Carnivore deer

[C-dubb]

Really weird thing happened a few weeks ago. My boy and I shot our limit of squirrels and, after cleaning them, decided to leave the guts and skins in front of our deer cam in hope of getting some good coyote pictures. We were pretty surprised to get only pictures of a group of deer eating all of the squirrel remains. They cleaned them up completely !
Then , at the end of deer season my son shot a doe and decided to try the game cam thing with the remains of the doe. Sure enough, next day had pictures of deer eating deer !
Have any of you heard of anything like this or does our farm have Zombey deer ?? :-x

[white eagle]

Zombie deer holy crap who knew
thats amazing can you post pics

[swheeler]

I have not seen that but I hunt public land 99 % of the time and coyotes are usually on the gut pile before you are far down the road. I would think they are missing something in their diet that is supplemented by inards? Years ago something would go through our garden and bite the green tomatoes in half, spitting the one half out, wasting it all. On the same nights all of the jalepenos would be eaten right to the stem, irritating. I caught the culprit after a few weeks, a mule deer doe would go over the chain link fence to get her "taco" on!

[Norske]

Delta Waterfowl built a predator exclosure around a duck nesting area in SE ND years ago. They also put game cameras on duck nests. The depredation continued and the raiders were whitetail deer. Easy protein is taken by everything.

[skeettx]

https://www.outdoorhub.com/stories/2013/09/09/the-meat-eating-habits-of-deer/

https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/transmission.html

[Bazoo]

Interesting thread.

Thanks for the links skeettx.

[edp2k]

The NY State DEC website states that there is evidence of deer eating fish.
They don't say if deer caught live, active fish, or dead/almost dead fish like salmon after spawning.

[kevin c]

Learned something new. Now I know why Rudolph's nose is red...

[Hickory]

Learned something new. Now I know why Rudolph's nose is red...

Rudolph is a boozer?

[skrapyard628]

Thats definitely new to me. Pretty neat to learn something new like that.

I had the same misconception about groundhogs only being herbivores in the past until I saw one chomping down on a dead carp.

[Kev18]

There is a video on youtube of a deer eating a bird.

[PositiveCaster]

YouTube is full of fascinating factual nature videos...

253639

[waksupi]

It's pretty common. I've seen them eat guts, and chewing on antlers. Other cloven hoofs animals do the same. Cattle and elk are known to do it, and that is a vector for brucellosis.

[444ttd]

mcdonald's hamburgers, little poults, baby squirrels, wheat bread....deer eat them.

[merlin101]

Mad cow disease! Come to think about I wonder if there is a connection to Chronic Wasting Disease?

[fatnhappy]

The NY State DEC website states that there is evidence of deer eating fish.
They don't say if deer caught live, active fish, or dead/almost dead fish like salmon after spawning.

funny you would bring this up. While I haven't seen it in print from the DEC, a biologist from region 8 told me they're in the habit of eating washed up alewives. Something known in Michigan as well, from what I've read.

I'd like to know how they eat salmon given their size.

[nagantguy]

My uncle Mark; a very serious deer hunter; when I was young and we all hunted on his property he would drag our deer to his favorite spot so we could leave the gut pile he shot lots of deer mostly bucks over those gut piles and sometimes would claim that the deer would eat them if they were fresh; we always thought it was one of his tall tails- until I saw it with my own eyes- rabbit and deer leavings

[JWFilips]

Charles Darwin would have the answer! We may be seeing evolution of the Species!

[Hamish]

253667

[firefly1957]

I am seeing the same here in Michigan I am glad you posted as some people think I am nuts - well for repeating my observation of deer feeding on deer corpse!

I am 100% certain this is why CWD is spreading like it is I can not get anyone to listen they will not even look at it I have found some evidence with deer ranches on it too! When they get CWD reported the state comes in and finds dead deer that have been fed on. If this is so the states ban on feeding deer may be making problem worse instead they need to look at what in a deer's diet needs to be added to stop them eating meat! In the case of deer eating alewives on lake Michigan shore they thought there was a Phosphorous deficiency in the diet.

