Buck Manager | Buck Manager

Deer Hunting in Perspective

Why do We Hunt?

We are all born cold, wet and hungry. That’s why it’s human nature to be a hunter. When we hear the question, “Why do people hunt deer and other game?,” we all know it’s in our genes. Whether we hunt or not, we all know it because we all hunt — for one thing or another.

For those lucky enough to be exposed to white-tailed deer hunting at an early age, those first few outdoor experiences can light a fire inside us that lasts a lifetime. Someone mentoring another to hunt is nurturing a wise use of nature.

It was awesome being a youngster back in the day, waiting with as much anticipation for the opening day of deer season as I did for Christmas, probably even more. Even now, it’s still pretty darn exciting.

Hunting can be super intense, usually for mere seconds, but most non-hunters would classify the majority of the time spent hunting at “boring.” Hunting game animals requires a fair amount of time and there is not always a reward that can be easily shown for it; sometimes it’s only inside us.

Deer Hunting is Focus

Hunting was also simpler back when I was a kid. Of course, everything is simple when you’re young and unable, or maybe just unwilling, to interject the complexities which adults like to bring to situations. Do we need to deliberate over which broadhead or rifle caliber is best for killing something? No, they all do the job when used properly.

While less than 10 years old, I got swept up into chasing critters — dove, quail, ducks, geese, the whole lot — and putting real, organic food on the table at a time when white-tailed deer management on private lands was in its infancy and full-blown, guided deer hunting was not yet widespread.

In fact, “organic” was implied on the food we ate. It didn’t need to be labeled as such. Times have definitely changed, but have hunters?

Hunting to Keep Score

Source: “If another kid under the age of 10 comes up to me and gives me the Boone & Crockett score of the buck they shot or says something like, “Dad shot a buck last year but it was only a 140” I will scream.

It is perfectly natural for kids or adults to become excited with the prospect of shooting big bucks but the fact is in the state of Texas we have created an unhealthy obsession. Many young hunters are so antler crazy they have zero regard for the deer and measure their hunting experience only by what a tape measure can show them.

The industry itself has not helped matters.

Trophy bucks that cost hunters between $5-$10,000 to shoot are paraded around hunting programs and many outdoors magazines like they are the only measure of a good hunter.

I have nothing against folks with money but what these deer in most cases are is a sign that a hunter could afford to hunt on the right high fenced ranch.

Fishing has not quite reached this level due to far more public access and the fact catching big fish still requires a skill set. These days the only thing required to shoot a monster buck is a monster payday.”

Why do You Hunt Deer?

The “hunting industry” takes it’s licks from time to time from hunters and non-hunters alike. But let’s face it, everything is controversial now days. Spoiler alert: The things that get the most attention in big media are actually of little consequence to most of us in our daily lives. That’s why I canned my live TV subscription. I can read the (often divisive) headlines online.

As a rule, we should not apply the standards of others to our own lives. Don’t size up your job, house or vacation against that of a friend’s seen on Facebook. As hunters, we should not measure the trophies of others against our own. Don’t use another’s tape measure of success to define your own.

We hunt game animals, but hunting is not to be gamed. We all have our reasons for why we hunt deer and other wildlife. The hunting community shares those reasons, for which there are really only a handful, for the challenge, food, recreation, tranquility, our heritage, and it’s in our DNA.

Deer hunting is still as simple and pure as we make it. We can improve the habitat found on our lands by maintaining the deer herd. We can manage the deer populations that use our properties, whether it be 10 acres, 100 acres or 10,000 acres. We can put food on the table, something that literally and figuratively satisfies our innate hunger to hunt.

Every hunter chooses the conditions under which he or she releases an arrow, pulls a trigger, takes a deer. We all have our reasons. Why we hunt deer and other game animals is our own business. We define our trophies in different ways. There’s plenty we could argue about in this world. Each and every deer I’m lucky enough to harvest is still a trophy to me.

Deer Management and Culling: What Would You Do?

Freak Buck?

Question: “Is a 3 1/2 year old freak a cull buck? We are trying to manage the doe density and take some cull bucks to better the buck herd, but one hunter on our property took a 3 1/2 year old freak that was not on the hit list as a cull buck. The hunter is claiming that he in fact was a cull.

I’m not in anyway arguing with the hunter about his decision, it’s just I thought we were trying to manage our doe population first and then the bucks second. I know in my heart that I would have taken a doe over taking this 3 1/2 year old freak that was healthy.”

Buck Harvest Considerations

Response: First, a “freak buck” could be one of many things. It could be deer worthy of culling if it’s on the low end of the spectrum for bucks in its age class or it could be a rarity that sits on the upper end of the bell curve, a buck of freakishly large proportions.

