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…)

The popularity of white-tailed deer hunting in recent decades has not only spurred an increase in deer management, but also a greater demand for deer hunting lands. And since everyone in the United States lives in a supply and demand economy, the price of whitetail hunting has continued to rise year after year. Unless a hunter owns his or her own property, they either know someone who does (that lets them hunt) or they are forced to lease private land for deer hunting. If you’ve looked for a lease lately you know that quality hunting leases are getting harder and harder to find. In addition, many have found themselves priced-out of deer hunting. So what if I told you that the amount of huntable land in Texas could decline because of new legislation?

Well, Senate Bill 1742 and House Bill 3766 could do just that, to some extent, by increasing the buffer area between hunting lands and “occupied” areas. In short, this legislation proposes to increase the minimum size of a huntable tract with a rifle from 10 acres to 50 acres. Not only could this legally prohibit some hunters from hunting their own property because of suburban sprawl, but these new laws would also inhibit the ability of landowners to control white-tailed deer numbers, particulary in the Texas Hill Country. (more…)

An important part of any ranch’s deer management program is informed and proper harvest. Without sufficient population data, improper white-tailed deer harvest is inevitable, and management objectives will never come to fruition. Managing proper harvest often means managing deer hunters. At the big ranch called Texas, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission has adopted a series of hunting regulations that expand special buck antler restrictions and liberalize doe harvest opportunities in dozens of Texas counties. The new rules take effect during the 2009-10 hunting seasons.

Citing strong support for the changes during the public comment period, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) staff said the new regulations reflect a shift toward biologically-based communities for managing deer populations. One of the biggest changes involves further expansion of the department’s successful antler restriction regulations into 52 additional counties where biologists have identified a need to provide greater protection of younger buck deer. (more…)

Spring has officially sprung and although a few white-tailed bucks may still be holding onto last year’s antler growth, the vast majority of bucks have already shed their antlers. The timing of an individual buck’s antler development depends upon many things, but the primary factor is the buck’s hormone levels. In short, areas where local deer populations breed earlier always shed antlers earlier. And although looking for deer sheds is not an important part of a deer management, it can be awfully fun!

This is an exciting time of the year, not only because whitetail bucks are beginning to grow new velvet-covered antlers, but also because their antlers from last year are lying on the ground… somewhere. A lot of hunters may have their spring food plots in the ground or their supplemental protein feeders filled, but then neglect to get out in the field during the spring. I was once guility of this. Following the close of deer season I would just shut her down and stay out of the field until mid-summer, but that was many years ago. (more…)

With an estimated statewide deer population of 4 million animals, many Texas hunters take white-tailed deer hunting for granted. However, there are still parts of the state where gun-hunting seasons do not exist. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has been considering a proposal to open a general firearms deer season in Grayson County. A public scoping meeting to gather additional landowner and hunter feedback will be held in Grayson County on Thursday, January 8, 2009. Grayson County Judge Drue Bynum has been invited to open the meeting and TPWD Executive Director Carter Smith will facilitate the remainder of the meeting, which will include a short presentation on TPWD’s regulations process and the rationale for contemplating a gun deer season in Grayson County. (more…)

White-tailed deer breeding has become a big business around the United States. As with any business that garners big money, people look to cash in on it, both legally and illegally . Game wardens in the Special Operations Unit of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) Law Enforcement Division arrested six men and executed two search warrants as part of Operation Texas Shuffle, a year-long investigation into the black market deer trade in Texas. All six suspects are alleged to have trapped, purchased or sold wild native white-tail deer. Some are believed to have laundered wild deer into permitted breeding facilities, and one serves as an agent for multiple licensed deer breeders. TPWD Law Enforcement Director Pete Flores said in a news release:   

“Our focus here is stopping two main areas of criminal activity: deer being brought illegally across state lines, and wild deer being illegally laundered into deer breeding facilities.”

In one of the illegal deer cases, a permitted deer breeding facility operator allegedly darted wild deer and put them illegally into his facility. That’s what I call making a quick buck. Although the breeder can profit by selling wild-caught deer as a genetically superior animals, it is against the law. It is illegal to capture or obtain wild deer and place them into breeding facilities. Breeders must obtain captive, pen-raised deer from other permitted breeders. (more…)