Developing a Wildlife Enterprise

Whitetails have a compound stomach which allows them to utilize several foods. They browse on forbs, leaves, twigs, fruits, and shoots of trees and vines. Acorns, when available, provide a high-energy food in the fall and winter. Deer are specialized feeders, stopping here and there while moving around their range to select foods specifically to satisfy their nutritional needs.

The nutrient requirements for a deer are complex, including nitrogen, phosphorus, sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chlorine, sulfur, nickel, silicon, vanadium, fluorine, tin, molybdenum, essential fatty acids, and vitamins A, D, and E. The nutritional needs vary throughout the year. Protein is important to fawn production and antler development. Healthy whitetails require a diet composed of quality proteins, carbohydrates, sugars, fats, minerals and vitamins.

Table: Seasonal foods of white-tailed deer (adapted from “What Do Deer Eat?” by Carl Hunter, 1985, Arkansas Wildlife magazine).
Spring	Summer	Fall	Winter
Woody plants Red maple Elm Willow Azalea Deerberry Blackberry Red cedar Dogwood Sassafras Honeysuckle Hydrangea Blueberry Poison ivy Greenbrier Black gum Grape New Jersey tea Strawberry bush Trumpet creeper	Woody plants Red maple Elm Hydrangea Cinquefoil Greenbrier Horse mint French mulberry * Dogwood Grape Trumpet creeper Blackberry Honeysuckle Sassafras Sumac Hawthorn Rose Dewberry Poison ivy	Woody plants Oaks Jessamine French mulberry * Blackberry Rose Honeysuckle Greenbrier Hawthorn Black gum	Woody plants Dogwood Willow Sumac Red cedar Oaks Sassafras Jessamine Privet Black gum Honeysuckle Strawberry bush Blueberry
Forbs Dandelion Spiderwort Trout lily Aster Wild pea Wild strawberry Jewelweed Violet Lespedeza Wild clover Fungi Spring beauty Fleabane Trefoil	Forbs Wild lettuce Goldenrod Fungi Petunia Skullcap Ragweed Asters Jewelweed Pokeweed Lespedeza Sunflower Spurge Wild strawberry Violet Legumes	Forbs Wild lettuce Beggar’s lice Pussy’s toes Composites Pokeweed Bellflower	Forbs Pussy’s toes Sedges
Grasses	Fruits Huckleberry Dewberry Blackberry	Fruits and Nuts Acorns Persimmon Dogwood Black gum Pokeweed berries Grape Muscadine	Fruits Coralberry Sumac seedheads
Crops Winter wheat Annual rye grass Clover	Crops Soybean Vegetable crops	Crops Wheat Sorghum Clover Rye grass Soybean	Crops Wheat Clover Rye grass

* also called American beautyberry.

Optimal deer habitat is 1/3 in early succession [link to succession, wildlife concepts] open pasture, 1/3 in stages 5 or 6 mature forest with mast, and 1/3 in stage 4 with shrubs and trees. This combination provides bedding areas for rest, openings and forests for food, and travel areas where they can move undetected. The average range is about one square mile, so large property holdings are required and all habitat needs must be filled to keep deer on your property. Click here to learn more about habitat practices to meet these needs.