Winter Feeding of Deer

Posted by the Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

With the arrival of cold weather and snow, many Maine people feel the need to feed wildlife, particularly deer. Over the past decade or so, deer feeding has been gaining in popularity throughout Maine. While providing supplemental feed is certainly emotionally gratifying, the practice is not always in the deer’s best interest. Accordingly, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife discourages deer feeding.

Here’s why. Winter feeding concentrates deer at high densities in a small area, often in places away from their traditional wintering areas. When attracted to feeding sites, deer do not create the extensive trail systems that are essential for escaping predators. Most feeding occurs near plowed roads, making deer vulnerable to collisions with motor vehicles. When concentrated near feeding sites, deer continue to browse on vegetation. Over time, excessive browsing pressure by deer damages expensive landscaping trees and shrubbery, and depletes young trees and shrubs in forests.

Deer need time to adapt to new foods, so supplemental feed should be introduced in early winter. Some feeds, such as vegetable trimmings, and most hay are inappropriate for deer; they will starve on this diet. Too often, people fail to provide enough supplemental feed to sustain healthy deer. Few people really know how many deer they are feeding. Consequently, deer are being under-fed at most winter feeding sites. When the amount of supplemental feed is inadequate, the less dominant individuals too often become undernourished. Finally, concentrating deer at unnatural densities around feeding sites increases the risk that certain diseases such as bovine tuberculosis can be transmitted.

While it is true that deer in Maine will occasionally succumb to severe winters (2001 was a good example), our deer population is in balance with its summer and winter food supply (carrying capacity). Therefore, deer do not need to be supplementally fed in order to thrive. As the agency responsible for managing deer for public benefits, the Department is focusing upon improving deer wintering habitat, rather than feeding deer in winter. We urge the people of Maine to support habitat protection as a more productive alternative to winter feeding of deer. The Department has a position statement on the subject. It may be downloaded from our website: www.mefishwildlife.com, or call (207) 287-8000, and we will mail a copy to you.

-Gerry Lavigne, Mammal Group Biologist, Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

Tags: Deer

Posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Filed under Guide Articles.