With the wild deer populations all around the world pushing further and further into our major towns and cities, it is becoming increasingly popular for people to come into contact with deer in their daily lives.
This has resulted in a spike in questions from people in urban areas as to how they should interact with deer as well as what they can feed the wild deer that they see, especially in wintertime when food is scarce.
Although it is usually best to just avoid wild deer where possible, especially if there is a stag present, we know that many people will still try to feed the wild deer that they see.
Some of the questions that we see from the community based on what they can and can’t feed wild deer present a potential health risk to the deer though as deer can often eat something that they shouldn’t without knowing it is bad for them.
This is why we are covering so many questions like this even though our recommendation is to not try feeding wild deer if possible.
Recently, we have noticed more and more people reaching out and asking various questions about if deer eat bananas or not as well as a couple of other questions based around feeding deer banana products.
With so many suddenly reaching out to ask if deer eat bananas, we decided to publish our own dedicated article going over the topic to try and help as many of our readers as possible.
Do Deer Eat Bananas?
Deer will eat bananas but it is recommended that you fully peel the banana prior to giving it to deer.
There are no known issues with feeding bananas to deer at this time but we would recommend that you try to stick to the natural diet of wild deer in your area where possible or feed them a commercial deer food instead of a banana.
Due to bananas being a particularly nutrient-dense food option, we often see people thinking that they are actually helping wild deer by feeding them these foods that are packed with vitamins and minerals.
The problem with this outlook is that deer have not evolved to have many nutrient-dense foods in their system so they have a longer than average digestive process allowing them to draw everything that they require from the foods in their local habitat.
This is why opting to use a high-quality, commercial deer food is often going to be the best option for the majority of people and in some situations, it can actually end up working out to be much cheaper than deer food too.
Split between those deer feed products and the other food sources that the deer is able to find while out in the local woods and forests should be able to deliver it a nutritionally complete diet with ease.
Do Deer Eat Banana Skins?
Although banana peel is eaten by humans in many parts of the world while also being highly nutritious, it can present a choking hazard for deer as their teeth have not evolved to deal with the particularly fibrous banana skin.
In theory, you could chop the banana skin up into much smaller sections and feed it to deer though as it contains a huge number of vitamins and minerals.
Even then though, chopping the banana skin up into much smaller parts that can be considered safe to give to wild deer takes time and effort when you are able to just opt to feed the wild deer in your local area an optimised deer food anyway.
Not only does this save you time but it can also help to save you money too as it can work out cheaper than bananas in some areas, especially if you are trying to feed a large number of deer on a regular basis.
Just because wild deer are able to digest banana skins, does not mean that you should be feeding them to the deer too with some areas having specific advisory notices in effect on what you are and are not able to feed the local wild deer in your area.
This is usually done for good reason and often to protect the well-being of the deer rather than to prevent you from feeding them so always check the local notices in your area.
Should You Feed Bananas To Deer?
There are many better food options than bananas that you are able to feed to the wild deer in your local area.
These range from corn and oats to more natural food products such as grass and flowers with both options often being available for cheap online allowing you to get a very budget friendly food source for your local deer that they will love.
As we have mentioned above, there are plenty of commercial deer food on the market that you are able to purchase for cheap and feed to the deer in your local area.
In our opinion, this is definitely the best option to go for and the deer will be able to digest the food and process it without issue.
You can also look for local groups on social media who care for the local deer in your area as many of them have feeding plants that you are able to get involved in.
You can often ask for advice on what they feed the deer in your area as well as the best locations to feed them to discourage the deer going into areas where they can cause problems or get too close to traffic.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over if deer eat bananas or not to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you understand that although deer can and will eat bananas if you give them to the deer, you should often avoid doing it and go with a more suitable food option in most cases.
