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Whitetail Deer Water Requirements

Whitetail Water Needs

How much water do white-tailed deer drink? How much do they need on a daily basis? The high temperatures experienced during the “dog days” of summer are brutal. We have to drink more water. Also, it makes hunters ponder white-tailed deer water requirements. Can deer find enough water on your property to survive? It’s a simple question, but an important one to consider when it comes to deer management and future deer hunting on a property.

Water requirements generally vary with available food sources, climactic conditions and a whitetail’s physiological state. For example, deer that are lactating or growing need more water than deer that are not.

Deer Water Requirements for Better Deer Management

Whitetail are not picky when it comes to water sources. They will readily use troughs, ponds, creeks, rivers springs, dew, snow and even mud puddles. In fact, secluded depressions that hold water for any period of time will be used heavily by deer. These tucked-away surface sites allow does with fawns and weary bucks to go about their business in seclusion. This may decrease their chances of being detected by predators and hunters.

Next time you stumble across one of these mud holes pay attention. Take a look at the number of deer tracks around them. Deer have no problem using water from where they can get it. And they can get it in many ways.

Daily Deer Water Requirements

White-tailed deer require water but can go for relatively long periods of time without it. Deer use water daily. They can ingest it directly or they can extract it from their diet if succulent plants are available to them. In areas where water-rich foods are lacking, the rule of thumb is that at least one source of permanent water per square mile is needed. This will ensure use of the available area, assuming the area is deer habitat.

The home range of a whitetail deer generally ranges from 400 to 800 acres. So, it’s a good idea to have at least one water source per square mile. This offers at least one watering site and will meet deer water requirements for the animals living in the area. Lack of free water on dry ridges may deter deer from using these areas.

Water Distribution for Deer

Many factors affecting how much water a whitetail deer drinks each day. These factors also impact seasonal consumption. It’s difficult to say that “Rancho Perfecto” needs exactly 5 ponds or exactly 6 troughs scattered across it. However, I recommend developing watering sites no less than one mile apart. Doing this means no deer is ever more than a half mile from water at any time. This also falls in line with the “at least one water source per square mile” philosophy mentioned earlier. It ensures the whitetail deer in your area have access to surface water even if they do not necessarily need it.

Meeting Deer Water Requirements

Deer use water in several forms. In addition to the liquid found on the earth’s surface, whitetail deer can use preformed water and metabolic water. Preformed water is the stuff that is found in the foods that they eat. Metabolic water is produced internally as a result of hydrogen oxidation during an animal’s metabolic processes. Much of the water that whitetail deer need can be found in the food that they eat. Most of these foods are between 50 and 90 percent water. No need to go hunting for water when high quality, natural food sources are abundant. In essence, deer only drink water to supplement the water they extract from their diet.

One study in the Southeastern U.S. suggested that whitetail do not require surface water on a daily basis because of high rainfall, humidity, and the availability of succulent plants. Researchers said this applied for at least most of the year. Additionally, the study mentioned that surface water may be important during the summer when rainfall is scarce. This is also when the water requirements of lactating does are high.

Improve Available Deer Habitat - Water Required for Deer Use

A white-tailed deer needs about 1 1/2 quarts of water for every 100 pounds of body weight per day during the winter. This requirement doubles for deer during the summer. When temperatures rise, deer need about 3 quarts for every 100 pounds of body weight. How many deer are in your area? How much do the deer using your property weigh?

The volume of water is even greater for does that are supporting fawns or deer found in more arid regions, such as West or South Texas. Again, this does not mean that a deer will necessarily drink this amount of water, but that they will supplement the preformed and metabolic water taken from their diet with surface water.

Water is Life

It’s thought that during times of drought or pregnancy that surface water is a definite necessity. It’s believed that whitetail actually ingest between 2-3 times as much water as food. Is this the case always? Don’t know. There can be other factors that increase water intake, too. The supplemental feeding of deer with protein pellets is also believed to elevate whitetail deer water requirements.

Deer that do not have access to adequate amounts of water will not forage. This would put a damper on any deer management efforts in a hurry. In addition, this would hurt the deer hunting, or lack thereof, on a property as well. Deer that do not eat will not maintain good body condition, raise fawns, grow large antlers, or live.

As mentioned, habitat conditions do come into play. Moisture-rich plants can provide much of the water that deer may need. However, this is not the case in areas experiencing drought conditions or for whitetail deer living in semi-desert conditions. Although surface water is not as important to whitetails as food or habitat with suitable cover, a lack of available water can prevent animals from using an area in drier climates.

