Competition for acorns isn’t a big problem for deer and turkeys.
QUESTION: We’ve had a pretty bad winter so far, and there was a very light acorn crop where I hunt. I’ve noticed a lot of turkey sign. Should I be worried the turkeys will eat all the acorns and the deer won’t have enough food?
ANSWER: This is one of those myths that just won’t go away. Deer and turkeys both eat acorns and have been co-existing for a lot longer than we’ve been around to witness it. In fact, deer have several distinct advantages. If so motivated, they can feed 24/7, while turkeys are only active in daylight.
Deer locate food by both sight and scent, while turkeys use only sight. Deer are also more well adapted to accessing food in deep or crusty snow, at a time of the year when it is scarcest.
It’s possible you might witness a large winter flock of turkeys intimidate deer from a specific location, but that’s an isolated incident. It’s also possible deer could do the same to turkeys on a different occasion. It’s also important to remember that acorns are something of a luxury. They may be abundant one year and scarce or absent another, and both deer and turkeys do just fine with other foods in years with poor mast crops.
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