12 Deer Found dead: Supplemental Feeding the cause

[Hunter 257W]

I would think moldy corn more the culprit here but that's just my "gut" instinct. Hard to believe that even going to 100% corn or other manufactured pellets would kill a whole group of wild animals. Might not provide optimum all around nutrition but there's a pretty big gap between unhealthy and dead.

 

[landman]

I have watched dairy cows die in the milk barn
lot due them eating too much fescue grass
Packing their stomachs
Too much fiber at one time

They really don't know what killed them unless
they cut them open

 

[RecurveShooter]

Aflotoxin is one possibility.

The other I don't remember the proper term. It happens as described in the article when ruminants make a drastic change in food consumption. The bacteria counts in the stomach go through the roof and they die from bacterial infection. I saw it in college once when we were looking at a dead fawn someone brought in...looked generally healthy but had a stomach packed full of bird food and this is what the professor told us was the likely cause.

 

[BSK]

Deer digest most of their food through bacterial action instead of through stomach acids like we do. Different bacteria are needed to break down different foods. Suddenly change a deer's diet to a new food they are not accustomed to and they may not have the necessary species of bacteria needed to break that food down. The deer die with full stomachs because they are unable to digest what they've consumed.

 

[TheLBLman]

The deer die with full stomachs because they are unable to digest what they've consumed.

This would be a similar death to a human suffering an intestinal blockage?

 

[redblood]

I have watched dairy cows die in the milk barn
lot due them eating too much fescue grass
Packing their stomachs
Too much fiber at one time

They really don't know what killed them unless
they cut them open

fesue toxicity can kill em dead in the early spring.

grass tetanus have similar results.

 

[redblood]

The deer die with full stomachs because they are unable to digest what they've consumed.

This would be a similar death to a human suffering an intestinal blockage?

An intestinal blockage in a human would be more akin to colic in horses

 

[TheLBLman]

Seems there is much more potential for harm than good by feeding corn, especially during the summer months?

 

[TNGunsmoke]

So if I want to put some corn in front of a camera, just for a survey, when would be the best time for it in order to not cause any harm?