Best Trees to Plant for Deer in Texas

Planting Trees for Deer

White-tailed deer are selective browsers. This means deer mostly eat the leaves, twigs, seeds, and fruit of preferred trees, shrubs, and vines. Hunters can use this information to identify trees to plant for deer and other wildlife. Increasing the plants that deer eat has many benefits. Planting preferred trees can enhance deer nutrition, improve deer habitat and increase use of a property by whitetail.

The practice is generally a long term commitment, but planting trees for deer can literally create food overnight (much more on that later). In fact, many trees can begin producing fruit or mast just a few years after planting. They can continue to do so for decades, producing tons of both food and deer. After some research and hands-on experience, we’ve found 10 native trees that we believe are the best trees to plant for deer in Texas.

Pick the right trees to plant for deer before you start!

Trees to Plant for Deer

Deer choose plants based on palatability, seasonal availability, and general abundance. Timely precipitation plays a large role in the availability of annual plants. Periods of low rainfall result in a lack of short-lived plants. Long-lived plants are more dependable. A diverse plant community means more food for whitetail to choose from and often better nutrition.

Trees produce foods in several ways; stems, leaves and mast. This includes hard mast such as nuts and soft mast such as fruits and berries. When deer browse, they select the most tender growth first. Usually, this is the twig tips and new leaves. Trees and other woody plants generally provide a stable food source from year to year.

Established trees often produce large mast and fruit crops annually. The best trees to plant for deer are hardy, provide an abundance of leaves and/or large mast or fruit crops, and can serve as cover. The top 10 trees for deer in Texas includes:

  • Sugar Hackberry
  • Cedar Elm
  • Mulberry
  • Common Persimmon
  • Hercules’ Club
  • Rough-Leaf Dogwood
  • Mexican Plum
  • Texas Sophora
  • Post Oak
  • Live Oak

Why These Trees are Best

1. Sugar Hackberry – This tree grows across the eastern two thirds of Texas. It’s the only hackberry that occurs in all 10 ecoregions of the state. It grows on almost any type of soil as long as it has fair drainage. Hackberry is frequently found in mixed to pure stands in abandoned fields where it is a colonizer. It is a tough fast-growing, drought tolerant and an important food source for birds. Hackberry is a great deer tree, providing preferred browse for deer. They eat the berries, too.

Sugar Hackberry - A Great Browse Tree for Deer

2. Cedar Elm – This is the most widespread native elm in Texas. It grows in all areas of the eastern half of the state, except extreme southeast Texas. It is a tough, adaptable tree with excellent drought tolerance. Cedar elm handles heavy, poorly drained clay soils and soils that are moderately compacted. Cedar elm provides preferred browse for deer.

Cedar Elm - The leaves of this tree provide forage for white-tailed deer.

3. Mulberry – There are actually two species recommended here, Red and Texas mulberry. Red mulberry grows in moist, well-drained soils in the eastern two thirds of the state. It is less drought-resistant than Texas mulberry. Texas mulberry grows along creeks, canyons and thin well-drained, limestone soils in the western two thirds of the state. The fruits are relished by deer and other wildlife. Mulberry provides preferred browse for deer.

Mulberry trees are great for deer and other wildlife.

4. Common Persimmon – This is one of the best trees to plant for deer in the eastern half of Texas. It is native to east and east-central Texas but is adaptable to many soil types. Persimmon can form colonies via suckers. Persimmon leaves provide low quality deer browse, but deer and other wildlife relish the fruits of this tree.

Plant Common Persimmon trees to attract deer.

5. Hercules’ Club – This is a small tree found in east and central Texas, from the Red River down to the Rio Grande. It’s a great tree to plant for deer and other wildlife. The leaves provide good browse for deer. Hercules’ club also provides an excellent source of seeds and fruit for dove, quail and other wildlife.

Hercules' Club, also known as Prickly Ash, is a good tree for whitetail.

