Recently I walked through an area where it appears a lot of deer travel.  There was deer poop everywhere, little mountains of poop.  Its pellets remind me of rabbit poop, but unlike rabbit scat, deer scat clumps. I began to wonder about its use as fertilizer.  After all, cow, horse, rabbit and chicken manure are used for enriching gardens.

The best way to use animal manure is to compost it so heat kills pathogens and weed seed as well.  Are you willing to scoop up deer poop here, there, and everywhere so you can compost it?  A variety of sources confirm that deer poop can be used on gardens, but it is wise to use it on flower and shrub gardens, not your vegetable garden.

Deer who subsist on plants in the rural wild may not have enough variety in their food to provide nutritious manure. But when deer come to browse our landscaping in urban and suburban areas, then the variety of food increases as does the nutritional value of the manure.

Perhaps you are interested in trying to use deer poop.  Just be sure it’s been well composted. As for me, I think I’ll let the deer poop fertilize the field where I found it.