Last week's column on the perils of feeding deer corn in winter generated more mail than anything I've written in years. Many readers were mortified that their good intentions may have done more harm than good.

The root of this problem is that many people relate to deer as they relate to people. They see deer moving through deep snow in frigid temperatures and imagine how they would feel.

But white-tailed deer are well adapted to surviving severe winter weather. They prepare in the summer and fall by eating more and putting on layers of fat. When winter arrives, they become more sedentary, eat less and use their stored fat.

Those who feed large amounts of corn do the most damage because, as I explained last week, deer's winter digestive system is not equipped to handle a high carbohydrate diet such as corn. In winter, they eat woody browse -- twigs, buds and stems.

In a perfect world, no one would feed deer. Period. That's the advice from Jerry Feaser, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and Dr. Anne Ballmann, veterinarian and wildlife disease specialist for the National Wildlife Health Center agrees.

Feaser suggests that rather than feed deer, land owners should plant native trees and shrubs that provide food (nuts and fruits) and cover (evergreens).

"That's one of the ways the PGC manages deer habitat on game lands," he said.

But we live in an imperfect world where people often don't do what's best. So here's my advice, based on my own experience and conversations with a variety of professional wildlife biologists:

• If you've been offering large amounts of corn -- say more than 10 pounds per week -- stop. You are the primary problem. You are killing deer because they cannot digest bellies full of corn. If acidosis doesn't overwhelms their digestive systems and kill them, they'll slow down just enough to get hit by cars or caught by coyotes. Acidosis occurs when they eat large amounts of corn and little or no woody browse.

• If you're offering day old bread and pastries, stop. Though a variety of birds and mammals will eat these handouts, they just provide gut-stuffing empty calories.

• If you have truly just been putting out a handful of corn each day and you've been doing it all winter, or you're mixing corn with bird seed, the deer's digestive system has probably adapted to that diet. Adopt a "no corn" policy next winter.

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