6. Rough-Leaf Dogwood – This is a small tree or clumping shrub that grows in the eastern half of state, except for South Texas. This adaptable tree does well on dry to moist soils that range from sandy to clay, acidic to alkaline. Dogwood is commonly found as a shorter understory tree, but can handle partial sun. It prolifically spreads from suckers and its leaves provide preferred browse for deer. The tree’s flowers and fruit benefits pollinators and birds.

Roughleaf Dogwood trees provide good browse for white-tailed deer.

7. Mexican Plum – This small, drought-tolerant tree grows in full sun or as an understory tree in the eastern half of the state. It prefers rich soils of river bottoms, open woods, and well-drained prairies, too. The leaves provide preferred browse for deer, and its small plums (about 1-inch in diameter) are readily consumed by wildlife. Mexican plum is also widely used for grafting, so you can turn it into another fruit tree, if desired.

Mexican Plum is a great tree to plant for deer.

8. Texas Sophora – This small tree is also known as Eve’s Necklace. This tree naturally occurs on limestone soils in the center of the state from north central Texas through the Edwards Plateau. Texas sophora can grow in full sun or as an understory tree. This small tree provides highly preferred browse for deer.

Texas Sophora is a preferred deer tree in central Texas.

9. Post Oak – This medium-large tree occurs in all areas of Texas except the High Plains and Trans-Pecos. Post oak trees grows in poor soils such as dry, gravelly, sandy soils and rocky ridges. The leaves provide good browse for deer. The acorns of this white oak species provide high quality mast for deer of any tree Texas.

The leaves and acorns of Post Oak trees provide good deer foods.

10. Live Oak – If you own land in Texas, you need at least one live oak tree on it. This medium to large tree is pH adaptable, tolerant of drought, and does well on poor soils. Live oak is one of the overall best trees to plant for deer. The leaves provide good browse and cover for deer since the tree remains evergreen into the following growing season. So, smaller trees provide screening cover for deer during the winter, when other trees are without leaves. Furthermore, established live oaks provide bountiful mast crops in the form of acorns during most years. Live oak delivers the tree trifecta; good browse, mast and screening cover for deer.

Live Oak is the overall best tree to plant for deer in Texas.

Picking Trees to Plant for Deer on Your Land

Identifying the best tree to plant for deer on your land depends entirely on your objectives. The trees highlighted in this article provide valuable 1) browse, 2) mast/fruit and 3) habitat for white-tailed deer. Table 1 shows the relative value we assigned to these really good deer trees (when compared only to each other). Choose trees for planting that meet the needs of the deer found on your land.

The Best Trees for White-tailed Deer in Texas

Each tree listed in this table is valuable to deer. However, which aspect is most important to you and the deer that use your land? We assigned a total value for each tree, but the real value is based on the ability of a tree to provide food, cover, or both. Food can be delivered by browse alone, or by a tree that provides browse and mast/fruit together.

The cover value is not important if you have plenty of deer screening cover. The mast/fruit value is probably most important for those managing lands currently high in good browse and cover. In this situation, planting trees with seasonal fruits provides additional nutrition for deer and serves as an attractant.

Best Time to Plant Trees

Before planting anything, including trees, make sure the species will grow in your region. Then, ensure that it will grow in the soils found on your land. Choosing the right tree from the start will save you time, money and heartache. This article lists the best trees to plant for deer in Texas, but not all trees are adapted to every region of the state. Choose only trees that will meet the needs of deer in your area and grow in the soils found on your land.

The best time to plant trees in Texas is mid-October through mid-March. Most prefer the late-fall or early-winter, when the many trees are dormant. Planting at this time gives young trees maximum time for root development prior to the growing season. Temperatures are often cool to cold and moisture requirements by trees are low during this period. In short, planting trees late in the year is the very best time. It gives them maximum time to put down roots in advance of Texas’ long, hot summers.

Additionally, do not be tempted to plant the largest tree you can find for the lowest price. From my experience, planting smaller trees (less than 2 feet. tall) is easier and more successful. It’s also less expensive, especially if you grow your own trees from seed. Only plant larger trees if you have the time and ability to “baby” them. Planting small trees is the best way to have a lot of large trees. Regardless of the size tree you plant, it will take more than just digging a hole in the ground.

