The white-tailed deer hunting season is underway and things, at least here in Central Texas, have definitely picked up over the past week. It had been tough hunting with tons of cool season forbs and, believe or not, acorns on the ground! The warmer temperatures did not help the early season deer hunting action either. However, whitetail bucks are now actively seeking out and staying with does. Most of the does observed over the past few days have had anxious bucks right on their heels. The rut is definitely on around here.

Many, but not all, hunters have commented that deer harvest is down in their areas due to an abundance of natural foods. Many places have reported corn just piling up under their feeders. It’s hard to believe that the little bit of rain the region received turned things around so quickly, but that’s very good for the deer. That said, many places involved in deer management programs still have harvest goals they would like to achieve. There is still plenty of hunting season left, so don’t panic yet.

A common question asked by hunters on lands located across the white-tailed deer’s range is, “How many does should we shoot?” As one might suspect, there are many variables that will determine the “right” answer to this question. Check out this real life scenario submitted by Brad from Illinois:

“I have a big concern with our family deer hunting property in southern Illinois. We had nine people hunting our 130 acre property during the first week of the shotgun season. During this time, there were only eight whitetail bucks seen, in which two were harvested. During that same time, we observed at least 20 does. We have only harvested one doe in the last 15 years and I’m having a problem with that.

We have six deer food plots on our property that range from about 1/8 to 1/4 acre in size. We also have a three acre lake and a pond. Our property is surrounded by woods and a majority of my family thinks that the hunters around us take out enough does and we do not have to harvest any. We have already had one blue tongue epidemic run through our area about five years ago. I am curious to know what you think about this.”

First, let me just say that nine hunters on 130 acres is a serious amount of deer hunting pressure. However, the important factor is not so much how many hunters are out there, but rather the number of deer on the place and the number of deer that are ultimately harvested. From a habitat management and a deer health standpoint, it is also important to consider how many deer should be out there. How many animals can this 130 acre property support?

When considering small acreage deer management, hunters must consider the reality that deer will move on and off the property at will. Even a doe will have a home range that is several hundred acres in size. Bucks will use larger areas, particularly during the rut. So how many does should you shoot?

There is no simple answer here, especially when the next question to be asked is, “How many do you have?” Deer surveys can help estimate the whitetail deer density in your area and are most beneficial on properties that are smaller than a couple hundred acres in size when neighboring lands are willing pitch in too. Surveys, as well as data from harvested animals, can help answer many questions for you. What percent of does are having fawns each year? Do the body weights of the deer found on my property indicate a healthy herd?

Based on the observations that Brad mentioned above, the buck to doe ratio in his situation is not all that bad, with one buck for every one and half does (at least before two bucks were shot). Some areas can be badly skewed towards females, with as many as five or six or more does per buck, so not bad for Brad. In his situation though, an important, missing component is the number of fawns observed. Fawn production is a good indicator of overall deer herd health.

It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, that trying to manage a deer herd on a small piece of land is difficult, and deer management is sometimes impossible, especially if small neighboring properties are not willing to work together towards a common goal. My recommendations in this situation would be to perform deer surveys prior to the deer hunting season, record deer harvest information such as age, antler and body weights and use habitat condition as a gauge for overall herd health. Also, contact the state’s department of natural resources. They likely have a local biologist that can visit your property free of charge and offer some insight into the areas deer numbers based on information they have, as well as how whitetail deer are using the habitat found on your property.

Providing high quality habitat and good whitetail nutrition are some of the major building blocks of a successful deer management program. Regular readers of this site know that I stress this point constantly. Although the plant communities on a property can be manipulated to provide outstanding native forage for resident deer, even good habitat can “take it on the chin” during drought years like this one. Supplemental feeding can help struggling deer big time, but filling tags early in the deer hunting season is another way to “create” food for the remaining deer.

When it comes to individual animals having more food, it never hurts to eliminate the competition. This is why it’s always, always, always important to keep deer numbers in line with the available habitat. The past 12 months have been beyond dry here in Texas. So just like the commercial beef producers have been reducing their herds, it’s almost time for the deer hunters to step up to the plate and do the same to Texas’ whitetail. Pasture management and habitat management can be one in the same. Proper herd management, whether it be cow or deer, can moderate some of the impacts of drought—to both the animals and the plants they eat. After all, it will rain again someday. You just have to make sure there is something left to grow.

