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what trees or shrubs are poisonous to deer

Joined Aug 2010
63 Posts | 0+
Plain City Ohio USA
In the procces of building deer fence. What trees or shrubs if any are poisonous to deer? Thanks



Shawn Miller

Pine Grove Whitetails
 
I know you have to watch choke cherry trees. While they can and do eat the live green leafs without any ill effect if a branch of the tree should break off say during a wind storm you have to keep them away for about 5 days. As the live leaves breakdown they put off a toxic acid that can kill a deer. Rick
 
Rick...Are the choke cherry those with the somewhat irregular bark, has berries in somewhat of a loose cluster, and arrowhead shaped leaf? And how soon would they die from being eating the leaves?
 
I know they grow all over Illinois and the berries are in loose cluster and dark in color. The leaves are small and narrow. The bark is a grey color and smooth with occasional splits in the bark that sort of exfoliate back like a birch but not nearly as pronounced. The toxins when present are fast acting. I beleive the actual toxin is prussic acid. Like I said they are only there for a short time. I removed dozens of trees when I first set up my pens but many have shot up suckers off the stump and The deer occasionally eat the leaves off those shoots with no ill effects what so ever. Its only on a damaged limb where the leaves whither. In the fall when the leaves turn color(yellow) and fall off they don't seem to bother them. They must not be that tasty because I have never seen a wild deer pay any attetion to them at all. The only way it would be a problem is if there was little else for the deer to browse. I have also heard that too many red oak leaves are not good for deer but I have dozens of huge red oaks on my place and the deer don't seem to eat many of them and I have never seen a problem. Rick
 

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