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…)

Good habitat management is the cornerstone of a successful deer management program. But providing good habitat is more than just planting a couple food plots, setting up some protein feeders, and hoping it rains. In fact, none of that stuff is habitat management. Those things can help with available food resources, but they do little to address big issues for the plant communities found on your property.

Sure, food plots and free-choice feeders do provide supplemental food, but habitat management is a whole other issue. Habitat management is not as straight-forward as placing out food for deer to eat, so many people shy away from it. Habitat management is actively creating or restoring processes that impact habitat and food production at several levels – and they can have long-term benefits for deer rather than just over a single season or year.

As time consuming as habitat management can be, not all techniques are difficult to implement. Although I touch on different techniques from time to time, today I just want to talk about timing. Timing, as in life, really is everything! (more…)

Managing for proper nutrition in white-tailed deer is important for good body condition, good fawn production and recruitment, and maximum antler growth. Good nutrition can be accomplished by doing three things that involve proper habitat management, supplemental feeding, and the planting of food plots. If you want to kick your deer management program in to high gear, I recommend sound habitat management practices in addition to supplemental feeding through either protein pellets or food plots.

Most everyone is familiar with the benefits of supplemental feeding (high-protein food, often pellets), but it can be expensive and it promotes the urge to artificially maintain excessive numbers of deer. With that said, supplemental feeding is not a bad thing, but it must be combined with other sound deer population management practices. (more…)

There are many effective ways to control or maintain brush. Where woody plant growth is short and overly abundant, such as arid areas like south Texas, chaining is an feasible and cost-effective way to get the job done. White-tailed deer need brush, but where too much cover exists, the removal of some brush can be a great deer management strategy.

The concept behind chaining is simple. Pull a big chain, knock down woody plants, and create more edge and places for forbs to grow. Chaining is typically done with two dozers that pull a ship anchor chain. It’s recommended that the chain be pulled in a half-circle or “J” pattern between them (from an aerial view). The chain should not be stretched tight between the dozers!

In order to pull out the target species of brush, each link should weigh more than 50-pounds. And since you will likely have to hire someone to pull this management activity off — unless you have two bulldozers and some 50-pound per link chain lying around — they will know exactly what to do if you tell them what you want to accomplish. (more…)

White-tailed deer the need cover and big, mature bucks relish it, but having too much cover is not necessarily a good thing. Open areas are needed to grow beneficial forbs for deer — and deer prefer habitat with a lot of edge — so providing a variety open areas within wooded habitats are deer magnets. This article gives a few tips on things to keep in mind for your brush and deer management program.

In general, brush cleared from better soil types results in higher forage production and typically cost less. As such, before you go to clearing excess brush off or opening up forested lands on your property, do a little preliminary investigating to determine the soil types found on your property. Soil reports are published by the USDA for most counties in the United States and will save you both time and money.

The next step in your brush management plan should be to avoid steep slopes. Steep slopes are not only prone to erosion, but steeper slopes usually have thinner soils and do not respond readily to brush control practices. Use your resources for brush management on level, deeper soils that are more easily cleared, managed, and provide consistent deer forage. (more…)