I just did some quick research and realized that the Mesquite trees we have all over Texas are part of the Locust tree family. They have thorns and pods as well.  Deer eat the pods, but definitely not as their first choice.

Good thread.

i've never seen them eat either pods--but it seems like they go out of they're way to rub the black locust saplings!!!

It's just part of the puzzle. I'm always amazed by what the deer teach me after years of hunting them. It's for sure not a preferred food source. But I have now learned that it rises to the top of the list during lean years when the acorns are gone and the fields are plowed over. At least in my tiny area of the Midwest.

"It's for sure not a preferred food source."

If you are talking about honey locust, I and thousands of other hunters in the Southeast would argue that.

I have seen them eat them but it seems more of a late winter or spring when the fields have been hammered all winter.

Liquid amber I'm just talking about the Midwest where deer often have farm crops at their disposal. What I'm noticing is that when there are little or no crops available to the deer around here then the honey locust pods become more desireable to the deer.  But I have never hunted whitetails in the south.

You might try a shot of 13-13-13 on a few patches of honeysuckle (spring and fall) and locust trees (drip line) to sweeten the pot.  

Like most animals, deer eat whatever holds the most nutritional value, in their area, at a given time. Depends on what you have where you live. In the woods where I live, when we have a good acorn crop, the pods usually go uneaten. When the corn (or beans) is standing late into the season, good luck seeing them hanging out in the woods. Around here, they'll just bed down in the corn and beans. The most activity you see is during the pre-rut and rut when the bucks are looking for does or the scrape lines are getting worked over. If you have a green field, you'll see them there at some point every evening. So I guess I'm saying you have to hunt the current need of the animal.