Is there a way to encourage deer to eat something?

[quicksandfarmer]

We have a lot of deer on our property, I'll usually see three or four every time I look out the window, I think there are about twenty that live around the house. And if they decide they like something they're murder on it, they'll eat it right down to the ground in no time. At the same time we have a lot of weeds that I don't care for, like poison ivy, greenbrier and multiflora rose. And for the most part they seem to leave those alone.

So I'm wondering if there's a way I can put the deer to work. In particular we have trails that run through wooded and semi-wooded areas where the weeds tend to reach out and block the trail and I'd love it if the deer would keep those clear. I've been reading what I can about attracting deer, but almost everything is about how to draw them to your hunting stand. Two things that are recommended are salt and vanilla. So I'm thinking of spraying some of the shrubbery with one or both of those things and seeing how the deer react. It turns out that genuine vanilla is pretty expensive, but artificial vanilla is available by the gallon pretty cheaply.

Thoughts?

 

[sea2summit]

I think those are natural sources of forage for deer but they are also opportunistic feeders, they'll eat what they want first. Not sure how spraying a scent or flavor on other food would work but sounds like an interesting experiment. Have you asked the local extension office? I know there's a long list of snake oil remedies to keep deer off crops like spraying them with rotten fish oil and some other things, not sure of the success rates.

 

[NoTrespassing]

We have a lot of deer on our property, I'll usually see three or four every time I look out the window, I think there are about twenty that live around the house. And if they decide they like something they're murder on it, they'll eat it right down to the ground in no time. At the same time we have a lot of weeds that I don't care for, like poison ivy, greenbrier and multiflora rose. And for the most part they seem to leave those alone.

So I'm wondering if there's a way I can put the deer to work. In particular we have trails that run through wooded and semi-wooded areas where the weeds tend to reach out and block the trail and I'd love it if the deer would keep those clear. I've been reading what I can about attracting deer, but almost everything is about how to draw them to your hunting stand. Two things that are recommended are salt and vanilla. So I'm thinking of spraying some of the shrubbery with one or both of those things and seeing how the deer react. It turns out that genuine vanilla is pretty expensive, but artificial vanilla is available by the gallon pretty cheaply.

Thoughts?

Can't hurt to try, I know they like mineral blocks and will create about an 8 ft. diameter by 3 ft. deep pit in a hayfield if you put a block out for them. Maybe you could create a goat/whitetail hybrid. I bet they'd eat anything

 

[dodge man]

If you were a deer would you eat multiflori rose?

How to get them to eat something? Have my wife come plant something is a guaranteed way.

 

[paulsharvey]

You could spray a salt water brine on them, maybe with some grape kool-aid mixed in. People tell me it works on stumps, but I've never tried it my self.

 

[timbatrader]

The local farm supply store here in New Zealand sells 20 litre jugs of apple flavour apparently a byproduct of removing the apple flavour from apple juice concentrate that is then used as a natural sweetener. the product is used by dairy farmers to make otherwise un palatable food more attractive to dairy cows maybe to could work for deer?

 

[quicksandfarmer]

If you were a deer would you eat multiflori rose?

How to get them to eat something? Have my wife come plant something is a guaranteed way.

The roses we plant, the deer eat.

 

[Dftodd]

Years ago we bought one of those "Super Market Super Garden" books that had natural remedies made out of everyday household products.

I tried their natural bunny and critter repellant for the garden.

It was a boiled down strained liquid using hot peppers to spray on and around your plants to discourage opportunistic foraging.

I found out that critters in the south love pepper sauce on their salads

It seemed more of an attractant for garden foraging instead of a deterrent

 

[Hay Dude]

Just transplant my wifes roses onto your property. They will eat them immediately.

 

[stuckmotor]

You could spray a salt water brine on them, maybe with some grape kool-aid mixed in. People tell me it works on stumps, but I've never tried it my self.

I too, was about to suggest the salt water idea with the stipulation that the pump up sprayer be new and uncontaminated so as not to poison the deer or the people who eat them. Hadn't thought about the Kool-aid.