In the US, white-tailed deer were originally transported to restore populations that were “shot out” during the early 20th century.  Today, land managers continue to move deer from one area to another, but not just to restore populations. The driving force behind today’s deer translocations is primarily twofold: to augment low-density deer populations and to promote genetic improvement. However, a third option for translocation is an alternative to harvest — to manage overabundant populations; remove deer found in high deer-density urban areas, transport them, and release them elsewhere.

But regardless of why deer are moved, how do they cope? What is the survival rate and performance of transported deer after they are “liberated” at their release site? These are good questions and a study out of Texas A&M University-Kingsville hopes to answer them. We know that for a translocation program to be successful we need two things, a high survival of released deer and for the animals to remain in the area where they were released. Without achieving these two objectives, the overall goal will not be met. (more…)

Axis bucks in the shade.

Many exotic big game species, such as sika, fallow, and axis deer, prefer and consume the same forbs and browse as white-tailed deer. Keeping this in mind, it’s then obvious that white-tailed deer and exotic ungulates compete for limited resources on the lands in which they live. This may not be of great concern until habitat conditions become degraded, which you never want to happen.

In overpopulated areas, or during periods of stress such as drought or winter, this further increases the competition both between and within these different species in the same area — whitetail compete with whitetail, exotics with exotics, and whitetail with exotics. Everyone has to eat! (more…)

A deer herd should be managed as two separate populations. The female segement of the herd must be managed to maintain productivity. The number of new deer added to the pre-hunt population is a function of the number of fawns born and their survival until until the fall. The number of fawns born is primarily determined by the number of does, but the survival of fawns, however, is mostly dependent upon the physical condition of does, although predation is certainly a factor is some situations. (more…)

Very little research has been done with wildlife species in relation to the consequences of suboptimal nutrition conditions on estrous cyclicity and reproductive capability. White-tailed deer in Texas ideal for such research due to the reproductive seasonality and common reproductive failure when food quality and quantity is low. A research study out of Texas A&M University - Kingsville is studying the effects of reduced food intake on white-tailed deer estrous cyclicity through the evaluation of several specific nutritional measurements.

In the first year of the study, mature whitetail does were fed “all they could eat” on a high nutritional diet and bred. In the second year, doe diet was restricted from September through November and even up into mid-January and bred. (more…)

When considering the management of white-tailed deer, unless your property is game fenced, you should realize that adjacent lands are also included in the home ranges of many of the deer on a ranch less than several thousand acres in size. Only those deer within the interior of a really large ranch may have home ranges located totally within the ranch, while those in a wide band around the ranch’s perimeter likely move back and forth onto adjacent lands. The quality of a ranch’s deer population will in large part be dependent on both the habitat quality and population management strategies (i.e. hunting pressure and deer harvest) on both your and neighboring lands.

The key to producing a productive and healthy white-tailed deer population is dependent upon the quantity, quality, and variety of food plants produced by the habitat or range. Food availability can be improved in the following ways: (more…)

In some circles, you will still hear people talk about the old barren doe that lives in a particular part of the ranch. This line of thinking blames poor fawn production on the idea that many older does do not get pregnant. In reality, if the doe isn't bred during the first estrous period, she will be receptive again 28 days later. This explains the high breeding success in white-tailed deer, even when bucks are scarce. It was recorded in one Texas study, that on average, 92 of every 100 does sampled were pregnant.

White-tailed deer are known for producing twins. In the previously mentioned study, over half of the does examined had twins. Triplets, however, were not common, and the occurrence of triplets was less than two percent. Quadruplets didn't show up at all in the study. There were more male fetuses than female fetuses. Males represented 56 percent of the unborn fawns over the three years of the study.

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Stocking deer from another area into a deer population in an attempt to introduce new genes and improve quality is a controversial and much discussed subject.  The genetic contribution of 1 individual buck is limited where it is introduced into a population where other bucks are already present and also breeding does.

There is no research available that indicates that introducing several bucks improves quality unless the pedigrees of the deer (bucks as well as does) stocked are known. Otherwise there is a good chance that undesirable, but not easily recognizable, characteristics are being introduced.

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The harvest of whitetail deer is serious business on a highly-managed piece of property. As a result, take time to document what's happening each year to record where your deer management program is heading. Records should be kept to monitor the status of the deer herd and measure the success of management over time.  As a minimum, record keeping should include:

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