Deer eat a wide variety of food sources including acorns, fruits, leaves, grass, forbs and twigs. The mouth of a deer is designed to nip vegetation as opposed to grazing animals that have much wider mouths.

Much of a deer's diet is lumped into a category called browse. Actually browse is made up of trees, shrubs, vines, grasses and forbs. Note that deer do not eat the entire plant but bite off the tips of branches especially taking the terminal buds on trees and shrubs. Deer can readily access new tree sprouts arising where a tree was cut or blown down. Some favored trees and shrubs include American beautyberry, oaks, black gum, red maple, poplars, strawberry bush, blueberries, many others. Deer eat the leaves and woody parts of vines and bite the top off of grasses. Some favorite vines include honeysuckle, green briar, dewberry, blackberry and grape vines. Forbs include a wide variety of broadleaf plants that flower and produce seeds. Some plants classified as forbs that deer feed on include ragweed, Florida pusley, teaweed, lespedeza, vetch, beggar's tick and many others.