While the intention behind offering food to wild animals is often to help, understanding a deer’s natural eating habits is important for their well-being. This knowledge clarifies why certain foods, despite appearing harmless, can negatively impact deer health and behavior.
Deer’s Natural Diet
Deer are herbivores with a specialized digestive system adapted to diverse natural vegetation. Their diet primarily consists of “browse,” including leaves, twigs, and tender shoots of woody plants like shrubs, trees, and vines. They also consume “forbs” (broad-leaved herbaceous plants) and “mast” (nuts and fruits like acorns, berries, and apples), which provide high-energy carbohydrates. While deer eat some grasses, these are generally not a primary food source. Their varied diet changes seasonally, allowing them to adapt to available forage and meet nutritional needs.
Oatmeal and Deer Consumption
Deer will eat oatmeal if offered. Oats are frequently used in deer food plots due to their palatability and as a source of carbohydrates, fiber, and protein. Deer are particularly attracted to the sweet taste of oats and often prefer younger, softer shoots. While deer may readily consume plain rolled oats, it is not a natural component of their wild diet. The specific form and quantity can pose significant health risks.
Consequences of Feeding Oatmeal
Providing oatmeal to deer, especially in large or sudden quantities, can lead to severe health issues like ruminal acidosis. Deer possess a four-chambered stomach (rumen) that relies on a delicate balance of microbes to break down their natural, high-fiber diet. A sudden influx of easily digestible carbohydrates, like those in oatmeal, rapidly alters this microbial balance, leading to a dangerous buildup of lactic acid. This acidic environment causes indigestion, dehydration, and stomach lining damage, potentially leading to death as the deer cannot properly process the unnatural food.
Beyond digestive problems, feeding deer can lead to undesirable behavioral changes. Deer accustomed to human-provided food may lose their natural fear, becoming dependent and even aggressive when food is expected. This habituation increases their risk of vehicle collisions as they frequent roadsides for handouts. Concentrating deer at feeding sites can also promote aggression among individuals competing for food, leading to injuries and expending energy.
Ethical Considerations of Feeding Wild Deer
Feeding wild deer, including oatmeal, raises broader ethical concerns regarding human intervention in wildlife ecosystems. Artificial feeding disrupts natural foraging behaviors, making deer reliant on human-provided food rather than their diverse natural diet. This dependency can lead to nutritional deficiencies if the human-provided food does not offer the complete nutritional profile deer require.
Concentrating deer at feeding stations significantly increases the risk of disease transmission within the population. Diseases like Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a fatal neurological condition, can spread rapidly through direct contact or indirectly via saliva, urine, and feces deposited at communal feeding sites. Prions, the infectious agents causing CWD, can remain viable in the environment for extended periods, posing a long-term risk. Allowing deer to forage naturally and observing them from a distance is the most responsible approach to support their health and maintain ecosystem balance.