Thanks for the reply. Somewhere in the 30,000 of trees, in general about 60 acres. It is a family Christmas trees farm. You are correct - winter is the time where they eat them. They never used to, but we had one winter where the snow was crusted, so they ate what they could get at. We are improving areas away from the trees for deer. Mostly clover plots, but they are there. I have considered broadcasting shell corn over those areas throughtout the winter to keep them there looking for food.
I am not thinking that there is a tastes-terrible grass that will repel them, but if I can reduce their desire to be in a field when I'm seeding it back anyway, I think it can't hurt.
Thanks again for your advice.
Bill
60 acres is a lot to fence, but it may be worth looking into a Gallagher-Style e-fence. It is low inner and outer stranded electric fence that plays off a deer's limitations. It is fairly low cost compared to other fencing options. This may not work in a deep snow situation as the lower strand may be shorted by the snow.
I figured it was deep snow that cause them to hit the firs to survive. That is why I suggested planting preferred browse away from the trees. Deer don't generally eat most grass, fescue, orchard grass, timothy and such. When you see deer feeding in a pasture they are generally selecting the forbs and other weeds that are growing in the grasses. Any soil disturbance will attract deer.
Another thought, depending on what other trees you have growing in the area might be what the MSU deer lab calls "mineral stumps". You simply cut down mature trees that are a preferred browse species and let them regenerate from the stump. Because there is such a large established root system and so little top growth, the trees push high levels of minerals and nutrients into those water sprouts from the stump. Deer are highly attracted to them and they now have a food source that was previously out of reach in reach.
You might do a modified version of this where you cut the trees a foot or two above the ground leaving a tall stump. If you got heavy crusted snow, this browse would be in easy reach of deer.
The real question is whether you could produce enough food to carry what ever size herd you have through the heavy snow periods.
I don't think anything you do will condition deer enough. Deer are used to adjusting their patterns seasonally. It is not like they will stop going into a place to feed on firs in the winter just because there was no food there in the spring/summer/fall. I would not waste my efforts on planting grasses. Except for bunch type grasses (Native Warm Season Grasses), they don't benefit any wildlife in general. I would either spray with Arsenal to keep competition down for your newly planted fir trees, or just let the native seed bank grow what it wants.
Probably one of the best things you can do is to encourage as much hunting on your land as possible to reduce deer numbers. You could have an agreement with hunters that they must shoot a couple does before they can shoot a buck. I don't know about PA since I haven't lived there since I was young, but in my state, the game department will issue kill permits for commercial operations with crop damage that are good for does. This would complement any efforts to increase preferred winter foods.
