Even though many of us don’t really want to feed the deer out of our gardens, it’s hard to watch them struggle during the winter. Particularly a difficult season like this last one.

Throughout the East and even a good hunk of the South, below normal temperatures and increased snow amounts caused considerable stress to the wildlife population. In this weather, deer will eat plants they normally won’t touch.

Winter Damage from Deer

Although we haven’t had an extreme winter outside of a few events, a friend of mine suffered some of the worst winter damage I’ve seen from deer. It was partly due to deep snow and cold temperatures. Also partly because of a river restoration project that fenced the deer out of natural area. This forced them to different, less productive areas. As a result, the deer decimated my friend’s Mugo pines that she’s had for 20 years. The herd came all the way up the house, bedding down 10 feet from the door, to find refuge. They chewed up the small pines and walked all over the prostate junipers, effectively killing those as well. She’ll have to rip out the entire bed, probably costing thousands of dollars to replace.

Last Resorts

This undoubtedly was a desperate situation for the deer. We’ve had much harsher winters over the past couple of decades, but they’ve never resorted to eating the shrubs. I personally believe a big reason they came up so close to the house is because they were fenced out of the area near the river where they would typically find more natural browse species. But since the agency has thousands of willows heeled into the bank, they don’t want them in there to eat them. (Which they absolutely will!) This shuts the deer out of an important area. They even ventured into the hayshed, which they’ve also never have done before. It was a tough winter for them, and unfortunately, it’s far from over around here.

Actually, it’s been a difficult go for deer throughout the country. It’ll be interesting to hear if there are significant losses in some regions. Or possibly the deer simply adapt by turning to less than desirable species or moving into more suburban neighborhoods. But what can a person do to protect their landscape, if a severe winter drives them into town? Probably the most effective route is to create a barrier of some sort, whether it’s a fence or some type of cover over the trees or shrubs. This might be a tough, if not impossible, task when it’s below zero with blizzard conditions, though. And during the winter many of the repellents may not be helpful as they often work best at a particular temperature.

Feeding

In areas where it’s legal (so be sure to check with your local Fish and Game agency) I wonder if chucking out a few bales of hay would keep them from browsing on the shrubs. We can’t do that around here since it’s not permissible in Montana, but that was the first thing that came to mind. (I do remember in the winter of ’96-’97, I recall someone – and for some reason, I think it was a state agency- trying to keep a beautiful bull elk alive by providing hay.)

You don’t want your plants torn up, but you hate to see them starve, too. If this is a route you’re going to take, it might be best to make a few piles of hay away from each other so hopefully the deer won’t be too bunched up eating together. Feeding wildlife creates a brand new set of problems from potential disease issues when deer are eating close to each other to bringing in predators, but I can see it being useful as a temporary solution to save your plants.

Winter is tough on everyone, including the wildlife. Do your best to protect your plants, but if you legally can, try to help the wildlife, as well.