California Mule Deer - Diet and Behavior

Diet and Behavior

California mule deer usually browse close to lakes or streams providing their water source. From that reference point of water consumption they may roam one to two miles, and typically make their beds in grassy areas beneath trees within such a one mile distance radius from both water and forage.

Repeated beds will often be scratched to a nearly level surface, about two meters in diameter. Less regularly used bedding areas are manifested as flattened grass. On hot summer days California mule deer often seek shade and rest in the mid-day.

In summer, California mule deer mainly browse on leaves of small trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, but also consume many types of berry (including blackberry, huckleberry, salal and thimbleberry. In winter, they may expand their forage to conifers (particularly twigs of Douglas fir), aspen, willow, dogwood, juniper, and sage. Year-round, they will feed on acorns; grasses are a secondary food source. Where humans have encroached on historic deer habitat by suburban development or orchards, California mule deer will diversify their diet with garden plant material, with tree fruit, and, occasionally, even with pet food.

Fawns and does tend to forage together in familial groupings while bucks tend to travel singly or with other bucks. California mule deer browse most actively near dawn and dusk, but will also forage at night in open agricultural areas or when experiencing hunting pressure.