days in a row. I've done a lot of restoration work up there, so I pay attention to what I see when I walk in. The property is lousy with whitetails, so I usually see a few each sit and watch what they eat.

So, lots of the various asters are super hard to tell apart, but I identified a lot of them where I walked in. All the deer that walked down that trail ignored them for the week. However, there was the first hard freeze a couple days before I was done hunting. After that freeze, all the whitetails honed in and only ate one of the like 10 aster species that was there. Not a couple. One species. Usually when they browse they kind of munch a bit here and there. This time they'd just walk from plan to plant and only eat that. It was wild, super interesting and neat to me. I honestly don't remember what species it was as it was like 20 years ago. It was one of the more uncommon ones up there.

 

[flyfisher117]

Can someone make this into flash cards for me? So I can take it with me on hikes.

 

[robby denning]

Not mule deer, but this is interesting enough I thought I'd share. Due to the kind of work I do, I really know my plants. Like when I'm working at a university I get stuff brought in other plant nerds can't ID without keying in hopes I just know.

I was back where I grew up and archery hunting for a week in late October. The wind was right, so I was hunting the same stand a few days in a row. I've done a lot of restoration work up there, so I pay attention to what I see when I walk in. The property is lousy with whitetails, so I usually see a few each sit and watch what they eat.

So, lots of the various asters are super hard to tell apart, but I identified a lot of them where I walked in. All the deer that walked down that trail ignored them for the week. However, there was the first hard freeze a couple days before I was done hunting. After that freeze, all the whitetails honed in and only ate one of the like 10 aster species that was there. Not a couple. One species. Usually when they browse they kind of munch a bit here and there. This time they'd just walk from plan to plant and only eat that. It was wild, super interesting and neat to me. I honestly don't remember what species it was as it was like 20 years ago. It was one of the more uncommon ones up there.

Hey, thanks for chiming in and I imagine it’s exactly the same for whitetails being selective on certain plants depending on the conditions.

 

[Macegl]

Great post/topic. Excited to give the podcast a listen.

I work in range management/restoration, I think something that gets lost a lot is that just because a place looks like “good deer habitat” doesn’t necessarily mean it is. It has to have the specific plants they need, when they need them or it isn’t really good habitat.

Same with carrying capacity, if those specific plants aren’t there in the quantities needed, it won’t support the number of deer, or elk, or whatever species that we are managing for, even if it looks like it should.

My personal belief is that the largest reason for mule deer decline is the displacement of early seral forb communities that deer thrive on, with cool season invasive annual grasses. Which is why I believe elk are doing well for the most part, because their rumen is able to more efficiently convert grasses to energy.

 

[2Stamp]

Scrub Oak, the Devil's Club of the Intermountain West (not that's it's really sharp, but it can be a royal pain in the @zz). Or as I call it, one of the Devils favorite bushes. Now that I live in WY I kinda miss it, but not really that much!

This is a great resource. Thank you!

 

[Bull_n_heat]

Can someone make this into flash cards for me? So I can take it with me on hikes.

I can't do flash cards, but this might be even better. This app lets you search by flower color, plant type, and a whole bunch of other observable features. Probably one of the best resources you can find for the intermountain west.

‎Wyoming Wildflowers

‎This App helps find and identify plants. When you give the App information about a plant, such as its location, flower color and the time of year, the App will quickly show you which plants match your selections. The App includes 2,383 species of plants found in Wyoming. Overall, 1,452 are...

apps.apple.com

In a pinch though, for hunting season, know those first few shrubs and look for areas with DIVERSITY!