do deer eat plums?

[catfishkid]

hey guys,

I just found a new spot to hunt. when I took a walk through it a couple of weeks ago I found three or four plum trees that were loaded with fruit. will the deer eat this, I have never heard anybody talk about it.

thanks a lot.

[buckhunter21]

Yes deer will eat plums and they also love the new growth on plum trees. But if they were loaded with fruit a couple weeks ago there is probably a good chance most if not all of the plums have dropped by now depending on how ripe they were and exactly how long ago it was. All of our plums were ripe about 3 weeks ago and all were pretty much dropped after only about a week or two. But there are different types of plum trees and maybe some will hold on longer than the type we have.

[koonie]

Yes deer do eat plums. I once found where a deer had bedded down after feeding on plums and there were about 35 plums pits laying there as well.

[catfishkid]

thanks for the reply. I will have to check it out next week from the stand.

[Bowfin]

I'm glad to hear deer like plums. This year I starting some native "American plum" plantings on some private land over in Wisconsin. A little north of their natural range but hopefully they will do good. I would suspect turkeys and grouse may like them too? Anybody know?

[buckhunter21]

I dont see why a turkey or grouse wouldnt like the fruit on them, but if nothing else they will make awesome nesting and cover for them.