[44magLeo]

Awhile back I was reading about people studying song birds. They put up nets to catch birds. They cme back and holes torn in the nets. They fixed nets and it happened again. Fixed nets and put up cameras to see what was happening.
The cameras showed deer eating the birds caught in the nets.
Leo

[nagantguy]

I am seeing the same here in Michigan I am glad you posted as some people think I am nuts - well for repeating my observation of deer feeding on deer corpse!

I am 100% certain this is why CWD is spreading like it is I can not get anyone to listen they will not even look at it I have found some evidence with deer ranches on it too! When they get CWD reported the state comes in and finds dead deer that have been fed on. If this is so the states ban on feeding deer may be making problem worse instead they need to look at what in a deer's diet needs to be added to stop them eating meat! In the case of deer eating alewives on lake Michigan shore they thought there was a Phosphorous deficiency in the diet.

Hello fellow Michigander - I agree that some diseases is indeed spread by deer eating the guts/ remains of dead deer- I’ve also seen them eat dead fish- and just read about deer eating human remains- one time in a study and one time a murder victim was dumped in a state park and according to the “experts” it was deer knawing on he bones.
I laugh at the baiting ban- I can on any given day sit in my stand and see- 3-4 deer eating aco is, eating pieces that fall from the others mouths- and lick each other’s faces multiple times. Also
At my old hunting grounds- there was a recently dried up lake bed- the deer and other animals ate the soft dirt, saw it several times- don’t know if it was for calcium or what but where they did eat the ground half dozen deer would have their heads in the same hole.

[CLAYPOOL]

There is a old oil well site on our farm and the deer wear it out for minerals...?

[fiberoptik]

I have not seen that but I hunt public land 99 % of the time and coyotes are usually on the gut pile before you are far down the road. I would think they are missing something in their diet that is supplemented by inards? Years ago something would go through our garden and bite the green tomatoes in half, spitting the one half out, wasting it all. On the same nights all of the jalepenos would be eaten right to the stem, irritating. I caught the culprit after a few weeks, a mule deer doe would go over the chain link fence to get her "taco" on!

Did you have her with salsa [emoji1380]??


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[fiberoptik]

253667

I saw that same deer [emoji1662] on Netflix — Train to Busan. Started the whole zombie apocalypse! Good movie!!


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[kens]

I was on the beach on one of the barrier islands coastal Georgia, I was surprised to see deer prints on the edge of saltwater, then even more eye opening when I found a big horseshoe crab all eaten up by deer, fresh prints all around it like a party went on.

[Lowbudget12]

Last year I had otters in my pond. I put up a camera on a toilet and got pics of deer eating the scales and left over fish. I have also noticed they are attracted to some coyote baits. They will come stand around and dig at the dirt hole until they set the trap off.

[georgerkahn]

Most all critters (including Cervidae (aka deer) and even humans ;) ) have starvation death as one of their main avoidances. Hence, if it might be edible, and one is hungry enough... "why not?". There is learning associated with this though, ranging from, say, which mushroom is yummy versus the "Angel of Death" species, and goes further into PARTS of something possibly edible. Coming to mind is the Fugu -- a Japanese puffer fish which is purportedly quite delicious -- except for its liver which contains quite lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin.
Similarly, of -- in the scope of time -- recent awareness, is a much more insidious threat. To wit, it is the dreaded bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), aka Mad Cow Disease, where an abnormal protein called a prion isn't contagious at all, but it always kills the animals that get it as well as humans too— a rare occurrence— in the form of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The thoughts re this is most any critter may safely eat pretty much any/all body parts of another, EXCEPT.... "Except" what??? The theory is BSE prion containing parts include most infectious organs— where BSE prions cluster— which are the brain and spinal cord, followed, on a less infectious level, the pineal, pituitary, and adrenal glands, spleen, tonsils, placenta, lymph nodes, ileum, part of the colon, dura mater, and cerebrospinal fluid. Less infectious still are the distal colon, nasal mucosa, sciatic nerve, bone marrow, liver, lung, pancreas, and thymus gland.
Deer (and cows) are generally herbivores. But, when hunger mandates they do (generally with little harm or chance of BSE) eat the meat of birds, fish, and other mammals. Sadly, a lot of man-made commercial feed includes ground up carcasses. -- which includes organs -- the above mentioned cerebrospinal and similar parts infected with the highly contagious when ingested BSE causing prion.
This is one (the main) reason (general) deer feeding is outlawed in many regions (including New York State as a whole). No, deer are not believed to contract BSE from a bale of alfalfa; but... store-bought "deer food" with spinal cord remains of other critters in it?
I know I have been (hopefully) a lot "smarter" in my deer butchering armed with this awareness.
geo

