On Mon, 17 Sep 2012 09:22:09 -0500, Andy > wrote:

>Brooklyn1 <Gravesend1> wrote:
>
>> In winter their diet changes to less grass and more twigs.
>> They browse the brush at the forest edge and eat the
>> exposed grass protected from snow cover by conifers... deer
>> will also dig down through the snow.
>
>
>
>My deer herd (17 at last count) get desperate in winter. They
>feed on the rhododendrons as a last resort. They've eaten the
>lower leaves to about four feet or five feet. I've seen them
>standing on their hind legs to feed!
>
>During summer they have the nasty knack of waiting for the
>hydrangeas to come to full bloom and then eat all the
>blossoms. If I'm lucky I might get a few days of blue before
>they vanish.
>
>The back of the house is a perfect wind break so they sleep on
>the back patio right below the master bedroom. The melted snow
>patches makes for an easy herd count.
>
>They don't eat pine needles as they make better bedding.

Deer don't eat conifer needless that are dead on the ground, but they
will relish many varieties of live conifers. Even though there are
plants listed that deer don't eat some, just like people, will develop
a taste for the particular plants they're purported not to eat,
therefore with a herd of deer about no plant is safe. And deer will
eat pine, fir too, it's spruce they are purported not to eat but still
some deer will seek out particular types of spruce (even deer can have
TIAD).