The latter would be a buck that you would definitely want to get some age on. This would allow the buck to pass on his genes and achieve maximum antler growth. Selective harvest of individual bucks will result in little to no real change in the quality of the future deer population unless part of an overall deer management program.
A buck that’s only 3 1/2 years old is not nearly topped-out, but the antlers sitting atop his head tell a lot about his future. First, let me just say that culling is subjective and depends much on the deer herd found in an area. It also depends on the amount of acreage on which selective buck harvest can occur; larger acreages are more likely to see results if all aspects of habitat and nutrition are addressed.

Even then, much of those results will be from maintaining a proper deer carrying capacity, allowing the deer on the property to have optimal nutrition. In the question above, this sounds like this is the case. However, there are some general guidelines that I can offer for selective deer removal that may help in this situation with the management of your deer herd.

Buck Harvest: Does Culling Work?

Any whitetail buck that is 3 1/2 years of age or older with 8 or fewer antler points should be considered for harvest. This is the type of buck often deemed a “management buck.” Any buck that is 2 1/2 years of age or older and lacks brow tines (G1s) should also be considered for culling.

Most hunters and landowners interested in deer management would not want to promote these types of antler characteristics into older age classes within a deer herd. These recommendations are just a place to when it comes to selective buck harvest. If you do not have a lot of bucks in an area then your primarily objective will likely to be to get bucks into older age classes for harvest, not micro-managing the buck segment of the deer herd.

Likewise, if you have way more deer in an area, more than the habitat can support, then your primary objective should be to reduce the deer population. Shooting freak bucks, cull bucks or those deemed management bucks will make almost zero difference until the entire population can be addressed. I think this was the main concern in the initial question; Don’t worry about nitpicking bucks until the deer population is where it needs to be.

Planned Management of Deer

The most important aspect of any management program for deer is determining the short-term objectives that must be implemented in order to achieve the long-term goals, whether it be improving the buck to doe ratio, selectively removing bucks or simply decreasing the deer population. In this case, it sounds like the objectives were either not well understood or totally disregarded by the hunter.

Even with a management plan is place that includes short-term objectives to reach long-term goals, each and every hunter on a property needs to be aware that such a plan is guiding the decisions made on a property. There is no doubt that mistakes will be made, but we can’t hold people, including hunters, at fault for crossing lines that they didn’t know existed.

The best way to minimize mistakes among hunters is to collect game camera photos prior to the season, sit down with those involved in the management program and clearly identify which bucks are on the “hit list” and which ones are not. Again, if you are really trying to improve the deer found in an area, selective buck harvest should only even be considered after addressing the deer population, habitat and nutritional limitations.

READ: What is a Cull Buck?

Best Time to Deer Hunt: Early in the Season

Best Time for Hunting Whitetail?

After each season, we as hunters must wait the better part of a year before we can head back out deer hunting. This built up anticipation, fueled by a treasure trove of game camera photos, drives optimistic hunters to the woods in mass, each in search of a heavy-horned buck.

As it turns out, deer respond to that increase in hunter activity by changing their behavior and movement patterns. To seasoned hunters this does not come as a complete surprise, but there are management implications that impact local whitetail populations. So hunter activity not only affects our hunting efforts, but also our effort to management deer.

Anyone that has ineffectively attempted to hunt a specific buck knows what pressure does to a deer. After getting bumped from a bedding area, detecting a strange smell around a feeding area, or noticing anything abnormal in its core area, a seasoned buck will immediately change when and where it moves.

This change may be short-lived or long-lasting. It really depends on the level of intrusion and the demeanor of each individual buck on the response, but we know there is a response. Behavioral changes caused by hunters/hunting pressure also decreases your chance for success, and it goes for does, too.

Early Season Deer Hunting is Tops

Source: “Deer season is upon us. Surveys are being conducted. Deer cameras are being set. Managers are making harvest recommendations from these data. But let’s be honest, hunters across the country are more eager to hit the woods in search of that trophy buck than to spend time on reviewing harvest recommendations.

As part of most management programs, doe harvest is an important component that needs just as much attention as trophy bucks. Hunters see doe harvest as an inconvenience. Therefore, most hunters put off doe harvest until late in the season after they have had sufficient time to fill their buck tag. This, however, could cause hunters to fall short of their overall harvest goals.

Researchers from the Noble Foundation and Mississippi State University designed a study to address many aspects of deer behavior as it relates to hunting pressure. During the 2008 and 2009 deer rifle season, landowners and volunteer hunters from the community were invited to participate in a two-year study to determine how hunting pressure affects observability and harvest susceptibility of white-tailed deer.

No archery or primitive rifle hunting was allowed prior to the study. Thirty-seven adult bucks (≥2.5 years of age) were equipped with GPS collars across the Noble Foundation Oswalt Road Ranch. Hunters were assigned to compartments at a high hunter density (one hunter per 75 acres) or a low hunter density (one hunter per 250 acres).