[kens]

I wonder, of all the mentions of deer eating meat, or, remains, what time of year was that sighting?
Was it in the winter season of no vegetation?
Was it in the summer season of foliage greens?

[C-dubb]

One instance was early fall with lots of green still around. The other was just a couple of weeks ago with no green but plenty of grain in the fields for deer to eat.

[firefly1957]

I wonder, of all the mentions of deer eating meat, or, remains, what time of year was that sighting?
Was it in the winter season of no vegetation?
Was it in the summer season of foliage greens?

I have only looked in Winter as I rarely have cameras out in summer then there is the ability to read tracks much better in the snow rather then in ground growth.

[firefly1957]

Hello fellow Michigander - I agree that some diseases is indeed spread by deer eating the guts/ remains of dead deer- I’ve also seen them eat dead fish- and just read about deer eating human remains- one time in a study and one time a murder victim was dumped in a state park and according to the “experts” it was deer knawing on he bones.
I laugh at the baiting ban- I can on any given day sit in my stand and see- 3-4 deer eating aco is, eating pieces that fall from the others mouths- and lick each other’s faces multiple times. Also
At my old hunting grounds- there was a recently dried up lake bed- the deer and other animals ate the soft dirt, saw it several times- don’t know if it was for calcium or what but where they did eat the ground half dozen deer would have their heads in the same hole.

I know I saw a site like that in Lapeer state game area (at one time it was called bass lake) where a lake dried up and deer were rooting in the muck I too wondered just what they were after . As far as deer licking one another they are very social if that is all it took they would be gone in huge areas every winter they bunch up in herds any place there is deep snow . Just Now in my back yard with a foot of snow on the ground two are lying there watching my house now it is 45 minutes after light in the morning and 8 degrees.

[Buzz Krumhunger]

“The theory is BSE prion containing parts include most infectious organs— where BSE prions cluster— which are the brain and spinal cord, followed, on a less infectious level, the pineal, pituitary, and adrenal glands, spleen, tonsils, placenta, lymph nodes, ileum, part of the colon, dura mater, and cerebrospinal fluid. Less infectious still are the distal colon, nasal mucosa, sciatic nerve, bone marrow, liver, lung, pancreas, and thymus gland.“

Guess I’ll quit eating chorizo.:shock:

[Ateam]

They will eat winter fish kill after ice out. Deer are also very hard on ground nesting birds, including grouse and pheasants, as they will eat a nest full of eggs as readily as green things in the spring. I have never seen it in print, but I think this is why our game bird populations are way down (deer numbers are way up) here in Michigan. Pheasants are almost totally gone now in the LP.

[firefly1957]

They will eat winter fish kill after ice out. Deer are also very hard on ground nesting birds, including grouse and pheasants, as they will eat a nest full of eggs as readily as green things in the spring. I have never seen it in print, but I think this is why our game bird populations are way down (deer numbers are way up) here in Michigan. Pheasants are almost totally gone now in the LP.

Long before the deer population exploded the Pheasant population dropped in Macomb and Lapeer counties where I hunted it did coincide with the explosion of population of the possum in the area.