Managing for good white-tailed deer habitat on a property is the key to maintaining a healthy deer herd. Plain and simple, deer in good body condition are more productive than deer in poor condition. A problem many landowners face is that Mother Nature does not always do her part. This is the major reason why supplemental feeding has become an integrated part of deer management on many ranches.

A property can generally have good deer habitat, but that does not necessarily mean that the plants found on the property are in good condition. Rainfall makes a big difference from year to year. In fact, research conducted in South Texas, on what was coined the “South Texas Buck Project,” by the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M-Kingsville found that spring rains explained 70% of the year to year variability in buck antler size. (more…)

Hunters and landowners  interested in deer management know that the bread and butter of white-tailed deer’s diet are browse plants. Although a deer would prefer to eat higher-in-protein forbs, those plants are primarily only available during the spring and fall. Though ideal deer foods consists of preferred browse plants and high protein forbs, many of these plants are not as abundant as they could be across the landscape.

Good deer  habitat always has some wooded component. This woody structure provides screening shelter, overhead protection, and food from both leaves and mast. This wooded component can range from brushland to  mid-story tree species to mixed forests of a variety of species. Deer habitat can vary a great deal from place to place, but too much wooded area can become a detriment to deer and the plants they eat. Proper habitat management practices, however, can make the most out of the land you hunt. (more…)

It often amazes me when I hear an uninformed hunter talk about deer management and the habitat requirements of white-tailed deer. After hearing them speak just a few sentences, it’s obvious that they do not have a clear understanding of a whitetail’s habitat needs or the foods that they eat. This blows my mind! After all, these are the same guys that proclaim to ”love” hunting. But I suppose there is a big difference between deer hunting and white-tailed deer management.

Deer hunting can exist without deer management. After all, you don’t necessarily need many (or any?) deer to go deer hunting. However, white-tailed deer management can not occur without hunting as part of the overall equation. In short, you can love hunting while being indifferent to management, but if a deer management program is in place then hunting is part of the package.

So where am I going with this? I guess what I’m trying to do is illustrate is the difference between hunters that simply shoot deer and those that manage for them. There is nothing wrong with either of them. Besides, we all go through various stages in our hunting lives. However, there comes a point when most hunters connect the dots and realize that there is a strong relationship between the habitat that the land provides and the health of a local deer herd. (more…)

Not all that many years ago it was considered unsportsman-like to shoot a doe deer. Since then, however, wildlife biologists and hunters have realized that proper doe harvest is an important part of white-tailed deer management, although I suspect there is a small percentage of landowners that still do not allow doe to be harvested on their properties. After all, a landowner has the ability to be more conservative than the law and choose not to harvest antlerless deer, even if hunting regulations permit it.

But is a no doe harvest really justified? Maybe, but then maybe not—particarly if the only reason holding someone back is the “old school” philosophy of not shooting female deer. It is true that the shooting of does may not be justified in some areas. Not every deer whitetail population can sustain regular doe harvest. Some deer herds may allow periodic doe harvest, such as every other year or every third year, for example, while others need regular (annual) doe harvest to thrive. So why does the harvest of whitetail doe vary by area? (more…)

Let’s face it, most landowners want to see plentiful groups of white-tailed deer running around on their property. However, those interested in improving their herd through deer management practices should want to see healthy individual animals. Why is this, you ask? That is because healthy animals are an indicator of good deer habitat and animals in good condition make for healthy white-tailed deer herds. If individuals within a population are in poor condition, then the overall population itself is in poor shape. So although we may want to sustain as many deer as possible on a ranch, what is the ideal number or the target number? The quick answer is that carrying capacity is based on habitat and environmental conditions.

In short, it’s all related to soils and precipitation, which in turn determines the plant species that grow in a particular area. But even with that said, we all know that the quality of deer habitat can vary based on a variety of factors, even within a single county or even just a mile or two down the road. The previous few sentences probably did not help anyone develop a population goal for their property, but hopefully it did help in understanding that the carrying capacity for a particular piece of property can vary widely between regions, counties, and individual ranches. To help you get a handle on how many deer you should or could have, I have outlined three measurable factors that landowners and hunters can use to monitor the health of a deer herd. (more…)

Deer and deer habitat varies considerably between the northern and southern parts of the white-tailed deer’s range. In the southern U.S., starvation of deer is generally not a problem because of the mild winters that occur throughout the region. With that said, winter–especially late winter–can be a stressful time for whitetail in terms of food quantity and quality, particularly when the deer density is above the carrying capacity of the area. When it comes to winter and native deer foods, browse is the most important class of plants. Because browse plants are of utmost importance during stress periods, such as summer and winter, this article discusses habitat management activities that can increase browse production and take your native forage production and deer management program to the next level. 

As discussed here previously regarding what deer eat and their need for proper nutrition, whitetail consume a plethora of woody and herbaceous plant species. However, natural winter forage is often limited to browse, available cool season forbs, and hard mast such as acorns. During years with good mast production, deer can use this forage well into the winter. However, mast quantity can be quite variable from year to year, forcing deer to rely on alternative food sources. Cool season forb availability can also vary by latitude and can be almost non-existent in freeze-prone areas. Locations at the northern part of the whitetail’s range are typically short on cool season forbs, but so are southern areas during winters receiving low amounts of precipitation. So how can deer managers increase browse production?  (more…)

Deer management is about herd improvement coupled with habitat enhancement. Although many hunters doubt the antler potential for native whitetail bucks in their area, in every area where white-tailed deer exists bucks exceeding 170 Boone and Crockett inches can be produced. In fact, I have seen native 190+ inch bucks come from every region in Texas. Of course, in free-ranging deer populations the majority of bucks will have their antlers max-out anywhere from 120 to 150 inches at maturity (5 1/2+ years old).

With that said, most deer hunters have never harvested a whitetail buck exceeding 130 inches. Why? For starters, most hunters are hard-pressed to find well-nourished bucks. Often times, habitat is in poor condition from livestock operations or there is simply a lack of deer habitat. This is often the case in farming communities where the only available habitat is low-lying land, untillable areas where woodlots have developed, or along creeks and rivers. Deer can forage on most row crops, but only during certain stages of growth or at maturity. The remainder of the time the crops are not consumed or the alleged “habitat” is plowed dirt. Well-nourished bucks need good habitat throughout the year.  (more…)

There are as many different kinds of food plot mixes on the market as there are days in a year, but a lot of people do not realize that the best food plots for white-tailed deer actually grow naturally! In my opinion, natural foods are the best food plots.

I guess by definition what I am writing about today can not really be considered food plots, but more like techniques to provide additional foods for deer. But I believe habitat management is the first step in deer management!

Disking- This is a simple technique that can be implemented (get it) during both the spring and fall. There is nothing magical about how disking works. The only thing necessary is that you use a disk to disturb the surface of the soil so that forb seeds can become “exposed” and germinate.

To promote warm season forbs for deer, disk the selected area before spring green-up. To promote cool season food plots simply disk the area where you would like your native food plot to be during late summer. In addition, to promote more edge and diversity you can alternate disked and undisked strips (strip disking). (more…)