Hundreds of thousands of white-tailed deer are killed in Texas each fall and winter, but typically by deer hunters in search of big bucks and those looking to fill their freezers. Automobiles even get a few, but it seems the deer and hunters in Eastland County have something else to look out for now—poison. The Texas Agriculture Extension is advising all area health care providers of a poisoning in Eastland County that occurred approximately two weeks ago.

It seems a ranch south of Carbon, Texas, tried to kill feral hogs by mixing deer corn with a pesticide called Temik, which is a neurotoxin. Apparently, the rancher spread a very large amount of mixed, poisoned corn over their 2,000 acre peanut crop to kill feral hogs, but it turns out that white-tailed deer where also feeding on the same ranch. (more…)

Hunters that have been out in the woods early this fall have undoubtedly bumped into some fresh rubs created by white-tailed bucks. Often times, discovering a new buck rub is enough to get my mind thinking about the deer that left the sign. How big is this whitetail? When was the animal here? Does he prefer the habitat found on this part of the property more? Where is the buck now? And, of course, will he return?

The general thinking on deer rubs is that big bucks rub actual trees and small bucks rub on saplings. This line of thinking suggests that the bigger the tree rubbed the bigger the whitetail buck doing the rubbing. Is this true? I would have to say yes, at least most of the time. The majority of bucks rubbing on larger trees are in fact larger antlered bucks. Bucks with large antlers tend to be larger bodied, mature, stronger, and as a result of all these attributes, dominant animals.  (more…)

Food plots are commonly used by deer managers to provide supplemental forage for white-tailed deer. Most hunters and deer managers prefer to plant forage species that are easy to maintain, but some plant species are worth the trouble. After all, nothing worth having comes easy and a little extra work can pay off big, especially if you consider alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) as a forage plant. Alfalfa is an excellent spring, summer, and early fall food plot choice for white-tailed deer. Alfalfa is a cool-season perennial legume that contains 16% to 26% of highly digestable protein. Not only will whitetail flock to a well-established alfalfa field, but this perennial can surive for 5 to 10 years, if properly managed.

Since established alfalfa plants can have taproots that extend to a depth of over 5 feet, this forage species makes for a very drought tolerant food plot. And what’s better than a drought tolerant food plot? Well, how about a highly productive food plot that is capable of fixing its own nitrogen? Yes, this forage plant is a legume that does not need the application of nitrogen fertilizer. Although not always easy to establish, alfalfa should be considered a highly effective forage plant for fall and winter food plots. (more…)

Every animal, including white-tailed deer, has an area that they call home. In the wildlife world this area is know as home range. The home range of an individual white-tailed buck, however, varies by season. One would expect that the range of a buck would be fairly stable for much of the year, only to increase in size during the breeding season. This increase in range would be the result of the buck’s behavior and increased movement in his search for receptive does. Although thought to be true, does this phenomenon really happen? 

Summer is a good time to be a whitetail buck. Not only do male deer get along, but packs of bucks run together in beloved bachelor groups. Hunters and managers alike get a thrill every time they stumble across a fraternity of whitetail. These observations often serve as confirmation that their harvest stategies or deer management programs are effective. We all like to see healthy bucks. Bachelor groups, by the way, can range in size from 2 to 3 deer up to as many as 28 bucks. At least that is the largest number of free-ranging bucks seen together that anyone has ever reported to me.

It is also during the summer that bucks move around a fair amount, but not as much as during the rut. As summer draws to an end, most bucks become less mobile and highly patternable. It is the time immediately after bucks shed their velvet that they become aggressive towards one another and a bit more territorial. By September, hunters at southern latitudes will start to see individual bucks visiting the same feeding areas again and again. (more…)

The importance of estimating a white-tailed deer herd on an annual basis is critical to any ranch interested in deer management. And although several survey types (methods) should be combined to get the most accurate deer population estimate, I prefer to use spotlight surveys to estimate the deer density on any given ranch. With that said, deer spotlight surveys on properties less than 400 acres in size become less reliable. The smaller the ranch, the more I shy away from using spotlight routes. This is not necessarily because the methodology is bad, but because smaller ranches have fewer roads. Fewer roads equates to shorter spotlight survey routes and data that is less reliable.

But it can get even worse, especially if a property owner tries to create more survey length by looping around in a smaller area. Surveying smaller properties increases the potential of counting deer in one area, then looping around and counting them again in another area. To accurately estimate deer density on any ranch, animals can not be repeatedly counted along the route. I refer to the importance of maintaining and recording data on individual deer herds all of the time, but I’ve never mentioned exactly how a spotlight survey should be conducted. We are going to fix that today. If you are interested in getting the best white-tailed deer density estimate possible, then this is how a spotlight survey should be performed. (more…)

Most people, including me, find any variation in white-tailed deer quite intriguing. In fact, most hunters and deer managers even select for certain characteristics, specifically when in comes to antler configuration. Depending on the individual hunter, they may look to harvest bucks with really wide antler spreads, bucks with numerous points, bucks with non-typical antlers, or very old deer. Color is also selected for by hunters because if the opportunity presents itself, many hunters will not hesitate to harvest a uniquely-colored deer. However, I do not know of any individual or ranch that manages for deer color.

Although there is some amount of color variation between all living whitetail, we all know what a white-tailed deer should look like. They are usually some variation of brown on top with white under the body, on the throat-patch, around the eyes and nose, and let’s not forget the white under the tail. After all, they are white-tailed. We know how a deer should look, but this is exactly why any color variation, even minor, sticks out. We, as predators, pick up on any abnormality or weakness exhibited by deer. This is why we do not see many white albino deer or black melanistic deer–they occur rarely, and when they do, these deer are removed from the population by hunters or natural predators. That is unless these deer are found in protected areas, such as urban or suburban areas. (more…)

Testosterone levels control just about everything on a white-tailed buck, including antler growth and development. During this time of year, a buck’s testosterone level is quite low, but those levels will begin to increase as summer comes to an end and the fall season rolls around. Testosterone levels will peak just prior to the rut. It is during that time when bucks become very aggressive towards one another, establish breeding dominance, and prepare for the rut. That time of year can be rough on a whitetail buck.    

When I received this photo of three white-tailed bucks in my inbox a couple weeks ago, the sender wrote that the deer on the left and the right (in the photo above) were bucks. I zoomed in for a closer look and noticed that not only two, but that in fact all three of the deer were bucks. And the photo makes sense because whitetail bucks have low testosterone during the spring and summer, and they can stand to be around one another. This is the reason for spring and summer bachelor groups. Furthermore, does tend to be more solitary leading up to fawning season. Does will not associate with bucks, or other does for that matter, until several days to a couple of weeks after the fawns are born. (more…)

Readers of this site know that I usually write about deer management and anything related to hunting and white-tailed deer. In addition, I do my best to get the facts correct before  publishing content that I feel is accurate and helpful to hunters and land owners such as yourselves. Well, about a month ago I wrote an article that featured the photo above of a mountain lion dragging a dead buck, and stated that the photo was a fake. As it turns out, the photo is not fake, but a really amazing trail camera photo taken on a ranch in South Texas. 

Every deer hunter that has spent any amount of time in the woods, or more appropriately around a campfire with other hunters, has heard stories related to mountain lion sightings. In fact, that’s one of the best things about getting outdoors and into the wildlife woods–you just never know what you are going to see. And speaking from experience and these photos below, there are some pretty amazing things going on in the “woods” all of the time.  (more…)