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?   

To answer this question, let’s first take a look at why hunters harvest deer. Sportsmen across the country take to the field each fall in pursuit of trophy bucks, and venison makes great table fare, but the primary reason we can hunt is because it’s necessary. White-tailed deer are an important resource. In fact, they are a renewable natural resource. The only reason we have a deer season at all is because white-tailed deer are a keystone species in the habitats that they occupy. State governments and wildlife departments use hunters to maintain deer populations at healthy levels, otherwise the habitats that they occupy, which are important to other wildlife species, will suffer.

In short, hunters themselves are an important component of deer management at the state, county, and management unit level. In the U.S., most states use counties or units marked by roadways to designate areas of management. In Texas, white-tailed deer hunting regulations are setup by county. Since the habitat and deer population often vary by county, so do the deer hunting regulations. This makes sense because habitat quality and the resulting deer population are not the same in every area. As a result, the buck, doe, and total deer harvest rates can not be the same for every area.

On private property, hunters must use property lines to identify their management unit, unless neighboring landowners form deer management associations (co-ops) and work together to achieve the same objectives. The most important component of deer management is maintaining a healthy balance between the local deer population and the available habitat. Because deer populations vary by habitat type, you can now see that doe harvest may be warranted in some areas, but not in others. Next week I will write about specific factors that influence deer populations and how those factors impact both buck and doe harvest rates.

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.          

Deer Body Weights

From experience, I can always determine if a property has too many deer for the available habitat based strictly on deer body weights. Deer are kind of like people in the fact that if food is available, they will usually eat it. Removing protein pellets, food plots, or any other type of forage supplement, there is only a limited amount of forage that deer can use on a particular ranch. If the ideal population size for a ranch is 100 white-tailed deer, then the property will support a population of 100 (or fewer) healthy deer. However, if more than this number of deer are on the ranch, say 130, then all of the deer on the property will be less healthy.

This phenomenon is most easily measured and assessed by collecting the field-dressed body weights of hunter-harvested deer off the property. The health of individual animals can be determined by comparing its body weight to that of healthy deer in the same age class. For example, mature (5 1/2+) and healthy white-tailed bucks anywhere in Texas should field-dress at least 125 pounds. Mature does should weigh around 80 pounds. Both sexes can easily weigh more than these quoted minimums, but they should at least reach these targets. Minimum field-dressed weights for healthy deer will vary depending on where in the country you are located, so contact your local wildlife department to get optimal field-dressed body weights (by age class) for your area.            

Reproduction Measured Through Fawn Production

Fawn production is a good measure of habitat and herd health because nature does not lie. Healthy animal populations, regardless of species, will have high reproduction, high survival, and good recruitment in environments that provide everything they need. Animals need food, cover, and water, and white-tailed deer on no different. If your property provides high-quality deer habitat, then the cover and resulting food are in place.

The availability of food, as it relates to habitat condition, really impacts fawn survival. This is why fawn crops are poor during drought and high during years with high amounts of precipitation. Habitat that is being over-used by too many deer will be in poor condition, even during a “good” year. In addition to field-dressed body weights, fawn survival is generally a good measure of herd health. High fawn survival means healthy habitat. To estimate the fawn survival of the whitetail herd found on your property you will need to conduct daylight deer surveys annually. A fawn survival rate of at least 75% (75 fawns per 100 does) is indicative of a healthy deer herd and healthy habitat.       

Habitat Use and Condition 

Biologist often use habitat condition, as measured through browse utilization by deer, as an indicator of habitat health. This is because trained individuals know exactly which plants deer prefer to eat, those that they will eat readily, and then those that are at the bottom of the list. As mentioned above, the availability of food is important for the health of individual deer as well as the herd as a whole. Although you do not have to become an expert in plant identification to successfully manage the deer herd found on your property, it would be a good idea to become familiar with the common browse plants on your property. This will allow you to identify browse consumption by deer throughout the year and from year to year.

Once you are able to recognize a few plants from each browse category (preferred, moderately preferred, not preferred), you will understand where on the buffet line the deer on your property are eating. However, there is a trick. Highly preferred browse plants will always be consumed at high levels. The real measure of habitat health will be determined by whether or not deer are eating plants they really do not want to eat.

Developing a Target Number for the Deer Herd

Each ranch manager should determine the whitetail carrying capactiy for their ranch. This number may vary over time, but without a goal there is no need for deer management. How can one manage for something if they can not measure or detect changes? As you can tell, record keeping becomes very important if you expect to monitor the progress of the deer found on your ranch. In short, there are two ways to determine the ideal deer population size for your property. You can work from the top down or from the bottom up.

A top-down approach would be to contact a state biologist, have them come look at the habitat on your property, and then them give you a ball park number on how many animals your habitat will carry. A bottom- up approach would be for you to monitor individual deer body weights and estimate fawn production annually. In either case, you can use the same information to make the appropriate changes. If the body weights of field-dressed deer are less than optimal for the area and fawn production is low, then there are too many deer for the habitat. Adjust the population carrying capactiy downward and shoot more animals. If, however, deer are in good condition and there are plenty of fawns, then it may be possible to increase the population incrementally as long as negative changes are not measured.

