> William wrote:
> ...
> In Texas, corn/maize is used for deer bait.
>
Please try to persuade anyone you see doing that not to do it, William.
After you read the information below, you may want to support a ban on
baiting deer with corn in your state, as some other states have done. Corn
baiting is not good for deer (results in sick deer), hunters (get the
less-healthy meat of sick, malnourished, and infected deer), or the natural
habitat.
From: The Don'ts and Don'ts of Feeding Deer
By Jan Wrede
Cibolo Nature Center, Boerne, TX
http://www.cibolo.org/learn/documents/deer05.htm
<<Winter is always a particularly stressful time for deer because of reduced
food sources. This is a time when many of us feel a special need to help
them by putting out deer corn. Don't do it! Deer need 12-16% protein in
their diet. Corn has 10% and feeding corn to deer is like feeding them
high-carbohydrate, low-protein candy. Deer hunters feed corn as a bait, not
as a regular diet that builds a healthy deer population. In Kendall and
Comal Counties, where many residents are feeding wildlife, white-tailed deer
are eating too much "candy" and becoming malnourished.
Two different and harmful things are happening. Deer corn often has the
invisible aflatoxin mold growing on it. Corn cannot be sold with more than
60 parts per billion (ppb) aflatoxin, but this does not guarantee that is
safe for deer and other wildlife. Poor storage and excess humidity can
increase the amount of aflatoxin to the point where it is dangerous to
wildlife.Also, birds are harmed by aflatoxin levels 20 ppb and above. They
often clean up what the deer have missed and thus are even more vulnerable.
In suburban areas, where corn is becoming a larger part of their diet,
white-tailed deer are suffering from liver disease. Weakened by liver
damage, particularly vulnerable deer, such as the very young or old, readily
succumb to other ailments. Also, too much corn in a deer's diet can cause a
condition called acidosis that kills natural, digestive-tract bacteria. A
deer suffering from acidosis can no longer digest even the most nutritious
food. Acidosis, aflatoxin or a combination of the two have been diagnosed in
deer living in New Braunfels, Bulverde and Garden Ridge.
Rufus Stephens, Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist for Kendall and Comal
Counties, says, "Don't feed the deer!" He reminds everyone, "Feeding a wild
animal is not good for the animal, its habitat or the landscape. If you want
to help the deer, it is best to maintain their natural food-native plants.
When you see a deer "eating grass," it is really eating clover or some other
broad-leafed plant that grows naturally among the grasses. These plants,
called forbs, are the deer's favorite and most nutritious food. Deer also
browse on shrubs and small trees that we sometimes clear as undesirable
underbrush. Keep these and the deer will have their natural food to eat."
Mr. Stephens says, "If you must feed something, change to high protein
pellets and feed much less! Even better, substitute the feed with a mineral
supplement block and a stable source of water." Suitable mineral blocks are
available at most feed stores.>>
From: Deer
http://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/deer.html
<<Food & Feeding: Deer are omnivorous opportunists and will feed
catholically on grasses, heather, lichen, shoots, bark, leaves, herbs,
rushes, buds, nuts, fungi, fruit and berries and even holly and bramble.
The type of food consumed depends largely on location and season. For
example, grasses, sedges and rushes comprise the bulk of a Red deer's summer
diet, whilst shrubs are staple during the winter. Fallow deer will also
switch to eating bark during the winter months, whilst Roe deer will eat
twiggy litter if conditions become harsh. Similarly, Fallow deer in the New
Forest (UK) will feed primarily on heather in the winter, with acorns and
other fruits featuring heavily in their diet in the autumn. A study in the
journal Mammalia by a group of French scientists found that only six plant
items comprised 80 to 90% of the rumen contents of Roe deer, with bramble
and honeysuckle present year round. The study also found that the deer
switched to eating evergreen plants (e.g. heather and ivy) and some grasses
in the autumn and winter, preferring herbs, young leaves and buds of trees
(hawthorn, oak and hornbeam) in the spring and summer.
...
In Montana, people put out corn and hay for deer over the winter months.
Unfortunately, the deer - that have been grazing in spring pastures - don't
have the gut microorganisms necessary to digest this food. It is not
unknown for deer to starve to death with full stomachs.>>
From: Opposition grows for ban on deer baiting
Bowhunters, feed mills say an extension would further damage hunting,
economy By MEG JONES [log in to unmask]
Posted: Nov. 1, 2002 http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=92339
<<Hunters using bow and arrow - who often lure deer to their tree stands
with piles of corn - are griping about the ban [on deer baiting]. ...
With the ban on feeding and baiting scheduled to expire Nov. 30, the
Department of Natural Resources is expected to request an extension because
of concerns about the possible spread of chronic wasting disease when deer
congregate over bait piles. ...
Wildlife biologists say one possible way the disease is spread is through
close contact between animals. They also say dumping large amounts of
shelled corn and other feed is an unnatural way for deer to eat. ...
Hunting enthusiast Rep. DuWayne Johnsrud (R-Eastman) has objections to
baiting that go beyond the danger of spreading disease. He calls it a lazy
way to hunt.
"Heaven forbid that you'd have to go into the woods and spend some time
hunting a deer instead of sitting up in a tree and taking your pick of which
one has its mouth full of corn. This is not hunting," said Johnsrud, an
outspoken opponent of baiting and feeding.>>
From: AFLATOXIN TAINTED FEED COULD HURT WILD GAME
KINGSVILLE, TX (Oct. 27, 1998)
http://www.tamuk.edu/news/archive/arch98/october/aflatoxin.html
<<...researchers at Texas A&M University and the Texas Agricultural
Extension Service, both at College Station, examined levels of aflatoxin
found in bagged corn marketed for sale as deer or wildlife feed at retail
outlets across the state.
They found almost half of the 100 samples tested contained levels considered
potentially hazardous for wildlife. Forty-four percent of those contained
levels higher than 20 parts per billion and 20 percent had levels at 100
parts per billion or higher. The Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service
recommends that grain tested higher than 100 parts per billion not be used
to feed free-ranging deer.
"The high levels of aflatoxin found in feed corn this year has prompted many
to re-evaluate wildlife feeding programs that use corn as a supplement,"
Fedynich added. "Texas Parks and Wildlife has issued alerts regarding the
potential danger of feeding aflatoxin-contaminated feed to wildlife.">>
From: DEER MANAGEMENT ISSUES--BAITING / SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING
http://www.alabamawildlife.org/baitingbill/research.asp
<<Perhaps the best cumulation of arguments against supplemental feeding was
most recently produced by the Wildlife Management Institute (Williamson
2000). In this easily readable and well-referenced brochure, Scott
Williamson, formerly a biologist in Texas, states, "When and where such
feeding is done, it is undertaken only, if not expressly-for the interest of
people, because fed animals almost invariably will not benefit and will very
likely be harmed by the practice.">>
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