From this study design, researchers determined how hunter density and duration of the hunting season influenced observation rates of white-tailed deer.

Hunter observation rates of collared bucks were highest during the first weekend of the deer-gun season in both the low and high hunter density areas, but as the hunting season progressed, observation rates declined along with the movement of deer. The number of observations of collared bucks in both the low and high hunter density areas declined by greater than 60 percent across the 16-day deer-gun season.But what about does?

Hunters also collected observation data on does throughout the season and found similar trends. Observation rates were greatest the first weekend of hunting and declined across the low and high hunter density areas as the hunting season progressed.

Overall, deer modified their behavior to avoid hunters by moving less and using security cover, which made observation by hunters more difficult. Early in the season, hunters had greater success observing deer at higher elevations on the ranch where vegetation was relatively short and woody cover was sparse. Late in the season, deer chose areas that were more densely vegetated – areas with greater woody cover or along riparian corridors.

On properties with similar hunter densities, these results might explain decreased observation rates to hunters, and illustrate why it is important to adjust timing and intensity of harvest to help achieve population management goals. If you are like most hunters and feel that meeting population management goals is an inconvenience, consider harvesting does earlier during the season. And the more time you spend in the field, the greater your overall chances of meeting population management goals.”

Best Time to Deer Hunt: Start Early

In short, it’s best if a hunter has access to a really large parcel of land with no other hunting pressure. Since this is rarely the case, the take home message for hunters is to take advantage of your hunting time early during the deer season. Research has found that early in the season is the best time to hunt deer. White-tailed deer will be much more visible. If you need to reduce the doe herd, do so early and avoid the urge to wait.

Deer hunting during the early season allows hunters an opportunity to achieve harvest and deer management objectives, with time on your side. An early start also gives you a great shot at your “hit list” buck. Otherwise, the animals you are hunting will be even more difficult to find as the season progresses.

Deer Hunting and Management is Conservation for All

Benefit of Hunting for Conservation

The benefits of managing habitat for white-tailed deer have been well documented. Decades of anecdotal accounts by land managers substantiate the widespread benefit of deer management, and published research by academics serve as documented proof. Managing deer is good. Taking a hands-off approach is bad for deer, native plants and other wildlife.

I believe the best way to grow bigger and healthier deer is give them exactly what they want: high-quality natural foods. To paraphrase, if you build it they will come. If you make whitetail habitat better they will be healthier, at the very least. The truth is that nothing is as good as the food found in prime habitat under good environmental conditions, neither pelleted protein feed nor food plots even come close.

Albeit, supplemental forages can have their place in a well-rounded management program, since they help maintain a constant nutritional plane for a deer herd during tough times. Even good habitat can find itself in poor condition during drought conditions, which is especially true here in Texas.

However, when you as a hunter or landowner are doing it right there should not be many tough times. Lands managed for deer typically anticipate the worst by keeping the right number of deer.

Working for Deer, Wildlife

It takes hard work to manage deer and the habitat that they need on private lands, so why do we do it? Mostly because we simply love doing it. We enjoy taking care of the natural resources that we love. We like watching wildlife and white-tailed deer. We want to give something back to the sport that we love, deer hunting. We want to give something back to the animal we love, white-tailed deer.

We also realize that deer must be controlled. Wildlife conservation is different that wildlife preservation. Whitetail populations have the ability to increase rapidly. Habitat deteriorates when that happens and we know that negatively affects local deer herds, but also native plant communities and all the other animals that live there. The fallout of having too many deer has numerous, negative impacts, from soil erosion to native plant regeneration to commercial ag production.

It boils down to conservation, taking care of what we as people have. It also comes from an understanding that deer are a renewable natural resource. Management is the price we are willing to pay for the tangible and intangible things that we get from stepping into the woods each and every time we go hunting.

Some people will never understand that. And I’m okay with that, because I don’t understand all of them either.

Deer Hunting is Necessary

Every plant and animal has a place in the wildlife world. It’s paramount to realize that although we have allegedly “progressed” as a society, the important things in life will always remain the same: family, friends, good times and proper stewardship of the bountiful natural resources that we’ve been given.

It will not make a hill of beans how fast our phones download data or how many movies we can stream if the environment becomes unsuitable for life. Humans are smart as whole, but as a group we don’t always make wise decisions.

Habitat-based white-tailed deer management has fueled better deer hunting across the US, without a doubt. But all of the combined management effort has not just benefited deer and the people that hunt them; deer population and habitat management has helped most all other plants and animals that call those places home, too. Deer hunting and management has help fund, directly and indirectly, many forms of habitat management. That benefits everyone.

