The deer is a herbivorous animal. The deer love to eat the berks, green herbs, plants, and apples. They love to stay around pine trees. Let’s see if deer love Pine cones more than any other food.
Do deer eat pine cones?
Deer generally love acorns. Instead of the acorn, they love different nuts, berries, persimmons etc. When they don’t get enough food, they eat Pine cones. Basically, they’re surviving instincts push them to eat Pine cones. Generally, they will prefer acorns over Pine cones.
Table of Contents
As deer tend to munch on the pine cones while there are no foods around, it makes the pine cones least appreciated by the deer. But do all deer eats them? Let’s find out.
Whitetail deer:
Different ages of deer require different types of foods. When a whitetail deer is small, it will certainly live on mother’s milk.
After they become a little older, they start eating herbs. Such as fresh green grass, different wild nuts, corn, fruits and whatever pleases their tongue.
Whitetail deer live in the cold places of North America. Though they love cold places, they avoid Alaska, Utah, Nevada, and California.
Pine trees are found in the northern hemisphere. It includes Canada, some states of the United States, and most European countries.
Pine trees generally grow in places where the temperature is relatively lower than most other places. And whitetail deer are also found in the cold places of Canada, the United States and Europe.
Pine cones grow on the pine trees during their reproducing session. Pine cones contain seeds for the tree to regenerate.
Mail and female Pine cones grow in the same tree. When these pine cones fall from the tree, they become food for squirrels, chipmunks, and different types of birds.
Whitetail deer don’t like Pine cones. Rather, they prefer acorns, grass, and berks of trees. When they have to survive and are not getting any food, they eat Pine cones to live. Pine cones provide them with vitamins, and they help them resolute hunger.
Do deer eat green pine cones?
Yes, deer eat green pine cones. It is not the best food they can get. They love other herbs, fruits etc. But whether it is green or any other pine cones, that is not the most suitable food for them. The deer is a herbivorous animal.
Deer eat pine cones when they have no other food choices. Still, they love Red Pine, Mugo Pine, White Pine, and Austrian pine.
There are about forty-nine species of pine trees in the northern hemisphere. So, if the deer don’t get any food for themselves, they may eat green pine cones.
Do deer like pine cones?
No, deer don’t like pine cones. They eat pine cones only when they have shortages of food. They eat all kinds of herbs and fruits that fill their tummies. The primary food they take is acorns, herbs, nuts, and grass.
The shortage of food starts during the dry seasons. When even grasses are not plenty enough to feed a large hoard of deer, they look for other food sources. At that time, if they find any pine cones, they eat them. Mainly they eat pine cones to survive.
So, they don’t look for pine cones, but they will love them when they have nothing to eat.
Why are deer eating my pine cones?
Deer don’t like to eat pine cones. But still they sometimes eat them. But why so? Let’s find out.
Easy to Access:
If the deer can get easy access to your yard, they will come all the time. Because they will have food that is easy to get without the tension of getting captured by a predator.
Shortage of Other Food Sources:
Deer don’t consider pine cones as their primary food. They eat pine cones only when they cannot find any other foods. So, during the season when deer cannot get food for themselves, they will come to eat from your pine trees.
To survive:
Deer’s primary target of eating is to survive. If they cannot get enough food for themselves, they cannot survive.
Also, they need to work a lot to get a viable food source. When they are empty without any food, they look for pine cones or other food that may help them survive.
No Fencing and Other Repellent Around the Yard:
Prevention is better than cure. When you install a fence around your yard, deer cannot get inside it.
Also, it might be costly initially, but installing a fence around your yard will help you get rid of these animals for a longer time. Also, you can use repellent for the short term to avoid these animals coming to your yard.
Food Shortage During the Summer & Winter:
When there is excessive heat or snowfall, the food becomes scarce to find. At that time, you need to make sure that your yard is safe and sound from these animals.
Do deer eat pine branches?
Deer don’t necessarily eat pine branches. They will eat them only when deer need food. Deer need a high amount of protein. They need to maintain at least two to four pounds of food daily. But when there is a food crisis, they will eat more to store energy for future usage.
Like pine cones, they eat pine branches when they cannot get enough food. Sometimes they eat fruit and berries as well. Here pine needles, or the leaves of pine trees, are loved by them. So, if they start eating pine needles, they will eat pine branches as well.
As herbivorous animals, they will eat almost all types of leaves. And they gather all sorts of vitamins, proteins, and minerals from tree branches, tips, and cones.
Are pine cones good for deers?
Pine cones are not considered very good for deer. Instead, they are suitable for them to avoid hunger. They help them survive during the autumn season, from September to December. Basically, in this period, pine cones come from pine branches.
They fall from the tree, and the deer take the food from the surface. Pine cones have pine nuts. Pine nuts have energy increasing components such as protein, iron, and magnesium.
Also, the vitamin E in it can help the deer maintain its skin beauty. Pine nuts help deer keep minerals when there is a scarcity of food.
What pine trees do deer eat?
There are about 49 species of pine trees in North America and about 120 species of pine trees worldwide. However, deer love to eat Red Pine cones, Mugo Pine cones, White Pine cones and Austrian Pine cones.
Moreover, they love to eat the pine needles of these species. If your pine trees are being eaten by deer, you should not plant these particular species. Moreover, pine trees are not the first choice of deer. They eat them when they have no food to choose from.
So, pine trees are the last place for them to collect food. Generally, deer eat from all the pine trees. They eat from pine trees only when they don’t have other food sources left. So, they cannot be choosy at this time. Because they have nothing to choose from.
How to stop deer from eating pine cones?
You need to make sure that you take proper measures to stop the deer to feed on pine cones. Let’s know about them.
Plant Deer-Resistant Plants:
Some deer are not friendly with some plants, which trees are, some flowery plants such as daffodils, marigolds, poppies, and foxgloves. They don’t love to be around these flower plants. So, if your place doesn’t have such plants, plant them before deer invade.
Use Blood Meal:
A blood meal is typically dried grounded blood crystals. You can buy blood meals from superstores such as Target or Walmart.
Generally, blood meals help you get rid of rodents, chipmunks and squirrels. When deer smell blood, they think that some predator might be there for them.
Use of Soaps and Other Deer repellents:
The smell and the chemical with it help deter deer. Deer do not love the chemical smell, and there are designated deer repellents. Sometimes the deer repellents are nature friendly, and sometimes, they are not.
So, purchase nature-friendly deer repellents. Or the repellent might be harmful to other good creatures.
Fence Around your Area:
The most effective way of stopping deer is to fence around your yard. It is the most effective way of keeping these big mammals away. Some deer are aggressive, so you can easily get rid of deer if you fence your yard.
Final Thoughts
Deer can eat pine cones, but these are not their regular foods. They look for pecans, nuts, fresh grass, pine needles and fruits like berries and apples, and sometimes they eat berks. When they cannot get this food in the first place, they go for pine nuts or pine cones. Pine isn’t harmful to deer.