Source: “It doesn’t take a biologist to understand that drought has serious impacts on the state’s nearly 4 million white-tailed deer,” said Alan Cain, deer program leader with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “Everything from antler quality, to fawn production and overall survival will be affected by the tough range conditions this year.”

“By reducing deer numbers early on, hunters can help ensure enough groceries will be available through the winter months,” Cain said. “As with many wildlife species the very young and the very old often have much more difficult times dealing with extreme weather events.” These stress periods are a way for nature to ‘thin the herd,’ especially in areas where deer populations are already exceeding the carrying capacity of the native range. As deer become stressed they are more susceptible to infections or other disease. Drought like this can be a contributing factor towards stress.”

The Texas deer hunting season opens Saturday, October 1, for bowhunting and November 5 for the general gun season. A special youth-only weekend season is set for October 29-30. The general season runs through January 1, 2012 in North Texas and January 15, 2012 in South Texas. A late youth-only season is also in the books for January 2-15, 2012, but I highly encourage everyone to not procrastinate on deer harvest this fall.

The deer will be hungry,  so expect whitetails to be much more visible than last year and hitting feeders like clockwork right from the get-go. And yes, they will be thirsty too. Water is in high demand this year so take advantage of its deer-concentrating power and shoot some animals near water sources as well. During last year’s deer hunting season, Texas hunters harvested a record 688,000 deer. Cain predicted that record could be topped this year if conditions stay the same. I think he’s right. There should be a lot of brown on the ground, and rightfully so.

The white-tailed deer hunting seasons are just months away, which means hunters will begin making their final preparations for the fall. With summer heading into the home-stretch, hunters remaining tasks include the addition of new spin-feeders, the replacement of old stands with new ones, the clearing of shooting lanes, conducting deer surveys and a review of the whitetail hunting regulations for their area. In Texas, one of the most discussed deer hunting regulations continues to be the antler restriction regulations that are in place for bucks in many counties.

Regulations. It’s a safe bet that most hunters are not old enough to remember a time when there were no deer hunting regulations, before there were seasons and limits for specifically for whitetail. One can only imagine the outrage of hunters, commercial ones included, when some well-meaning game biologist came along and suggested that the harvest of wild animals be managed through regulations. I bet a good number of hunters wanted to tan his hide along with the other skins salted down around back. Fast forward to modern times and it’s easy to see (and hear) that some things never change.

In Texas counties with antler restriction regulations, only two legal bucks exists: those with at least one unbranched antler and those with an inside spread of 13 inches or greater. Antler restrictions get talked about quite often because, well, it can be darn difficult to estimate the inside antler spread of a buck in the field. This is the toughest part of the regulation; the antler spread of many bucks will be close to 13 inches, but no hunter wants to come up short when a warden puts a tape to it. Many hunters have suggested using regulations based on points, such as three or four antler points per side, but this does not work. For those wondering why, take a look at the response from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department after a regular reader of this site recommended a point-based antler regulation:

“I appreciate your comments. One thing this is unique about the Texas antler restriction regulation is that it is designed to eliminate the risk of high-grading bucks. Point restrictions certainly could result in high grading. For example, a rule allowing only bucks with 4 points on a side to be killed is allowing for the harvest of the best yearlings and protection of the poorest-quality yearlings. The reason for this is that there is no correlation between age and number of points.

However, there is a very strong correlation between age and inside spread. That’s one reason why we went with the spread restriction. Another unique aspect of the Texas model is the “slot limit” (i.e., it allows for the harvest of deer with at least one unbranched antler) — further reducing the risk of high grading. Nonetheless, this regulation does indeed protect some mature bucks with narrow spreads, which is an unintended consequence.

But the good news is that only 4 percent of all mature bucks in these Resource Management Units (RMUs) have an inside spread less than 13″ wide (based on data from thousands of harvested bucks). And long-term research has shown us that the bucks with at least one unbranched antler are more likely to be those narrow-racked bucks at maturity. So it would behoove hunters to take advantage of that second buck tag (for spikes and 3-pointers).”

I dislike being managed and regulated as much as the next guy, but most of the regulations in my life seem to be working out okay. They are not overly intrusive. I don’t like it that I can not legally drive my truck as fast as I would like, but I do appreciate the fact that neither can the other idiots on the road. Safety first. I also like the fact that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is keeping the foods I eat safe for the most part. That’s good for the family. I guess deer hunting regulations, possibly even antler restrictions, are something that will always be a part our lives.

