Animals go after fruit, because fruit is usually where the nutrients are. More than in leaves.

Per unit weight, spinach has the most protein of any leafy vegetable. Peppers have about the same.

They are eating the leaves, no fruit yet. Almost ALL animals avoid capsaicin, aside from humans and birds as I understand. I assume there is some capsaicin in the chili pepper plant's leaves, but maybe not. I moved peppers.

I had always thought of hot peppers as a deer deterrent; thinking they would move on after eating those yucky leaves. And I assumed the leaves are also hot. But I don't grow them as we don't eat them. Dan - you say the leaves are milder than the peppers. I wonder how much?

For many years I've been thinking of growing many hot varieties of peppers. Doesn't make much sense. I also picture having a restaurant with a hot pepper bar. As you go down the bar the peppers keep getting hotter. One end is locked! Twice now; doesn't make much sense.

I don't eat pepper leaves either, but I've heard that they are fine to eat and actually quite tasty. One might be suspicious of that because allegedly tomato leaves are not healthy to eat because of solanine, and peppers have that too, but that danger is somewhat of a myth because it really only pertains to eating very large quantities. I've also heard that leaves have less capsaicin than the fruit, but I don't know how much less. Need to chew on a habanero or Carolina Reaper leaf! Maybe someone could try that. Even in the fruit, the capsaicin is largely just in the white membrane material.

In Asia pepper leaves are cooked and eaten as a green, mixed in with other leafy greens, sometimes in soups. They are not piquant but do have a certain aroma.

In all my years of growing I've never had deer eat pepper leaves and only in the last few years have they eaten my tomato leaves. My chickens loved to eat pepper plants at the end of the season when I pulled them out.

I think deer are like most humans in that there are some things a deer likes and others that a deer doesn't care for but will eat if starving.

THEY ARE DEFINITELY NOT STARVING! They are NUMEROUS, fat, pregnant, or nursing their young. With all the rain we've gotten, it's more like a rainforest, and they STILL eat CHILI PEPPER leaves. I have heard that deer tastes may vary depending on the region. Tomato leaves?! Mine have eaten those for years..., along with the eggplant leaves. East coast deer may be more cosmopolitan in their culinary preferences. LOL!

They will eat the leaves of tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes and flowers when temps are high and there’s been no rain. I think they may be looking for liquid because they’re thirsty.