Of course, the above data will be of most benefit if you are also conducting annual camera surveys or spotlight surveys. And if you are at all serious about deer management, yearly deer surveys are a must for your ranch. Deer surveys are designed to help you estimate the number of white-tailed deer on your property, but then, using body weight and fawn production data, you can determine if that is the right target for you. Once you have identified the carrying capacity for your ranch, then it’s just a matter of conducting annual surveys and harvesting the excess population. Of course, if you keep the herd at carrying capacity, then that fawn production data will give you a pretty good idea of how many animals will need to be removed each year!

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?  

Browse plants are the most stable component of a white-tailed deer’s diet. Year-in and year-out, browse can be relied upon by deer as a staple in their diet. Why? Well, browse consists of the stems, twigs, and leaves of woody plants (and vines) and these species tend to be long-lived perennials. Many perennial plants lose their leaves each winter, but immediately grow new leaves and stems each spring and throughout the summer. This makes plants such as elm, poison ivy, and greenbriar great emergency summer time grub should a lack of rainfall fail to produce any succulent forbs. Perennials with established root systems have an advantage over short-lived forbs when it comes to their need for water/rain. In addition, some browse species–such as important juniper species in the north and live oak in the south–are evergreen. These browse species are available for deer during the winter, as well as the summer.     

Habitat management that increases summer and winter browse availability is not very expensive or time consuming and should be a component of every white-tailed deer management plan. In just about every case, increasing available deer browse is a simple, straight-forward task. Thinning small blocks (3-5 acres) in forested areas is one way to increase browse availability and plant production. Removing some older trees allows sunlight to reach the ground. And I said “blocks” because square-ish is the way to go here. Narrow strip thinning will not permit enough sunlight for optimal browse growth. Sunlight is needed to allow browse seeds and seedlings to take off, creating more forage for local whitetail. Wooded areas with totally enclosed canopies offer little for deer in terms of browse, except along the edges. Opening up the canopy and allowing increased sunlight will spur browse plant growth, increase food, and up the number of deer using the area.

Another way to increase browse production for deer is through the use of fertilizer. Adding fertilizer to recently thinned patches substantially increases the productivity of browse plants. Imagine a garden with fertilizer; it does much, much better! In addition, fertilizer can be used around the edges of established browse plants, too. Fertilize the edges of woodlines, along roadways, and even along utility easements. Not only will the plants be much more healthy and produce bigger, darker leaves, but deer will find fertilized leaves much more palatable. It’s kind of like an unfertilized food plot versus a fertilized one. Deer prefer fertilized areas because they can literally taste the increased nutrition.

Browse is an important food source for whitetail, especially during stress periods. These habitat management tips are just some of the techniques that you can use to increase native forage and browse production on your property. Browse management should be considered an important part of your deer management program because browse plants produce year after year, and especially when you need them most!

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.  

Maturity. Show me a mature buck and I’ll show you a deer that more than one hunter is willing to put on a wall. Age, nutrition, and genetics combine to determine the potential for any whitetail buck’s antlers. Without a little age, a buck will never reach his true potential. The short answer for this maturity phenomenon is that it takes 3 years for a buck to complete his long bone growth. After this time, valuable minerals can be put toward antler growth, not skeletal growth. Bones also help store minerals prior to and during antler growth.

Mature bucks are easy to talk about, but few hunters will let a potentially great deer walk. And it’s not because deer hunters do not have patience, it’s simply because they do not have enough land to ensure that the buck survives into the next one or two hunting seasons. It’s difficult for anyone hunting on a couple hundred acres of land to let a young 140 inch deer walk through. Sure, that buck may end up being over 200 inches at maturity, but what are the odds that your neighbor let’s him walk, too? And your neighbor’s neighbor? This is why the best thing small landowners can do is form deer management cooperatives with their neighbors, form strict bylaws, and stick to them.    

So proper deer nutrition and age are very important, but genes, of course, play a part. I mentioned earlier that most native bucks will likely never exceed 120 to 150 inches, even at maturity. However, habitat that provides proper nutrition in combination with supplemental feeding can add another 10 to 20 inches, but genetics still determine how big a buck can get. A buck with “superior” genes for antler growth will outperform bucks with “normal” genes for antler growth under the same conditions. This is where the management part must take place for the whole deer management concept to work.

Take any group of bucks on any property in any part of the country and some deer will have larger antlers than the others. Regardless of the bucks a property owner has to start with, the best bucks on the place are the bucks (genes) that a landowner should be managing to increase in the deer herd. The other bucks should be culled, harvested, and removed. Repeating this methodically year after year while keeping the herd size in check with the habitat will improve any deer herd. And with proper nutrition and a little bit of age, most hunters would be quite surprised at what a native white-tailed buck can do. And more than happy to put it on their wall!

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).

Fire and Prescribed Burning – Just mentioning the word “fire” scares a lot of people, but if you do it right, prescribed burning can be very safe and be the most beneficial habitat management technique you ever use. Burning creates natural “food plots” for whitetail by returning the nutrients tied up in dead and dying organic matter to the ground and stimulating forb seeds found near the soil’s surface.

To promote forbs using fire, the single best time to burn would be in early fall as the very first cool fronts roll in. This allows much of the grass and other fine fuels to be removed from the land’s surface and really allows forbs to take off. In addition, you can used disked strips around the area around where you intended to burn as fire breaks. It’s a double whammy!  

Deferred Grazing- This one is really stretching this whole food plot thing, but excluding or removing cattle from a particular area really can provide substantially more browse and forbs for white-tailed deer. Keep this mind and try rotating livestock on your property. You just might will be surprised at where you find the deer… in the areas where deferred grazing took place!