We live @ 9000 ft on 20 acres surrounded by BLM and would like to ATTRACT DEER (yes I know the reasons NOT to do this) We want to do this for the kids for them to observe/photograph them safely and learn about wildlife.

I'd like to have a prolific perrenial that will grow easily that deer LIKE to eat.

Thank you for any help/direction you can provide

Well, this is an interesting request! It is definitely the first time somebody has been looking for things to ATTRACT deer! I don’t have a problem with deer, so I’m not gonna be a whole lot of help, but I did notice that Bonnie just posted on the Swap Picture Thread that the deer seem to love her ‘Angelina’ sedum! I suspect they’d like any of the sedums—and just about anything else, since every time the "deer resistant" topic comes up around here, folks are saying how much the deer seem to love their deer resistant plants! ;-)

I think the main problem you might have is since you’re at 9000', you’re going to need to be sure you get things that are hardy that high. Also, if you get something they REALLY like, you might have a problem with the deer eating them so far down into the crown that the plants don’t survive and you’d wind up constantly replacing them. In addition to perennials, you might want to consider planting some veggies to help attract them. I think they’d gobble down things like lettuce—and probably carrot tops and beet tops and spinach and pea greens and............. You get the idea! And if you happen to find something they don’t like, or if things like carrots happen to survive having their tops eaten off, you’d have the benefit of having some veggies to harvest and eat—yourself!!!

Otherwise I’ll leave the specific suggestions for others who have had their plants eaten—and I betcha you’re gonna get LOTS of suggestions!

Welcome to RMG,
Skybird

I figure that you must not like plants, sjboyle, so you could spend lots of $$ and plant acres of tulips and hostas. The deer would be sure to eat them down to nubs in no time.

Cedar is a Winter food for deer . . . surely, those would do okay. Of course, deer even eat yews and azaleas despite the fact that those plants are supposed to be toxic. My biggest problem with deer is them eating tomato and potato vines, toxic again! Everyone would be happy to testify that they will eat - everything, really.

In Gift of the Deer, the author tells how her old neighbor brought venison for her injured deer to eat. Yeah, you could even go with one eating another.

Steve's digits

Okay in seriousness.Most likely you will not have to do much planting to bring them in.Some of the simplest ways are to plant native plants from your area they tend to graze on.Large planters filled with annuals and salad greens work well. They love all types of fruit trees, especially if under planted with hosta and tulips.My ex in laws used to feed them zucchini and all the left over apples from their garden.If your really wanting them you can place salt licks and animal feed blocks around the area,both available at the local feed store.You may also check cabelas or one of those catalogs I believe they sell alfalfa & grass mixes for deer.

You may want to find out what falls as baitng regulations in your area as well to make sure your behaving yourselves.

I will not lecture here, been through this before.Remember these are dangerous animals, during this time of the year they will attack small children, dogs and teenage boys who stumble onto new mothers and babies.We just had a friend who lost their family dog to a doe in their front yard.I have watched my sons be chased both by does(in spring) and by bucks during rut. A few years ago the ex had to hit deer with a 2x4 as it was trying to trample our miniature doxie, less then 30 feet from my home.Just keep that in mind if your doing this for family learning.