So besides acorns and palmetto berries, what other natural food source are there on public land? i have run across blackberries, but i am yet to find wild plum trees anywhere accept green swamp west. what else do the deer like to eat on public land?
Live oaks, persimmons(if you can locate them), grape vines, honeysuckle,crab apples, trumpet vine, briars, lichens and mosses,
I've noticed they (deer or hogs) don't really go crazy over wild oranges or tangerines, at least at the time/place where I was. maybe there was something else available at the same time they liked better, but I thought they would be all over the citrus.
Early season (archery to m/l) I try to hunt the funnels, edges and food sources. I prefer a grown up field edge that borders a hardwood tree line. Does will usually feed right down the edge of them. Find the first tree to drop acorns early in season and you should have a deer magnet. We don't have white oaks where I hunt but do have scattered live oaks. They start dropping around m/l weeks.Early bow season the bucks are not really out of their summer pattern yet and are just doing their thing feeding and what not. As the season progresses and the bucks start to cruise, I get out of the mindset of hunting food and switch gears to travel areas. Bucks will cover a lot of ground in a day during cruise phase, and will usually walk the path of least resistance. If you notice in the pictures I have posted over the years I always try to find an old logging road or fire break to hunt on. Bucks absolutely love walking them
So to answer your question, I only pay attention to feed sources very early season, then focus on travel areas. Another good tactic is to camp out on a persimmon tree or a live oak that is dropping. Deer and hogs will visit them at some point and hopefully a buck is in tow behind her. I watched a doe one time bed down by a persimmon tree. Every time a persimmon would drop, she would get up and go eat it, then lay back down
my great grandmother had persimmon trees in her backyard so i know what they look like. i will be keeping my eyes open, and i always try to hunt funnels and transition zones. i see all the tracks on loggin roads n such. but when i find rubs they are usually back in a ways along one trail or another.