Protecting Trees from Deer

Most of the trees recommended in this article provide quality browse for deer. That means the leaves are very palatable to deer. Whitetail want to eat them. All of them. Unfortunately, you can not just plant some of the best trees for deer in Texas and walk away. Deer will eat them, break them and quite possibly kill them.

Hackberry and cedar elm are among the toughest trees around. However, protection is necessary for them to establish. If you weren’t a tree hugger before, you will be after planting a tree in deer habitat! Protect young trees from deer and other wildlife, competition with other plants, and dehydration. In nature, the struggle is real.

A tree tube protects a young oak planted to improve deer habitat.

Deer will go for your trees, but other wildlife will as well. Rodents like to chew and they have to eat, too. Rabbits are tough on very small trees. In addition, feral hogs tend to investigate freshly dug soil. Use tree tubes or welded wire to prevent rabbits from biting through the stem of young trees. For hogs, use cattle panels or net-wire fencing and t-post.

This may seem like a lot, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Besides, this level of protection is likely necessary to keep the deer off your establishing trees. Recall that whitetail bucks love to “fight” with flimsy, small-diameter trees during the fall.

Finally, protect planted trees from dehydration. Prevent competition from grasses and weeds by placing a couple inches of mulch at least 2-feet around young trees annually. This ensures trees have adequate water during periods of low rainfall and heat, such as during the summer. Additionally, you may need to spray a broad-spectrum herbicide (glyphosate) on encroaching and/or competing plants in late-spring, annually.

Best Trees to Plant for Deer

Trees are a big part of white-tailed deer habitat. Deer need trees for the food and cover they provide. In fact, the leaves, twigs, and mast of woody plants make up about 50 percent of a whitetail’s diet each year. Deer pick among the plants available to them based on palatability. As it turns out, deer will eat low quality foods when high quality foods are not available on the landscape. Deer show preference for certain plants because they provide better nutrition.

In short, diverse plant communities provide better deer nutrition. Planting trees can increase browse and mast for deer. Good nutrition equates to healthy deer and that results in larger-bodied deer, bigger antlers and increased fawn survival. Our list of the best trees to plant for deer in Texas is for those wanting to enhance deer habitat o their land. Again, not all of these trees will work on every property. The best trees to plant on your property will be the ones that work in your region and meet the needs of the deer using your land.

Habitat Management: Managing Grasslands for White-tailed Deer

There are numerous methods for land managers to improve the value of the wildlife habitat found on their property. Hunters and land owners often contact me to ask about ways to enhance habitat for white-tailed deer, but that is a wide-open question with an answer that will vary widely between properties. If the plan is to help deer and other wildlife on your land then the very first thing should be to take inventory of what you do have. What assets does the property currently provide for deer, other animals?

More often than not, the plant communities found on a farm or ranch offer more than one might expect. There is value in just about every plant when it comes to wildlife in general, but obviously some specific plants are better for deer than others. Before we get too far along, let me clarify a couple of the terms that I’ve already used. Plant communities and habitat are two different things. Most animals, whitetail included, require a number of plant communities to comprise the habitat that they need.

Plant Communities, Habitat and Deer

Examples of plant communities would be forest, grassland, marsh, riparian (river/creek) area. The collection of plants that comprises each plant community is often different from one another (though some plants can be found in different communities). We could even get more specific and have oak forest and pine forest or tallgrass prairie and shortgrass prairie.

Wikipedia: Plant community is a collection of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant community are influenced by soil type, topography, climate and human disturbance.

Now that we are on the same page, let’s talk specifically about grassland communities in terms of habitat management for white-tailed deer.

Managing Grasslands for Deer Foods

Whitetail are not cows. Grass does not make up a large part of a deer’s diet. Whitetail really only eat grasses when the grasses are very young, palatable and often most nutrient-rich. This is even the case in food plots that are planted to small grains such as oats an wheat. Deer use them readily when the plants first begin grow. As long as deer continue to feed in the plots they are steadily provided with new growth, but will shy away from them once the plants become more mature.

