Thanks for this link. I’ve heard of these problems, but never saw the truly sad result. Best, dwc

Very informative article.

Thank you.

It looks like they archived the link in the original post, but for right now, this one is working:

updated link here

I knew enough not to feed deer in the winter, but was unaware about how their digestive system “shifted gears” towards poorer winter browse.

I assume that the folks who fed these deer were leaving hay or apples or something like that, but I think I need to do a little research into this. We have a patch of ground we are sheet mulching to reclaim from some invasive knotweed. Around September or so I was going plant it in winter pea, as legumes seem to really help the soil here. They would come on about November or December, and I was planning on leaving it unfenced to let the deer eat it. Seemed like the least I could do, since I was planning on killing one of them and eating them.

Our winters are nowhere near as harsh as NH, and there is actually browse here year round, so I don’t know if this will be harmful. Also I would imagine there is a difference between winter pea and a big bag of appples, but it sounds like I need to do my homework.

Thanks for the link.

commercial deer feed….corn?

Not to cast doubt on this problem or minimize it in any way, but…

I have a small flock of sheep, which are also ruminants. They are subject to the same problems (so am I for that matter 😳 ) And I can tell when the season changes as their scat gets loose or stiff depending on the transition to hay or grass.

But I feed them sheep pellets to keep them coming and friendly and never had to worry about them dying from it.

Seems odd to me that 12 deer would all die within a few yards of each other from anything like this. My experience with deer and sheep is that if one gets sick, they wander off by themselves and die somewhere hard to find. Acidosis takes several days/weeks to kill an animal. They wouldn’t all just drop dead.

I don’t want to disparage the good folks in the wildlife dept but I have to wonder if it’s just easier to blame it on feeding than to figure out what really happened… I wonder if they did toxicology tests? Maybe somebody got tired of the deer eating their flowers and poisoned them. Or maybe they have .17 pellets in their brains…

Steve,

Your addition is interesting. I took another look at the article. It seems like they did pretty thorough testing. Also, the photo could be misleading. The deer might have all been dragged to a common place before the photo was taken. I agree that it’s very unlikely they would all die in a heap. It might be more likely that they would all die on a common ground that might have been somewhat sheltered from the winter weather. dwc

eidsvolling wrote:

Thanks for updating the link.

The deer in question were found to have commercial deer feed in them.

The Evergreen State has the same advice as NH, for the same reasons: Winter Wildlife Feeding

Yah, that commercial feed is like giving them crack. Thanks for that link, I remember reading it when we bought this place, and I bet the wdfw folks can tell me if I need to keep that winter pea patch fenced or not.

dwcphoto wrote: Steve,

Your addition is interesting. I took another look at the article. It seems like they did pretty thorough testing. Also, the photo could be misleading. The deer might have all been dragged to a common place before the photo was taken. I agree that it’s very unlikely they would all die in a heap. It might be more likely that they would all die on a common ground that might have been somewhat sheltered from the winter weather. dwc

I’m sure they moved them to that pile. I was just commenting that if they were in a small area when found, that’s odd.

I read the testing part several times, seems they did a visual analysis, but no blood work or tissue work from what I can tell. Of course reporters don’t give much detail ever, so it’s just as likely as not that they did blood work.

Lots of things can cause blood in the digestive track…

Steve,

Weirder things have happened that someone poisoning deer, that’s for sure. True enough that the were all found within 100 yards, which is a pretty small area. Makes you wonder. In our area there’s a lot of deer feeding going on and a lot of folks trying to protect the herds in way over populated areas. It would not surprise me to learn someone got fed up and did something bad to deer or other wildlife. It sure happens to domestic animals. Thanks for your comments, dwc