I found a young 8 point Buck dead this morning. He was not killed just died. Buzzards had opened up his belly and it was full of persimmon seeds. He did not look like he was in very good shape anyway. Would having too many seeds in his belly contributed to his death? I have never looked at a WT stomach at this time of year with the amount of persimmons we have this year and did not know if the seeds could maybe have something to do with it.

The seeds contain a chemical that is somewhat poisonous and can cause enteritis, cardiac arrest, coma, or death when to many have been consumed in a short period of time with very little to nothing else in the diet. Per a vet friend of mine

What type of persimmon did you ask him about? Native Texas Persimmons like Don has?

https://rangeplants.tamu.edu/plant/texas-persimmon/ Here is a link that will tell you a bit more. I am far from an expert but the only time I have seen an issue with the Texas Persimmon like in your or my area was on a ranch in Kendall County back in 92 when we mixed corn and protein 50/50 and fed it free choice from Jan till early Aug that year. It rained 44" from Christmas till July 4th that year and we had a mast crop that was unreal. Everything produced a mast that year. Live Oak, Post Oak, Spanish Oak, Shinnery Oak, grapes, Bumelia, Crap Apples, Possum Haw and the Texas Persimmons. The Persimmon were the first to ripen and we lost quite a few deer to them eating those ripened black persimmons since there was so many of them. A biologist told me those native Persimmons when over 50% of the diet mixed into their diet of corn/protein was the issue. Then it followed with acorns and galotannins associated with them when they become over 50% of the deers diet it can cause serious problems. When we stopped the corn in the mix and stayed with free choice protein the numbers of deer that died almost quit. So if that deer was in bad shape and gorging on persimmons he could have an issue like posted above, if he was getting some corn then it is going to cause him to have problems. That is my limited experience with persimmons but if that buck was suffering from "hollow belly"(not enough food) and over ate on persimmons to where they were more than 50% of his diet then that probably killed him. IME the younger deer are hit the worst when they find something they like the taste they overeat. When he gets a belly full and it starts to hurt him and he lives thru it, he won't be as likely to do it when he gets older. I could be wrong and if a Vet can chime in he might say something completely different. Just telling what I have experienced in the past. I have tons of persimmons here right now and not found any deer dead from it, even got 2 yearling bulls eating a lot of them but everything has plenty of natural forage green or dry to eat. Not just a full diet of persimmons.

Thanks Ranchman. His stomach was probably 50% full of persimmon seeds. He was probably 2 days dead when I found him. He did not look in the best of health. Shaggy coat and you could feel his back bone. Antlers were small and not very even. At least it did not seem to have been killed and just died. Thanks

We have persimmons, but have never lost a deer to them(that we know of).
But just think, the acorn binge is just around the corner. I sure hope that it isn't like last year. I had pictures under some trees where there were at least a hundred acorns in a square foot. And it seemed to last all season.
My understanding is that Lyssy and Eckel is adding something to their protein to help the deer through the acorn drop. Something odd like fossilized algae, we will see if helps.