Many residents enjoy seeing white-tailed deer up close and may feel they are contributing to the animal’s welfare by providing supplemental food. Unfortunately, feeding deer can have unintended negative consequences and often does more harm than good. Feeding deer can lead to nutritional problems, increased habitat damage where high density herds are concentrated, dangerous encounters when animals lose their natural fear of humans and feeding can facilitate the spread of diseases among wildlife that congregate in feeding areas. Not only do wildlife officials recommend against feeding deer, it is against the law to feed deer in Fairfax County for the majority of the year.

Feeding deer for any reason is illegal statewide within Virginia from September 1 to the first Saturday in January (4VAC15-40-285). Further, it is illegal to feed deer in any city, town, or county during any deer or elk hunting season. Effectively, this means it is illegal to feed deer in Fairfax County from September 1 through the last Sunday in April to coincide with the deer hunting season. The feeding ban applies to both public lands and private properties within the Commonwealth.

The feeding ban restricts the placement or distribution of any food, salt, mineral or similar substances for any purpose if the placement of these materials results in the attraction of and/or feeding of deer. This does not restrict bona fide agronomic plantings (including wildlife food plots), bona fide distribution of food to livestock or wildlife management activities conducted or authorized by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF).

I throw old food out in my yard all of the time. If the racoons get it, good. If deer get it? Not my problem!

There were so many acorns this year, they should be pretty well prepared for winter.

No one has ever been arested for feeding deer. Quite the fearmongering. You only get in trouble if you use the food for bait. Feeding deer corn and other grains is more nutritional than acorns or grass that they get in the wild.

Deer tend to seek corn and soybeens in the country and sre fat and healty.
Here in the city acorns are scarace deer are thin and unhealthy. Put some corn or other gain out they need the fat going in to the winter.

You could not be more wrong. A deer's digestive tract and the way it processes food changes throughout the year. If you throw corn or some other high carb food in the winter it can actually be fatal. There is an old saying about deer dying with a belly full of corn.

Bull shit. Ben feeding them for years the only dead deer i see our ones that have been shot or hit by a car. Deer have been eathing corn here in the States for hundreds of years. It's a normal diet in lots of places.

Go to the country walk in a corn field. Deer eat corn and soybeans and alfapha on their own without people feeding them. See the damage they have done and see the fat when you skin them out.

Your old saying was just made up im 70 plus grew up hunting and farming and have never heard it.

Show me the arrest warrent for somone that has been convicted Bambi.

I like venison but the suburban deer around here are not even fully wild animals. They are practically tame and come onto my patio every day in broad daylight, even take naps in the back yard while I'm standing in the doorway or another part of the yard. I'm pretty sure they would take an ear of corn from my hand if I worked on it. I could theoretically throw a knife or rock and take one out but couldn't imagine killing these semi-tame deer under those conditions.

in Winchester is illegal feeder from 1 September - January 6?, or is illegal all year?

MR D Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bull shit. Ben feeding them for years the only
> dead deer i see our ones that have been shot or
> hit by a car. Deer have been eathing corn here in
> the States for hundreds of years. It's a normal
> diet in lots of places.
>
> Go to the country walk in a corn field. Deer eat
> corn and soybeans and alfapha on their own without
> people feeding them. See the damage they have
> done and see the fat when you skin them out.
>
> Your old saying was just made up im 70 plus grew
> up hunting and farming and have never heard it.

Old fart dumbass. He never heard of it so it can't be true. He never saw a deer die from it so it couldn't ever happen. JFC, if I ever get like that, somebody do me favor and push me in front of a bus.

Hssgysus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You could not be more wrong. A deer's digestive
> tract and the way it processes food changes
> throughout the year. If you throw corn or some
> other high carb food in the winter it can actually
> be fatal. There is an old saying about deer dying
> with a belly full of corn.

Yea, it's called putting corn out and shooting it.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/big-buck-zone/2013/02/are-you-feeding-your-deer-death

The issue they are speaking of is called acidosis. A wildlife biologist was the first person I ever heard about this from when we were assessing our land for whitetails and it can be a huge problem if you are not a constant feeder or only feed in the winter.

We feed supplements in the spring and summer on the farms where we hunt deer but we follow the date rules and dont start again until there is sufficient green browse for the deer to eat as well. Usually around late March to early April is when we start again.

Keep it within reason and you should be fine but putting a bag of corn out because its been cold is going to kill deer or at least weaken them and possibly cause diseases to take hold

Hssgysus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You could not be more wrong. A deer's digestive
> tract and the way it processes food changes
> throughout the year. If you throw corn or some
> other high carb food in the winter it can actually
> be fatal. There is an old saying about deer dying
> with a belly full of corn.

You are not from the country I can tell, and have never hunted I'm sure. The saying refers to deer eating a farms corn, then dying from it....because a 30-06 round went through it. Hence; dying with a belly full of corn.

Cuntryboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You could not be more wrong. A deer's
> digestive
> > tract and the way it processes food changes
> > throughout the year. If you throw corn or some
> > other high carb food in the winter it can
> actually
> > be fatal. There is an old saying about deer
> dying
> > with a belly full of corn.
>
> You are not from the country I can tell, and have
> never hunted I'm sure. The saying refers to deer
> eating a farms corn, then dying from it....because
> a 30-06 round went through it. Hence; dying with
> a belly full of corn.

I've hunted all over North America and on other continents. I grew up working on tobacco and cattle farms and spent every spare moment I had in the field with my bow, gun or fishing pole. I still spend hundreds of hours in the field and on the water every year. I promise my outdoor resume and my desire to be knowledgeable about my passion exceeds yours just based on that last post. The deer on the farms is not the problem. They are usually supplemented by agriculture as a normal byproduct of where they live. Its the jackass city dwellers that dump high carb food in the backyard only when it gets cold thinking they are doing the deer a favor....they are almost as stupid as you are.

MR D Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Show me the arrest warrent for somone that has
> been convicted Bambi.

a deer can't get sick from eating corn, that's almost impossible for it to happen. i never heard of something so stupid. in fAct deer many times thrive where corn is plentiful.

don't be an ass Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MR D Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Show me the arrest warrent for somone that has
> > been convicted Bambi.
>
> a deer can't get sick from eating corn, that's
> almost impossible for it to happen. i never heard
> of something so stupid. in fAct deer many times
> thrive where corn is plentiful.

http://potomacwildlife.org/Disease/Rumen%20Acidosis.pdf

http://deerfarmer.com/wiki/avoiding-treating-deer-elk-grain-overload

http://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/feeding-corn-to-deer-could-be-death-sentence/14324.html

The bigger ass is the person choosing to be obtuse and refusing to acknowledge facts based on science and instead continuing to push their incorrect position simply because they are incapable of acknowledging that they were unaware of said facts. That, my friend, is what is stupid.
I simply interjected into this conversation to offer a little more insight into the reasons behind the original posters information from VDGIF hopefully stop someone from basically poisoning the otherwise healthy wildlife in their area and causing them to suffer.

Take any deer up to some corn and I gurantee those deer will eat it. It's not scientifically proven but it is a fact. Those deer will eat corn to no end.