# Do bucks prefer apples over corn/carrots/beets,etc?



## feed jake (Apr 8, 2002)

A friend of mine tells me that apples are the way to go if you want to attract the bucks. I know deer like apples a lot, but I didn't know that bucks had that big of a preference for apples. Do buck like apples more than the does do or is there not much of a difference.


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## mich buckmaster (Nov 20, 2001)

Apples attract deer, in which are going to pull the bucks. As for bucks like them only. NO way, they all like them, but I wouldnt say they like them more than corn. If you put corn and apples together in a bait pile, the apples will be eaten by deer first, then the corn. I only use the apple trees to hunt around and corn fields. Use them both to your advantage.


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## tony_1 (Dec 6, 2001)

The few bucks (two) that I've seen in bait piles have eaten more shelled corn, than carrots and apples.


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

And I always thought does were the best bait for bucks........
I have noticed that they will eat pears before apples given the choice. (at least in my in-laws mixed orchard)


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## johnhunter (Jun 17, 2000)

Esox is right on the money regarding pears. I also believe they are preferred over apples. Ripe pears really seem to bring the deer straight in.

IMHO, apples are among the more over-rated deer foods. While they are undeniably preferred from a palatability standpoint, they are generally only available to deer for a very brief time. I have several apple trees scattered around my farm. Many times, I've seen these trees full of apples, out of the reach of deer. Then, once ripe, on one windy day, they all fall to the ground, and are 100% consumed within 24 hours. If you happened to be at work that day, you missed the annual apple rush. I suppose it would last longer if you had a large stand of apple trees, or a smaller local deer herd. 

Also, apples are not nearly as nutritious as other forages. They are essentially a "candy" type food.


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## Robert W. McCoy Jr (Jan 18, 2002)

?


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## Huntnut (Jan 21, 2000)

Most used food source right now? Wild browse?

I'm seeing most deer concentrating on these plant currently-

Acorns (white, chestnut, pin oaks...some red)
Wild rose hip (destroying it right now!)
Japanese honeysuckle
Wild Hawthorn crab apple
Wild Grape

Does this help?


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## johnhunter (Jun 17, 2000)

No. 1 preferred food source varies throughout the calendar year.

In farm country, throughout the summer, I'd go with soybeans and alfalfa. Soybeans stay hot until the plants go yellow, then they go a bit down the list. Alfalfa remains a pretty good draw thereafter.

Acorns from the White Oak (Quercus Alba, Bicolor, Macrocarpa) family are always highly preferred when they fall, Sept-Oct, assuming they produced that year. This year they were pretty scarce in southern lower MI. 

Come November, it's always tough to compete with standing corn.

Once the corn is gone, winter wheat is a really good draw in December. Also, if you get a good cold snap, the deer seem to go to harvested soybean fields to forage for spilled beans.

January-March is the time for spilled grains, and natural browse (which gets hit year-round, of course) gets eaten down in order of its relative preference - in early winter, the dogwoods, honeysuckles, ninebark, brambles, roses, oak saplings, some types of willows get hit hardest, moving down in later winter to less desired browse.

About the only time grass may be preferred is when its the first thing to green up in spring.

Hawthorn leaves are a very popular summer food.

In my book, the most under-rated natural food is acorns from the red oak family, particularly in years of white oak mast failure.

I know I didn't mention plenty of good wild deer foods, but I gotta get back to work. It's fun to study what deer are eating throughout the year, by observing browse evidence. I also check stomach contents of harvested deer.


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## Banditto (Jun 9, 2000)

Acorns hands down. I swept up my deck and got a few gallons of white acorns. You can broadcast those acorns out and the same day they will be gone.


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## QuakrTrakr (Apr 4, 2001)

As for the apple debate, our old hunting place up by Cheboygan apples were THE bait. But we bought property further south and the deer will not touch apples or carrots. The apples I put out last year rotted long after the sugar beets were all gone. As for keeping awake in the stand, shelled corn is the way to go. Not only deer, but just about every other critter in the woods eats it.


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## Polkahero (Aug 4, 2002)

What about unshelled field corn? As in "corn on the cob"? Can deer, lacking an upper row of teeth, get the kernels off very easily?


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## Huntnut (Jan 21, 2000)

FarmLegend....

You know deer food! 

Deer browse happens to be a special hobby of mine 

You are very wise about the intricate understanding of deer food.

I see much in your post....I know, that you know, much more than that, just by the way you speak....

I love Latin

We need to talk....I pm'd you  

Hunt


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## fatboy (May 8, 2002)

In my short 23 yrs. of Bow hunting I would have to say that if I was using bait and only wanted bucks that I would use apples and not in a pile but scattered about an area as i remember my dad doing this with very good sucess. it seemed like while all of us were feeding corn- carrots and beets all the bucks were over there eating those apples. who knows but i think that in the right place there may be something to it. ( we would tease him" se ya got some of those buck apples with ya " ) well our days of the big bait pile are gone but it's still funny to think about


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## southernhunter (Dec 31, 2001)

A breeder that sells to game farms told me that carrots were actually bad for the horns, reducing size. I don't know if its true or just his opinion. any one else heard anything like that?


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

I realized this year that deer like wild cherries. With the pits so big in those things, I didn't think them very palatable, but the deer just crunch them down. Trying to pick their preferences would be extremely difficult because it can vary by the day or hour. Deer are by nature a browser and eat a variety of foods every day but some will get consumed on more than others based on availability.

IMO, it'd be easier to name food that deer didn't like.


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## QuakrTrakr (Apr 4, 2001)

southernhunter 

I've heard that same thing, something about lack of minerals that antlers need to grow.


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## johnhunter (Jun 17, 2000)

Freepop, it's true that deer will eat the fruit of cherries, if they can reach them. Interestingly, Prunus Serotina (the common Black Cherry) is also a clearly preferred rubbing species for bucks.


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## feed jake (Apr 8, 2002)

Thanks for the responses. As far as the carrot thing goes, it seems that since most people bait after the bulk of the antler growth phase, baiting carrots after velvet shedding wouldn't seem to have an impact on antler growth.


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## QuakrTrakr (Apr 4, 2001)

Another thing one one my bowhunting buddies does is fill his pockets with acorns while in a tree stand. Then just drop a few once in a while to call in bucks. He swears by it.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

farmlegend, the deer were eating them off the ground and I have proof to the rubbing preference


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