The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will be conducting special drawings for hunts and applications for these quality, affordable hunting experiences are available online now. Application booklets are also being mailed to last year’s primary hunt applicants and will be available at TPWD law enforcement offices.

During the upcoming hunting seasons, more than 5,700 hunters will be selected through random computer drawings allowing access to some of the state’s high-quality managed wildlife habitat. Wildlife management areas, state parks and leased private property will be available for these quality supervised hunts for white-tailed deer, mule deer, pronghorn, javelina, alligator, exotics, feral hog and spring turkey. (more…)

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…)

Well, it’s not a white-tailed deer and it’s not located in the US, but a yearling (1 1/2-year old) Roe Deer was spotted in Italy with only a single antler protruding from the center of it’s head! The director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato told the press:

“This is fantasy becoming reality. The unicorn has always been a mythological animal.”

The 1-year-old buck, who not coincidentally is nicknamed “Unicorn,” was born in captivity in the research center’s park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence. Obviously, the buck was born with a genetic flaw because his twin, like other Roe bucks, has two horns.

Single-horned deer are rare but not unheard of — but even more unusual is the central positioning of the horn. The location of the horn is probably the result of trauma early in the animal’s life, but the scientific director of Rome’s zoo said:

“Generally, the horn is on one side (of the head) rather than being at the center. This looks like a complex case. This shows that even in past times, there could have been animals with this anomaly. It’s not like they dreamed it up.”

Photos of a Normal Roe Buck and Doe:

As hunters, we know how expensive it’s becoming to hunt white-tailed deer. Not only are the prices of guided hunts and hunting leases going up, but the price of raw land is rapidly rising, as well. To make matters worse, deer managers are being hit with the climbing costs of food plot seeds, supplemental feeds, and vehicle and tractor fuels.    

And as much money as the hunting industry may bring in to the US economy, it’s only a portion of the total economic impact white-tailed deer have in this country. A recent and conservative estimate put a $12.5 million price tag on deer-vehicle collisions in the state of Texas alone!

But what about crop damage? And damage to ornamental plants? And loss of human life? I understand that in many cases problems arise as people move into areas inhabited by deer. However, many suburbs create their own problems through feeding and the prohibition of hunting. But problems are problems regardless of how they come about.

We talk a lot about deer hunting and management, but let’s look at some economic aspects concerning white-tailed deer that are not related to hunting. (more…)

Antler growth in deer really is phenomenal! In fact, deer antlers are among the fastest growing tissues in the animal kingdom, growing as much as 1/2-inch per day during peak antler growth. Of course, the amount of antler material a buck grows depends upon nutrition, genetics, and age. 

Actively growing antlers are covered with a living tissue called velvet, because it really looks and feels like velvet material. During antler development, a buck’s antlers are both extremely delicate and sensitive to the touch. Even though bucks are not aggressive towards each other during the antler growing period, this is still the time when most antler damage occurs.

White-tailed deer antler growth usually begins during the month of March or April, and by August or early September antler growth has ceased. And an interesting fact: In most cases typical deer antlers begin growing out a buck’s head in a backward motion, then quickly change direction and sweep forward as we commonly know.

So how long does it take for a buck to form hardened antlers? The following photos illustrate antler growth for a single white-tailed buck in Texas from March through September. (more…)

Imagine if the Texas Legislature mandated Texas Parks and Wildlife Department write a $250 check to every person whose motor vehicle collides with a deer on a Texas public road.

We’d be talking about a lot of money. And because that money would almost certainly come from the fund holding revenue from sale of hunting and fishing license fees, the inevitable result would be crippling to TPWD’s ability to do fisheries and wildlife management and research. Those programs are almost exclusively funded from license revenue — no general tax revenue goes to Texas’ wildlife and fisheries programs.

Neither state nor local governments compile figures on how many deer/vehicle collisions occur in Texas. But the insurance industry estimates, based on claims, about 40,000 such accidents in Texas each year. (more…)

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) and Louisiana State University (LSU) Agriculture Center have spearheaded the study with help from various contributors. The study is has entered its second and final year. The primary objectives of the study are to assess range and movements of male and female white-tailed deer, evaluate age and sex-specific harvest rates of white-tailed deer and evaluate survival and causes of death among male and female white-tailed deer in a Louisiana bottomland hardwood forest.

The study is being conducted on approximately 40,000 acres of bottomland hardwood forest located west of Baton Rouge and east of the Atchafalaya Basin. The study area is currently leased to more than 30 private hunting clubs, and each club belongs to a cooperative that promotes quality deer management on the property. (more…)

In 1974, a high-fenced research facility was constructed on the Kerr Wildlife Management Area located near Hunt, Texas. The purpose of the research facility was allow the Wildlife Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to study antler growth in native white-tailed deer. The 16-acre facility consists of six 2/3-acre breeding pens, three 4-acre pens, and a series of alleys and chutes to facilitate the handling of research animals.

The orginal breeding pens consisted of seven brood bucks, of which six were spikes, and 5 to 7 does. All deer were native Texas whitetails obtained from various locations throughout the State. No additional deer were added after the fall of 1974 and the herd has been maintained as a closed, pedigreed herd.

The orginal purpose of the pens was to address the following objectives:

• 1. To determine factors which contribute to antler formation in white-tailed deer.
• 2. To determine the effect of nutrition level on antler formation and body weight.
• 3. To determine if deeer that were spike-antlered at 1 1/2-years of age (yearlings) have the same potential for antler development and body weight in later years as bucks which were fork-antlered at 1 1/2 years of age.
• 4. To determine the influence of genetics on antler characteristics.

(more…)