So grasslands are of little value, right? Wrong. Although grasses tend to dominate grasslands (that’s obvious), grasses are not the only plants found there. Forbs (weeds) are also found in these areas and are typically in high supply during the spring and fall or just about anytime when there is enough rain. When we see deer in a pasture it is often the forbs they are eating, not the grass.

Deer habitat management should include manipulation of native grasslands and pastures to promote more foods. Plant succession is the change in species structure of an plant community over time. Low succession plants offer a higher food value for deer and other wildlife, namely seed eating songbirds, Bobwhite quail and doves. Managers can promote early succession forbs within un-grazed grasslands by disking and/or mowing at least 10 percent of their open land each year, either just before Spring or Fall.

Managing Grassland Habitat for Whitetail Cover

If deer do not eat grass then why have it at all? Well, it does provide decent screening cover for adults and it’s used heavily by fawns. Grass is a commodity that is, unfortunately, not always readily available on on properties. On lands that graze cows using a continuous grazing system composed of one herd and one pasture then often there is just not a lot of grass cover at all. A rotational grazing system is best for the habitat when it comes to the management of white-tailed deer.

Cows are an automatic, biological mower and disk combined. Not only do cows consume much of the grass but their hooves disturb the soil, both actions that promote forb growth. As long as the cows are rotated off the forbs have their day in the sun and then the grasses grow back.

The problem with a pasture that is only a few inches tall is that it neither provides screening cover for adults nor resting cover for fawns. In some areas, tall grasses (~3-feet) can provide a significant amount of screening cover for deer. Think of areas like the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma and western Kansas. This is also true in farm country, especially during the winter months, when deer need just a little cover to facilitate movement.

Grass Cover, Fawns and Deer Hunting

It’s mid-May and there have already been a number of reports of fawns on the ground. Good grass cover is critical for their survival as well as future deer hunting opportunities on your land. Proper management of grassland communities should be a part of an overall habitat management plan. Deer need a little bit of everything and healthy grasslands add both food and cover. Small changes can make big differences when it comes to managing for white-tailed deer and other wildlife species.

White-tailed Deer Management: Habitat on the Edge

White-tailed deer do quite well in a variety of areas. They’re always found in association with forests or woodlands of some type, but the plants that make up their habitat vary quite substantially across their range. While out searching for sheds this morning, I noticed a family group comprised of an old doe, a middle-aged doe that was probably one of her fawns from a few years back and a couple of last year’s fawns (now yearlings). They had a fair amount of plants at their disposal, but they were feeding at a point where the woodline butted up against grassland, an edge.

We all know that a huge component of deer management is creating, having and maintaining good habitat. Habitat is kind of a big idea. Although property owners and hunters that manage for deer want to have good habitat for the animals in an area, I’m not sure deer think about it the same way we do. Habitat is made up of a variety of plant communities, such as woodlands mixed with pastures or grasslands, riparian areas and maybe even agriculture fields and the such. No matter the types of plant communities, white-tailed deer are always attracted to the edges. Continue reading “White-tailed Deer Management: Habitat on the Edge”

Mid-Winter Deer Management Practices

The white-tailed deer hunting season has closed on most hunters, but there is a new season among us, something I have termed “mid-winter deer habitat management season.” Admittedly, it’s kind of a long name and unfortunately it’s not a hunting season, but the deer and other wildlife found on your property will definitely benefit from it. It’s during this mid- to late-winter time that many landowners and hunters put whitetail deer out sight and out of mind, but the animals that you will be hunting next year are still out there, right now. If you have ever needed a reason to stay out in the field during late January and February this is it.

The time from late January through the month of February is one of the best periods to perform on-the-ground deer habitat management. The practices performed during this time will positively impact the deer on your property throughout the year. These practices include prescribed burning, brush control and tree thinning, and protecting bottomland areas. These management practices will not only improve the health of the plant communities found on your property, but also increase the quantity and quality of deer foods for the whitetail that live there. Other deer management activities that can be performed during this period include spring food plot preparation and predator control. When combined, all of these practices will lead to improve deer hunting on your land.

