Bark on young stems is a shiny orange brown color that gradually turns white and 'papery.' White Birch - This is the common 'paper' or 'canoe' birch. Oaks - Buds at ends of twigs are clustered and only moderate in food value, but acorns provide excellent deer food.ДЄsh - Green to light brownish gray, stiff, smooth stems with opposite, dark brown and black buds. Young stands provide good winter cover, but only fair deer food. Needles, 2 in a bundle are 1 to 1 ВЅ inches long. Balm of Gilead (a poor deer food) looks similar, but has gray-green bark with bin sticky end buds and grows in wet areas. Trembling aspen has whitish, greenish gray bark and long pointed shiny buds Big toothed aspen has yellow green bark and fatter, fuzzy buds. Bunches of fuzzy red fruit at the top of all sumac plants.ДЄspen - This tree is, also called 'popple' or 'poplar' and is one of the most common Michigan trees. One kind is fuzzy and resembles antlers in velvet. Sumac - Shrub commonly found in old fields and forest openings. Other species have reddish green, brown, or gray twigs.

Young yellow birch looks like ironwood (a poor deer food), but ironwood has no wintergreen taste.Дogwoods and Viburnums - Shrubs that generally have opposite buds like maples. Yellow Birch - The bark of young tree, and twigs is brownish turning yellowish-gray and curling up when older. Red maple has red twigs and reddish rounded buds and is better deer food. Maples - Trees with buds opposite each other Sugar maple has brownish or gray twigs with brown pointed buds. Deer will eat white pine before they take other pines. White Pine - The only Michigan pine with five needles in a cluster. In many areas browsing deer have eaten practically all cedar within reach.

A swamp tree but it can grow on moist upland. White Cedar (Arbor Vitae) - Evergreen with flat scalelike 'leaves.' Some varieties used for ornamental shrubbery. Use this guide to determine the feeding conditions at your favorite deer hunting or viewing area. What you remember as good deer habitat 15 years ago is probably poor habitat today. As trees grow, a maturing forest provides far less food than its previous young, brushy phase which occurred shortly after logging. Woodlands are dynamic, changing from year to year. Rabbits also browse low twigs, but use by the two species can be distinguished easily. Remember, look for browsed vegetation from ground level to about five feet in height. By learning to 'key' in on areas with preferred foods and with signs of browsing, you can enhance your chances of seeing deer. This guide is designed to help you identify some woody plants of high, moderate, and low importance to deer. Studies by wildlife biologists indicate deer prefer particular plants and dislike or will not eat others at least not until the preferred foods are no longer available, During these seasons, deer browse on the leaves, needles, buds, and twig ends of trees and shrubs. As a hunter trying to optimize the chance of success or a landowner wishing to improve land for deer, you should be observant of deer activity and learn to identify the foods on which deer depend.ДЇood sources available in the fall, winter, and early spring are most critical to deer because they affect body condition, winter survival, and reproduction. The white-tailed deer is our most popular game animal, enjoyed by 700,000 Michigan hunters and countless others interested in photographing or simply viewing these animals.

The long dark maple sapling