crabapples

[cecil30-30]

Ive got a crab apple tree 15 yds in front of my stand thats loaded and is dropping like crazy. Question is , how prefered as a food source are they to deer? Ive also heard deer dont eat them until it freezes on them.

 

[pcrc]

Got a couple of crab apple trees on the way to my stand in Scott County. Have never seen so much as one apple that ever looked like it had been touched by a deer. I asked this same question few year back and was told that the deer eat them up. The ones on my property must be real sour.

 

[Crosshairy]

It depends greatly on what they have to pick from. In an area with poor browse, those are probably favorites. In an area covered in persimmon trees and honeysuckle, they might pass them up (just making up examples - I don't attest to the fact that they like persimmon more than crab apple).

 

[jb3]

I use to hunt an area full of them and the deer ate them up. Then again, the browse in that area was very poor.

 

[tailchaser]

From what I have seen ,they eat on them after the apple starts to rot a little.

 

[Inkstainz]

I think it depends on what else they have to eat.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I use to hunt over several on the park in Scott Co. Killed several over them in bow season. Course that was crabapples in the middle of thousands of acres of nothing but mature hardwoods.