Should I feed deer in the winter? - Ask Extension
I'm not sure who to send this to in the Extension so I'm picking on you garden folks hoping you'll know where to send this if it's not in your lane.
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Knowledgebase
Should I feed deer in the winter? #892902
Asked February 20, 2025, 6:30 PM EST
I'm not sure who to send this to in the Extension so I'm picking on you garden folks hoping you'll know where to send this if it's not in your lane.
I feed the local Potomac fauna 'critter food' in the winter. I usually get deer, foxes, and the occasional raccoon although I haven't seen any of those in several months. I read an article today that said that it is bad to feed the deer in the winter - especially corn - because the gut bacteria change with each type of food associated with each season and it disrupts gut chemistry in the winter to feed summer/fall food. I've also heard that our deer sometimes starve in the winter because there are so many of them but this article said that in the winter, deer mainly subsist on tree bark and branches of which we have plenty. I know they eat my arbor vitae but I don't mind at all.
I certainly don't want to be doing something that could harm the creatures we share the land with so I'm not sure what to do. I know I'm probably contributing to the deer population growth but I just can't help myself. :) I had 4 deer resting in the snow in my front yard overnight this past weekend.
Anyway, back to my question. Other than contributing to our deer overpopulation problem, am I doing any other kind of harm to these critters? And what about the foxes?
Thanks so much for your help. You have always been so kind to respond to my many questions in the past and I love that you are there to set me straight.
Gerri
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
Feeding deer is not recommended, in part because it supports higher deer populations when the regional populations already exceed what the ecosystem can support (which either can cause some individuals to become malnourished or starve later if they can't access the supplemental food, or causes them to further damage native plants (and some non-native garden plants too) that they eat in addition to human-supplied food). It also concentrates animals that can more easily spread diseases between herds.
In Maryland, feeding wildlife is not illegal with the exception of it being associated with hunting (not the case here, we realize). If you wanted to verify this, you could inquire with wildlife biologists at the MD Department of Natural Resources. An email can be sent to <personal data hidden>, or if you would like to speak to someone, they have a Wildlife and Heritage Service phone number at<personal data hidden>. The phone line is staffed during regular business hours, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, except state holidays and weekends.
If the feeding stops and deer disperse, then some of them may stop putting as much browsing pressure on garden plants in neighboring yards (which might be a costly and frustrating issue for them, especially if they're trying to support the local ecosystem by growing native plants). Still, a certain degree of over-browsing may persist because deer are overpopulated region-wide, and because some individuals are already accustomed to finding palatable plants in nearby gardens and have that area as part of their home territory. A surprising percentage of deer live in suburban neighborhoods (where those areas comprise most, if not all, of their home range) rather than dwelling more in woodlands and only occasionally venturing into suburban developments. This also may increase the risk of exposure to Lyme Disease, especially if food left out also attracts rodents that host ticks or the pathogen.
We don't have enough expertise in deer biology to speak to the seasonal gut flora changes, but you could ask the DNR about that. Concentrating any wild animal by providing food can increase the risk of disease spread among that population, plus territorial conflicts that may injure or kill some of those animals. Depending on what they're eating, human-offered food also might not be a nutritious option for them, but here too, you'd need to ask the DNR about what the consequences may be.
Miri
In Maryland, feeding wildlife is not illegal with the exception of it being associated with hunting (not the case here, we realize). If you wanted to verify this, you could inquire with wildlife biologists at the MD Department of Natural Resources. An email can be sent to <personal data hidden>, or if you would like to speak to someone, they have a Wildlife and Heritage Service phone number at<personal data hidden>. The phone line is staffed during regular business hours, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, except state holidays and weekends.
If the feeding stops and deer disperse, then some of them may stop putting as much browsing pressure on garden plants in neighboring yards (which might be a costly and frustrating issue for them, especially if they're trying to support the local ecosystem by growing native plants). Still, a certain degree of over-browsing may persist because deer are overpopulated region-wide, and because some individuals are already accustomed to finding palatable plants in nearby gardens and have that area as part of their home territory. A surprising percentage of deer live in suburban neighborhoods (where those areas comprise most, if not all, of their home range) rather than dwelling more in woodlands and only occasionally venturing into suburban developments. This also may increase the risk of exposure to Lyme Disease, especially if food left out also attracts rodents that host ticks or the pathogen.
We don't have enough expertise in deer biology to speak to the seasonal gut flora changes, but you could ask the DNR about that. Concentrating any wild animal by providing food can increase the risk of disease spread among that population, plus territorial conflicts that may injure or kill some of those animals. Depending on what they're eating, human-offered food also might not be a nutritious option for them, but here too, you'd need to ask the DNR about what the consequences may be.
Miri