Whitetail Deer Habitat Management Practices & Techniques for Better Deer Hunting

Habitat Management Practices for Whitetail Deer

Prescribed Burning – This is one of the least expensive deer habitat management practices out there on a per acre basis, but it’s also one of the least used. The benefit of prescribed burning and well-applied fire on habitat for deer and other critters had been well documented. The time to burn for increased cool-season forb production was months ago, but you still have time to pull off a late winter burn that will promote native grasses. Grass comprises very little of a whitetail’s diet, but they will readily utilize nutrient-rich grasses following post-fire green-up. Native grasses also provide valuable fawning cover later in year. Burning as a habitat management practice should be completed before mid-February.

Brush Control & Forest Thinning – This is one of the more popular deer management practices, but sometimes the word “brush” is over-applied. Make sure that the brush being removed is not a browse plant that the whitetail in your area rely on. Most of the brush species out there do provide some benefit, whether it be from leaf or fruit, but not all. These undesirables should be the target of removal, making space for forbs and better browse plants and to decrease competition for water. Complete removal of brush can occur in small patches, but avoid the desire to open up huge blocks of land (i.e. 100 contiguous acres) in the name of deer management. Smaller clearings take more work, but they also provide more edge. Whitetail deer are edge species, so limit patch clearings to 5 to 25 acres in size, do not clear more than 50 percent of your property, and think ahead. Make sure to leave a network of wooded corridors so that deer feel secure traveling within your property.

Brush management or even forest thinning is not a one-and-done management practice. Brush management not only includes the removal of “old-growth” plants, but also the removal of those trying to establish or re-establish. Open and recently-cleared areas must be monitored at least every two to three years so that unwanted regrowth can be removed.

Riparian Fencing – It’s always a good idea to keep livestock at proper numbers for a property, but it’s especially important to limit their access to riparian areas. The term “riparian” is just a fancy word for the area immediately adjacent and around a drainage such as a creek, stream or river. Riparian areas typically have the richest soils and the highest plant diversity on a property, so fencing livestock out of these areas for the majority of the year means the high quality browse and forbs found in these areas ends up in the mouths of antler-growing bucks and fawn-rearing does. Help deer and the plants they eat on your place, take advantage of the cooler temps, and build riparian-protecting fences during late winter.

More Management Practices for Deer

Food Plot Prep – Food plots are not the be-all, end-all cure for deer management, but they can help substantially in areas where they will grow. Deer located in more arid areas are out of luck, unless irrigation and the money to do so are in place. Late winter is a great time to start prepping deer food plot sites for spring planting. Food plots are not necessarily habitat, but they can supplement it. Avoid the urge to plow under fall and winter food plots. Many will continue to grow into May or June, providing leafy forage and seeds for deer and many other wildlife species.

Predator Control – It’s tough sledding when it comes to finding food in late winter. This is true for whitetail and all other wildlife, including predators. Animals that are hungry tend to move more often, cover more ground and increase their daylight activity. All of this makes predators more susceptible to shooting and trapping during mid- and late-winter. Clean up on coyotes and feral wildlife, especially wild hogs, to minimize their impact on native animals and the habitat they need. This will not only help white-tailed deer, but also help all ground-nesting birds such as quail and turkey.

Deer Management Strategies for Burned Properties

All wildlife species need food, cover, water and space to survive. White-tailed deer are no different. Most regions of Texas have been pretty thin on food and water for wildlife this year due to pitifully low amounts of rainfall, but many properties have been impacted by wildfires too, consuming dry vegetation (food and cover) and completely setting back white-tailed deer habitat. Burned lands can look bad, real bad at first. However, the benefits of fire on native habitats have been well documented.

Fires used for habitat management purposes are always prescribed fires, not wildfires. Prescribed burns differ greatly from wildfires in that planned fires can be set to accomplish specific objectives. This is not the case with wildfires, which can also destroy homes and other valuable infrastructure. But from a habitat perspective, fire is fire. The plant communities found in Texas are well-adapted to fire. But what can properties impacted by recent wildfires expect? Continue reading “Deer Management Strategies for Burned Properties”