If all these regulations ensure that we will be around with some number of deer to chase, then so be it. Regulated hunting through limits and seasons are a component of any state’s deer management program.  I have, without a doubt, observed larger and older free-ranging bucks in areas after antler restriction regulations were implemented. Additionally, most of testimonials I have received on the subject of the antler restriction regulations in Texas have been positive, but there will always be  unhappy campers with any regulation, hunting or otherwise. Of course, I suspect that if all deer regulations were removed and white-tailed deer had no bag limit and no closed season, a small percentage of hunters would actually be happy, but the majority would not. What do you think?

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the impacts of habitat quantity and quality on white-tailed deer harvest rates. Habitat quantity does not necessarily impact the harvest rate itself, but a property that provides a smaller amount of habitat must harvest fewer deer than a property that provides a larger amount of habitat in order to keep the deer population on the ranch stable. Habitat quality, however, can vary between properties that provide the same quantity (in acreage) of deer habitat, which in turn impacts the health and productivity of the ranch’s deer population.

Habitat quality impacts deer harvest rates because herd productivity will vary between properties. If deer density is held constant, deer on a property that provides good habitat will be in better condition than deer on poor habitat. This superior body condition can be measured through increased body weights in animals and improved antler quality in every age class of bucks. Today, I will discuss how fawn survival, as effected by deer density and the buck to doe ratio, can significantly impact the annual harvest of white-tailed deer populations.  

Most hunters understand that fawn production is an important component of white-tailed deer management, but they fail to realize how annual fawn survival directly impacts the number of deer harvested each year. Fawn production (the number of fawns born) is difficult to measure, but fawn survival is not. A good estimate of fawn survival can be collected annually using daylight deer surveys in late summer and early fall.

Every hunter wants to see bucks—and we all know they start as fawns—but once a property reaches its ideal carrying capacity, proper deer density, and buck to doe ratio, then it is fawn survival that ultimately determines the number of deer that should be harvested each year. A year with low fawn survival will not add many animals to the population, so not many adult bucks and does should be harvested. On the other hand, a year with high fawn surival means many new animals have been added into the population, so hunters must remove deer to maintain the property’s deer population at the proper deer density.  

A healthy deer population will more productive than a stressed deer population. As a result, reproductive success, as measured through fawn survival, can be a good measure of the health of the local deer herd. In turn, good reproductive success is often reflective of good deer habitat. Habitat conditions will vary annually based on precipitation, but white-tailed deer found on good habitat will almost always have higher fawn survival than deer found on poor habitat, regardless of the year. And all this stems from habitat quality, which determines the condition of individual deer living on the ranch. Healthy does produce more fawns and healthy fawns have higher survival rates. It really is the cycle of life.

Many hunters fail to realize that fawn production is strongly tied to habitat quality and the body condition of individual deer. Case in point: Think about a property that has a good number of deer, but the number of bucks is relatively low. The guy managing the property thinks that not shooting does will eventually lead to more bucks. But it doesn’t work. What’s going wrong? Well, a bunch of unhealthy deer on poor habitat will not produce many fawns.

The typical problem that exist on properties such as in the example above are that there are simply too many deer! If a property can only support 50 deer and there are 100, then fawn survival will be low. It wouldn’t matter if the buck to doe ratio was 1:1 or 1:5, if there are too many deer fawn survival will be low. The proper remedy in the example above would be to remove a good number of the does so that the remaining does could raise fawns, thus leading to higher fawn survival. A 10% (4) fawn survival out of 40 does is less deer than a 60% (12)fawn survival out of 20 does! That also means 6 new buck fawns instead of only 4. This is just a simple example, but you get the idea. 

High fawn survival rates are great, but they also lead to the need for high deer harvest rates. This is why healthy deer herds maintain a low buck to doe ratio. Time for another example: Let’s say a ranch can support 100 healthy deer and the buck to doe ratio is 1:5, or 20 bucks and 80 does. A modest 50% fawn crop means that 20 buck fawns and 20 doe fawns will be produced. To maintain the population at a healthy density this means 20 bucks and 20 does must be removed during the hunting season—but there are only 20 adult bucks! If the buck to doe ratio was brought down to 1:1 then a modest 50% fawn crop would mean that 50 does would have 25 fawns, or approximately 12 buck and 12 doe fawns. The addition of these animals into the population would warrant shooting 12 bucks and 12 does. Luckily, there are 50 adult bucks and adult does to choose from. The hunters could harvest 12 bucks and still have a good age structure in the buck population.

