A month before the pumpkin army invades the deer woods, real pumpkins emerge onto porches and sidewalks around the nation. Although pumpkins are very edible, few people go through the rigors of cooking them into pies, breads, and other foods. Eventually, pumpkins rot into a gooey mess that attracts flies and other unwanted creatures. An alternative to this natural decay is to feed pumpkins to wildlife, especially deer. However, since most deer don’t live near pumpkin patches, will deer eat them?
Pumpkin Smashing
I live in Western Maryland, and in my experience, deer will eat pumpkins, but only if they are smashed first. If you plan on hunting near a pumpkin site, be sure that hunting by bait is legal in your state. Additionally, in my experience, a pile of smashed pumpkins takes some time for deer to get accustomed to. It may take up to a week for the adjustment to take effect. That was the experience of a friend of mine, who said that once the deer developed a taste for pumpkins, they ate them down to the stems. The following short video poses an experiment of placing just the “guts” of a pumpkin in the woods. Here’s what he learned: