Food Habits of Mule Deer in Utah

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Abstract
Approx. 125 species were utilized, but the bulk of the seasonal diet (75% or more) consisted of 8 spp. or fewer in each case. The 10 spp. that contributed most to the summer diet were aspen, chokecherry oak, elderberry, snow berry, paintedcup, ligusticum, lupine, pentstemon, and clover. The most prominent forage class in the summer diet was forbs until after midsummer, then browse use gradually exceeded f orb use. Grasses and sedges maintained a low, but fairly constant level in the summer diet. On the winter range, big sagebrush, cliff rose, and bitterbrush provided more than 4/5 of the total diet. The greatest utilization of green grass took place in the spring, at which time it made up about 90% of the diet.

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