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The Corn Conundrum
By Bob Humphrey
When you mention supplemental food for deer, the first thing most folks think of is corn. Where baiting is legal it’s sold by the bushel, and sometimes the ton. If not for corn, Texas’ deer herd might be a fraction of what it is. Furthermore, regions of the country with the most and biggest deer are primarily agricultural areas where the principal crop is corn.
It seems like corn is great for deer, but that isn’t always the case.
While it certainly has benefits, corn can be harmful under some circumstances. To learn why requires understanding the whitetail’s natural diet and complex digestive system.
White-tailed deer belong to a group of animals called ruminants. Their stomach consists of four chambers, the first and largest of which is the rumen. This is where most of the heavy lifting in the digestion process occurs.
As fall turns to winter, leafy vegetation dies and the deer’s diet gradually shifts to coarse, woody browse comprised largely of cellulose and lignin (indigestible fiber). Strictly speaking, deer can’t digest cellulose, at least not without some help. That help comes in the form of microorganisms — beneficial bacteria in the rumen that possess the necessary enzymes to break down cellulose into nutrients that can be absorbed into a deer’s system.
Although they’re both ruminants, deer differ from cows, which have much larger stomachs where they ferment food for a much longer period of time. To get sufficient nutritional value from the food they eat, the deer’s smaller, quicker digestive system must be more efficient than the cow’s, which makes proper rumen function that much more important.
This finely tuned physiological process requires the right combination of microorganisms, enzymes and pH. Achieving that balance doesn’t happen overnight. It can take the deer’s digestive system as long as four weeks to adapt to a new food source.
The sudden availability of an alternate food source, like corn, can dramatically change a deer’s stomach pH, resulting in a condition called acidosis. This condition kills the microorganisms that produce the proper enzymes to digest cellulose. Acute acidosis can result in death within 72 hours. In less severe cases, deer simply get sick, making them more vulnerable to disease and predators.
Acidosis weakens deer at a time when they can’t afford additional drain on their rapidly depleting energy reserves. There are numerous documented cases where supplemental corn feeding in winter has had disastrous effects. That begs the question: Why would anyone use corn as a supplemental feed?
The short answer? The problem is not the corn, but when and how it is made available.
The sudden availability of corn after a deer’s system has adjusted to browse is the problem. That, according to Kip Adams, education and outreach coordinator for the Quality Deer Management Association, is one reason food plots are far preferred over feed sites. With a food plot, deer have access to alternate food during the transition period, and then for as long as the food lasts.
The same applies to corn, which is why standing corn can be a viable food plot crop. “In the case of corn, the size of the plot and deer density will dictate how long the food lasts, but anything lasting a month or more is certainly very beneficial to the deer herd,” Adams said.
If corn is present throughout the transition period and remains present after, the deer’s system will adapt to digest both corn and browse. Whitetails are selective feeders and consume a considerable amount of natural vegetation, even when provided supplemental feed.
Of course, that’s another reason biologists typically discourage winter feeding.
Putting so much food in a small place artificially concentrates deer, which can have disastrous effects on the habitat. Natural foods like browse become depleted more quickly, making deer even more dependent on supplemental food sources. And, if the landowner is trying to grow hardwoods, he’s not going to be happy, either.
Corn can be an important source of energy and carbohydrates for deer, if provided properly. If you’re going to use it, begin feeding early. Start before winter sets in and the deer’s digestive system transitions to a diet of mostly coarse, woody browse. Continue feeding throughout the winter. Deer will get conditioned to, and possibly become dependent on, your food. Stopping too soon could have disastrous results.
Also consider things like proximity to roads and houses. Attracting deer near roads increases the likelihood of car-deer collisions. Concentrated near an artificial food source, deer might impact vegetation on your neighbor’s property, particularly hardwood regeneration. Furthermore, feed stations can make deer susceptible to stress and injury from predators and domestic dogs.
Feed if you must, but deer will be better off if you plant something that will persist through much of the winter. Brassicas and winter wheat are great choices. Also consider a pelletized mix with more protein, but the same rules apply about starting early and continuing the program into spring green-up.