I've noticed the bucks going after oak leaves when the first come out and now in late July/early August. Is there a particular reason why they are hitting the oak leaves?

Is that a live oak or post oak or other oak species?

They love the low hanging live oak leaves at my house.

All the oaks on my place have put on a spurt of new growth after the rains from late May to late July. The deer have been chasing that new growth also.

It's a post oak or a post oak/blackjack hybrid. Not a live oak. I have never seen a doe show this behavior

Look at the browse line on that tree and compare it to a Live Oak. You can see they like that tree in particular and I don't think a doe could reach as high as the bucks can. All the oaks on my place show a high browse line. I have Live Oak, Lacy, Post Oak, Shinnery and Red Oak.

Neat pic

Trim up oak branches, lay them on the ground and watch the deer go nutso over them.

You/re on the southern end of this study but oak browse is most often the most important or one of the most important food items in a whitetails diet. I see this regularly on our ranch. They will eat the leaves, twigs, new acorns and fallen acorns.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_rp_w7000_1017.pdf

Good post doubleac. When I started hunting Okla I did some research and saw the link you posted among others. We have a tremendous amount of oaks on our place. One of the things the study says is that browse is preferred but more depend on rainfall. The oaks(forbes) are not so rainfall dependent and help even out the nutritional plane during dry times. And then theres the acorns(mast) which can be abundant(varies by year.) Although always dependent on rain, it seems like our little neck of the woods does not have as much boom or bust antler growth which can cycle based on rainfall. This is just a theory that I have read and heard and seems to have some logic, but if Im wrong Im sure STx will be along to nicely set me straight, or clarify.

The field days I went to and research I read said most of the Oaks in central Texas were a class IV plant. Class I are the highly desired ice cream plants. I was told if deer are utilizing oaks and you see a browse line then you have to many deer for the habitat. Their nutritional value can vary by species, rainfall and time of the year. Protein values generally under 12% and acorns are around 7-8%. They both keep deer alive due to the amount of oaks in many areas of central Texas. Most oaks are older and high canopy due to over browsing. Oak wilt and decline are killing them rapidly due to deer keeping the new growth from establishing.

Have seen deer browse on oak leaves numerous times in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Mostly white oak and usually on small trees. May just be a function of what they can reach.

I have seen deer and cows eat oak leaves, post oak, red oak and Shinnery. Water oaks and pin oaks some and one buck on live oaks in the spring when they were getting the new growth leaves.

Just yesterday I had a buck and a doe eating low hanging Pecan tree leaves in the side yard. I don’t remember seeing that before.

Nice pic