Texas Whitetail Population Up: Deer Hunting Good

White-tailed Deer Hunting in Texas

Texas Whitetail Hunting

It’s been a good fall for deer hunting in Texas and the month of November is not yet over. There have been numerous reports of really nice whitetail bucks being harvested all across the state, as well as Oklahoma, with everyone indicating above average body weights and antler growth in deer. Sounds like a lot of full freezers for deer hunters.

Nothing grows more muscle, fat and antler than good habitat that is is good condition. Fortunately for both deer and hunters, that is mostly what we had this past year. We were flush with new-growth throughout the growing season. As they, say, it’s better to be lucky than good. Having a deer management plan in place on your property will help you be both.

Deer Hunting in Texas
Image wildlifedepartment.com

“We saw a diverse buffet of whitetail deer foods this spring where vegetation growth was measured in feet rather than inches this year,” said Alan Cain, TPWD white-tailed deer program leader. “Meeting nutritional demands of antler growth, raising fawns and building up body fat reserves for the rigors of breeding as well as the winter should be an easy venture for white-tailed deer this year.”

Unlike in recent years, whitetail did not have to look far to find a highly-nutritious diet of native weeds and browse plants. White-tailed deer are quite selective and prefer native forbs and browse high in protein and energy that are easily digestible. Forbs, a biologist term for weeds, fit that bill, and there were in abundance this year. The can have protein levels ranging from 20 to 35 percent!

Engelmann Daisy is a Forb Preferred by Whitetail

Source: Buck antler growth should be well above average, predicts Cain. Exceptions to this overall excellent outlook may be in areas of East Texas where unusually wet years can result in lower-than-normal fawn recruitment. But overall, deer hunting will be good.

“I have no reservations suggesting antler quality will be above average this year, and with a good number of bucks in the 5-year-old age class I expect a number of hunters to harvest some exceptional bucks this year,” Cain said. “The habitat conditions statewide are much better than we’ve seen in years, and the abundance of native forage will help bucks maximize antler growth this year.”

So what can hunters expect with regards to deer numbers and quality. For starters the 2014 statewide deer population estimate was 3.95 million deer, the highest estimated population since 2005. Statewide whitetail population trends indicate a slow but steady growth in the deer population during the last 10 years.

Good rainfall helped produce a lot of fawns, which added to the deer herd this year. It also means that that more deer should be considered for harvest, at least in most parts of Texas.

Greenbriar is Good Whitetail Deer Browse

“Although these numbers are from 2014 I would predict the deer population to be about the same if not break the 4 million deer mark for 2015, so hunters should experience a quarry-rich hunting environment this year,” Cain predicted, citing above average fawn production this year.

He also suggests hunters take advantage of opportunities to harvest antlerless deer this season, too, in order to offset high fawn production. “Hunters need to keep deer numbers at a level the habitat can sustain during lean years,” said Cain. If next year ends up being a poor rainfall year, then a smaller deer herd is more likely to have a better fawn crop, as available food is divided up among fewer mouths.

The key to producing good white-tailed deer year-in and year-out is to maintain the proper deer carrying capacity for the habitat. There really is no substitute for population control and habitat enhancement. Of course, it helps when ample rain falls because then every property produces good deer, even in areas with fair habitat for whitetail.

In Texas, dry or low rainfall years seem to be more common than wet ones. It’s best to plan on every year being a tough year. Then, on those years when it does rain you can reap the benefits in terms of both habitat and deer conditions.

Deer Hunting

Rainfall equates to forbs and those forbs translate into healthy deer, good fawn production and big bucks, even in areas where deer numbers are higher than what would be considered optimal. Again, shooting (literally) for a lower deer herd helps make every year a good year.

Chances are the next spring will not be as good for whitetail as the last one, so do your part for local deer management and take a doe or two if there is a need to do so. Improving the whitetail hunting in your part of Texas means taking inventory of what you have, then making a plan and taking the steps to make it even better.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.