Poison Ivy/Poison Oak

[Ferguson288]

I am about to build a fawn pen and where I want to build it has a mess of poison ivy and poison oak. Can deer get this? I dont really know, and I want to just rip it off the trees but then I dont know if there will be remnants left of it. Any help is appreciated.

[Reed68]

I've heard it will be the first thing they will eat, they love it.

[Ferguson288]

My question: Will it harm them in any way?

[Reed68]

"I" would say no. You may want to wait on the bigger, smater farms to repley before you make your decision.

[Isaac@AppleCreek]

Here,
I found this off of A website.

Poison Ivy is also a food source for animals. White-tailed Deer, Muskrat, and Eastern Cottontail eat the leaves and stems. Many birds, including crows, bluebirds, and turkeys eat the fruit. Insects munch on the leaves.

Poison Ivy's foliage (leaves and stems) provides shelter for small animals.

[Buckskin]

Our deer eat it and love it. We had a pen that we built 3 years ago that was full of it. It was on all the trees and intermingled in the ground cover everywhere. When we released the deer into it they started on it imediatley. Today you would be hard pressed to find a leaf of it anywhere. I have also seen wild deer eating it while I've been hunting. I wouldn't worry even though I was warned that they might get blisters on there mouths from a vet, I never saw any sign of a blister or even redness on their mouths. Rick

[Ferguson288]

thanks that helps

[Antlershed]

I have it in all three of my pens, but only temporarily because when i rotate the deer into a different pen the eat it off right away. They will eat any weed except thistle. Im glad they eat poision ivy because I get it really bad it i come in contact with it.