Hopefully, understanding the dynamics of a deer population will help you identify each of these factors on your property and help you reach your white-tailed deer management objectives.The annual harvest rate of white-tailed deer on any property is determined by deer density, habitat condition, the buck to doe ratio, and fawn survival. Factors that impact the body condition of individual deer will impact the dynamics of the population as a whole. Good habitat will lead to higher fawn production and the need for a higher deer harvest rate, but managers can mitigate excessive production by manipulating the buck to doe ratio.

When it comes to white-tailed deer management—at any scale—the most important factors are deer density and buck to doe ratio. These  two numbers are usually indicative of habitat condition and the reproductive potential of the deer herd. Most hunters continue to talk about buck harvest criteria, and although important, they fail to have a good handle on the deer density and buck to doe ratio in their hunting area! In addition, many landowners overlook habitat conditions and factors that limit fawn production and survival.

White-tailed deer harvest rates are important because they determine not only the number of animals you will shoot this year, but more importantly the number of deer that will survive into next year. This is especially important for the doe population because these animals, depending on deer density and sex ratio, can increase the total deer population prior to the next hunting season by 50% or more. This article discusses population and environmental factors that influence white-tailed deer harvest rates on an annual basis. 

Harvest rates can vary annually by habitat quantity, habitat quality, fawn production, and white-tailed deer management objectives. Hunters and landowners looking to maintain healthy age structure in bucks should never harvest over 20% of the buck herd. This holds true whether the buck to doe ratio is 1:10 or 1:1. Of course, if the deer density in the area is held constant, many more bucks can be harvested when there is 1 buck for every 1 doe compared to when there is 1 buck for every 10 does. Many hunters fail to realize that from a population standpoint the types of the bucks being shot is less important as the total number of bucks being removed from the herd. In short, limit buck harvest to less than 20% of the buck population. 

Doe harvest management is more important in determining the overall dynamics of a white-tailed deer population in a given area. The doe population determines if a deer population declines, remains stable, or grows. However, the doe population is dependent on, as mentioned prior, habitat quantity, habitat quality, fawn production, and management objectives. Because the doe population in an area depends on these annual factors, so does the annual harvest rates. 

Habitat Quantity

This is a measure of the total amount of deer habitat available. Does your property have 100 acres of deer habitat or 1,000 acres of deer habitat? Obviously, more deer habitat correlates with a larger population size. Hunters on 100 acres of habitat can not expect to harvest as many deer as hunters on 1,000 acres of habitat, assuming the deer density in that habitat is the same. If both ranches have the same harvest strategy in place, then the 1,000 acres of habitat can harvest 10 times the number of animals. It’s not because those hunters are greedy, it is just that the total deer harvest for a property should be related to available deer habitat, not just property size. In this example, both ranches could have been 1,000 acres in size. We only discussed available deer habitat on those properties. Property size will not effect the harvest rate, only the total number of animals harvested (because of available habitat).

Habitat Quality

Habitat quality is measured by an area’s ability to provide food, cover, water, and space for white-tailed deer. Deer found on high quality habitat have higher reproductive rates than deer found on low quality habitat. Here is an example of how habitat quality impacts harvest rate: Let’s say that there are two ranches 1,000 acres in size. One provides high quality habitat and the other provides low quality habitat. If we assume that the deer density is the same, then fawn production on the high quality habitat will be higher because there is more food per animal. This high quality habitat means more food per doe, a higher reproductive rate, a higher fawn survival rate, and more bucks and does available for harvest each year. In short, properties with high quality habitat must harvest does at a higher rate to keep the deer population stable.    

In Summary

Without a doubt, both habitat quantity and quality impact the annual harvest rates of a deer population. Property size does not impact harvest rate, but smaller properties will harvest fewer animals than larger properties based simply on habitat quantity and differences in the sizes of the deer populations. Habitat quality can vary by property depending on habitat management practices (or lack thereof) and deer found on high quality habitat have higher reproductive success. Because of this habitat effect, properties providing high quality habitat must harvest does at higher rates than properties providing low quality deer habitat. Next week, I will discuss how fawn survival, density, and buck to doe ratio also impact white-tailed deer harvest rates.