Forage sign...

Koda · Jun 30, 2021

Summer scouting is much harder in my experience because the dry conditions dry out poop faster and scatters it also dry dirt doesnt often leave tracks and its difficult to tell if its fresh.

so I started looking at forage, deer like forbs, blackberry and sword ferns among others. I found a spot with 1 rub from last fall but no other sign around. I started looking at the forage and noticed some sword ferns looked nipped on. On one fern stalk the tip is missing, another sections of the leaves are missing. This is from coastal blacktail country...

hunters, what do you think... is this pic an example of a deer foraging on this fern?

Stomper · Jun 30, 2021

If so…. no wonder their poop is itty-bitty little balls. Sword fern will put the fiber in ya!

Interesting observation though, never thought to consider that.

Koda · Jun 30, 2021

Stomper said:
If so…. no wonder their poop is itty-bitty little balls. Sword fern will put the fiber in ya!

Interesting observation though, never thought to consider that.

Ive heard that clover can form small cow like patties but I dunno.

Ive also never thought to look for it till now.... find the best forage and you'll find the deer... so they say, Im not quite certain what to do with this information in the coast range where forage is literally everywhere .

WalkingTall · Jul 1, 2021

Very interesting thread. Haven't got into tracking much myself. I have taken friends snow showing up to Mt Hood for their tracking groups before, they seemed to have a good time. I just went shooting instead. Also didn't have any snow shoes. Might have to take one of their tracking books and get out there and try.

Andy54Hawken · Jul 1, 2021

Sure looks like a deer has been feeding on them to me.
Deer have sharp teeth...so "nip"is a good word to use...Sharp , clean cuts to leaves and limbs are worth noting...
As is comparing what you see to the surrounding area...any other sign left...things like scat , trails , rubs etc...
Andy

Howard1955 · Jul 1, 2021

They do nip the ends off of things as they walk through an area. If it's good, or there's nothing better, you'll see a lot of tips bitten off.

I don't know if they have a preference for ferns, but it wouldn't surprise me if they browsed it on the way by.

A deer did the same thing to one of my wife's peony plants a couple days ago. They'll eat roses, tomatoes, whatever.

Check the area around the fern, a few hundred feet. If there are more plants that are trimmed off like that, it's probably a deer. Might be an elk.

Flymph · Jul 1, 2021

Howard1955 said:
They do nip the ends off of things as they walk through an area. If it's good, or there's nothing better, you'll see a lot of tips bitten off.

I don't know if they have a preference for ferns, but it wouldn't surprise me if they browsed it on the way by.

A deer did the same thing to one of my wife's peony plants a couple days ago. They'll eat roses, tomatoes, whatever.

Check the area around the fern, a few hundred feet. If there are more plants that are trimmed off like that, it's probably a deer. Might be an elk.

Heck, I had a deer nibble on my ginsing bonzai the other day!

Koda · Jul 1, 2021

Andy54Hawken said:
Sure looks like a deer has been feeding on them to me.
Deer have sharp teeth...so "nip"is a good word to use...Sharp , clean cuts to leaves and limbs are worth noting...
As is comparing what you see to the surrounding area...any other sign left...things like scat , trails , rubs etc...
Andy

Howard1955 said:
They do nip the ends off of things as they walk through an area. If it's good, or there's nothing better, you'll see a lot of tips bitten off.

I don't know if they have a preference for ferns, but it wouldn't surprise me if they browsed it on the way by.

A deer did the same thing to one of my wife's peony plants a couple days ago. They'll eat roses, tomatoes, whatever.

Check the area around the fern, a few hundred feet. If there are more plants that are trimmed off like that, it's probably a deer. Might be an elk.

It sounds like a consensus that Im finding where they are, or have foraged. Now to figure out what to do with this information... I did some reading on blacktail and they do eat ferns, forbs and especially trailing blackberry. Right now in the hot dry conditions tracks and scat are always harder to find, so finding forage sign looks like a good way to identify an area deer are in. Ive only just started looking for forage sign, and am seeing tips of leaves and plants nipped off here and there, especially the new growth is the greenest and more nutritious.

I guess what I need to do now is find an area with more forage in one area.... and focus on that area and put the forage sign together with any tracks, scat, and other sign. The thing to note is their forage will change and the season progresses into fall and most foraging is done at night, so the spot will likely be a good one to sit in a blind at first and last light.

Im open to any ideas on strategy.

Howard1955 · Jul 1, 2021

A trail camera or two would help you - but there's a risk that your camera(s) can be stolen.

You could put up a couple of tree stands, and watch the area. Same risk as with the cameras, though.

Jason Brown · Jul 1, 2021

I am finding a lot of similarly "browsed on" vegetation in the area where I am currently scouting. I would guess deer since they are very common, but other wildlife will also feed on the same plants/shrubs.

Another sign you can look for is a relatively small area where the grass/underbrush looks like it has been bent over and flattened, likely indicating a resting area where the animals feel comfortable and have bedded down.

Also I use google maps to examine the satellite photos as well as the terrain features of my target area to try and discern possible travel routes that animals may be utilizing, and give me points of interest to investigate once I am in the field. So far this has paid off for me.

Last weekend we placed a trail cam at what seemed to be the convergence of several small game trails at a clearing in the thick forest, which had lots of browsed on vegetation along the trails, and a bedding area in the clearing where the brush was all laid down. Now waiting to go back after a week and see if we get any activity on the trail cam.

Koda · Jul 25, 2021

To follow up on this post the spot seems to be used primarily by elk. I got a chance to check my camera today after about 30 days and picked up a few cows, a calf and a 3 or 4pt bull visiting that spot. Too bad Im not hunting this unit for elk the bull is pretty nice looking.

dplev4 · Jul 25, 2021

Deer love our tulips. They eat cherries too and their poop can be mistaken for bear. Which it isn't.

I would first look for game trails. Often toward water depending on which side you are scouting. Next I look for tracks and poop and always scrapes. Last is bedding areas in meadows or pasture like areas. I have seen some lower limbs - leaves eaten, but not ferns.

Thanks for this. I'll start looking now.