Leopold and Deer Management

Aldo Leopold: “… I have lived to see state after state extirpate its wolves. I have watched the face of many a newly wolfless mountain, and seen the south-facing slopes wrinkle with a maze of new deer trails. I have seen every edible bush and seedling browsed, first to anaemic desuetude, and then to death. I have seen every edible tree defoliated to the height of a saddlehorn.

Such a mountain looks as if someone had given God a new pruning shears, and forbidden Him all other exercise. In the end the starved bones of the hoped-for deer herd, dead of its own too-much, bleach with the bones of the dead sage, or molder under the high-lined junipers.

I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer. And perhaps with better cause, for while a buck pulled down by wolves can be replaced in two or three years, a range pulled down by too many deer may fail of replacement in as many decades. So also with cows.

The cowman who cleans his range of wolves does not realize that he is taking over the wolf’s job of trimming the herd to fit the range. He has not learned to think like a mountain. Hence we have dustbowls, and rivers washing the future into the sea.”

5 Survey Methods for Deer Management

It’s nearly impossible to manage a deer population without having some estimate of the number of deer in the area. Annual population estimates can provide valuable information such as herd composition, density and total estimated population. Information gathered from standardized survey techniques can help shape management actions for a property. Even something as basic as annual recruitment (fawn production) varies annually and recruitment is a direct measure of habitat and deer health. This can be measured with a minimal amount of survey effort.

Managing deer herd size alone can be a substantial part of habitat management on any property. After all, too many deer means increased browse utilization, decreased plant diversity, smaller-bodied deer, lower fawn survival and bucks that never reach their full potential for antler growth. In short, the plants and animals found on your hunting property can benefit greatly from you conducting annual surveys.

1. Spotlight Surveys – This is the most commonly used method for estimating deer populations. Specifically, this survey technique works best for estimating deer density. It’s best applied to properties larger than 500 acres. It involves setting up a survey route that is (ideally) representative of the property, then conducting night counts at least 3 times prior to the hunting season and recording what you see. Get additional details about using spotlight surveys for deer.

2. Mobile Daylight Surveys – This survey method is often used in conjunction with the spotlight method to supplement herd composition estimates. During spotlight counts, deer are recorded as bucks, does fawns and unidentified deer. As it turns out, many of the deer seen at night are difficult to accurately identify. So although spotlight counts are good for estimating density, they can come up short for estimating the composition of the deer herd if only a small number of animals are identified. Mobile daylight surveys simply involve driving (truck/jeep/UTV) the property during daylight hours with a good pair of binoculars and recording the number of bucks, does and fawns that you see. This will supplement spotlight data (which estimates population size) with the composition of the herd.

3. Stand Counts – This method falls along the same idea as mobile daylight surveys and can be used to supplement spotlight counts, but may be used as a stand-alone technique on smaller properties. Stand count surveys will not estimate deer density, but this method can result in good herd composition estimates prior to or even during the deer hunting season. A lot of data about the deer population can be collected quickly when all stands on a property are filled. Find out more about using stand count surveys for estimating the composition of a deer herd.

4. Camera Surveys – Motion-activated game cameras are very handy devices. Because they work 24-7 they can collect a ton of remote data (photos) that can be used for a variety of things. The only caveat is that you must set the cameras to collect the data you want or you’ll just end up with a ton of pictures. Properly-used cameras provide herd composition estimates and can also estimate deer density. Find out more about using cameras for deer management and how to perform camera surveys for deer.

5. Aerial Surveys – This survey method is not practical for most hunters and land managers, but it makes sense for those managing large blocks of land upwards of 7,500 acres. It does not work well in heavily-forested areas because of limited visibility. Aerial surveys for deer are best performed over more open areas such as grassland-dominated habitats or those comprised of low-shrublands. Helicopters are typically used but small, fixed-winged planes are the right choice for really large properties since they are less expensive. I imagine unmanned drones will be another, less-expensive alternative for deer surveys shortly.

Using Survey Data

It’s important to understand your management goals so that surveys can be used to reach annual objectives. Although each method outlined can provide useful information for making decisions about harvest management, it’s imperative that managers understand the limitations of each. Some techniques can be used to estimate deer density and population size while others will provide composition data only.

Additionally, if surveys are used to estimate density/deer population then the manager needs to have some idea of the deer carrying capacity of the property before knowing whether to decrease or increase fall harvest based on survey results.

Surveys for herd composition estimate buck to doe ratio and fawn to doe ratio. Though this will not estimate total population size, this is information can be used for structuring annual harvest goals. If the buck to doe ratio is estimated to be 1:3 and the goal is 1:2 then more antlerless deer need to be removed. Also, if the habitat and deer herd appears healthy based on body weights then the number of adult deer harvested each year needs to roughly equal the number of fawns recruited into the population each year to keep the population stable. A high number of fawns means a more liberal fall harvest while fewer fawns equates to a more conservative one.