Got Water?

Whitetail are like all living things in that they require water in order to survive. Deer water requirements will vary based on whether they are growing body mass or simply in maintenance mode. The amount required daily varies seasonally. Deer require much more water during the summer. This is especially true for does which need more liquid for milk production.

Tale a closer look at your property if you even think water may be a limiting factor. The deer and other wildlife found in the area will appreciate it. The installation of additional tanks or water troughs will more than likely help your population management efforts. This potentially leads to improved deer hunting in the area. A study that took place in Texas reported that watering sites are frequently the centers of whitetail home ranges. Makes sense.

CWD Found in Texas Deer

It seemed like just a matter of time before Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was found in Texas, but today it was verified: Texas deer have the highly contagious deer disease, or at least a couple of deer did. Samples from two mule deer recently taken in far West Texas have been confirmed positive for CWD.

These are the first cases of CWD detected in any deer species found in Texas. Wildlife officials believe the event is currently isolated in a remote part of the state near the New Mexico border. The idea is to now limit transmission of the disease within the state, insulating deer populations, deer hunting and the deer breeding industry across the rest of Texas.

Source: “The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) implemented regionally-focused deer sample collection efforts after the disease was detected in the Hueco Mountains of New Mexico during the 2011-12 deer hunting season. With the assistance of cooperating landowners, TPWD, TAHC, and USDA-APHIS-Wildlife Services biologists and veterinarians collected samples from 31 mule deer as part of a strategic CWD surveillance plan designed to determine the geographic extent of New Mexico’s findings. Both infected deer were taken from the Hueco Mountains of northern El Paso and Hudspeth counties.

CWD is a member of the group of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Other diseases in this group include scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) in cattle, and Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. CWD among cervids is a progressive, fatal disease that commonly results in altered behavior as a result of microscopic changes made to the brain of affected animals. An animal may carry the disease for years without outward indication, but in the latter stages, signs may include listlessness, lowering of the head, weight loss, repetitive walking in set patterns, and a lack of responsiveness. CWD is not known to affect humans.

Tissue samples were initially tested by the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in College Station, with confirmation by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

“Now that we have detected CWD in Texas, our primary objective is to contain this disease,” said Carter Smith, TPWD Executive Director. “Working collaboratively with experts in the field we have developed protocols to address CWD and implementation is already under way.”

There is no vaccine or cure for CWD, but steps have been taken to minimize the risk of the disease spreading from beyond the area where it currently exists. For example, human-induced movements of wild or captive deer, elk, or other susceptible species will be restricted and mandatory hunter check stations will be established.

“This is obviously an unfortunate and rather significant development,” said TPW Commission Chairman, T. Dan Friedkin. “We take the presence of CWD very seriously and have a plan of action to deal with it. The Department will do whatever is prudent and reasonable to protect the state’s deer resources and our deer hunting heritage.”

Although wildlife officials cannot say how long the disease has been present in Texas or if it occurs in other areas of the state, they have had an active CWD surveillance program for more than a decade.

“We have tested more than 26,500 wild deer in Texas since 2002, and the deer breeding industry has submitted more than 7,400 CWD test results as well,” said Mitch Lockwood, Big Game Program Director with TPWD. “But that part of West Texas is the toughest place to conduct an adequate CWD surveillance program because so few deer are harvested out there each deer hunting season. Thanks to the cooperation and active participation of several landowners, we were able to begin getting an idea of the prevalence and geographic distribution of the disease without needing to remove many deer.”

The TAHC regulates cervid species not indigenous to Texas such as elk, red deer, and sika deer. TAHC oversees a voluntary CWD herd monitoring status program with the intent to facilitate trade and marketability for interested cervid producers in Texas. Cervid herds under either TPWD or TAHC authority may participate in the commission’s monitored CWD program. The basis of the program is that enrolled cervid producers must provide an annual herd inventory, and ensure that all mortalities during the previous year were tested for CWD and the disease was not detected.

Wildlife biologists, hunters, and landowners would certainly have preferred for Texas mule deer populations to have not been dealt this challenge, but TPWD and TAHC have developed a CWD Management Plan that includes management practices intended to contain the disease. The management plan includes input from the CWD Task Force, which is comprised of deer and elk producers, wildlife biologists, veterinarians and other animal-health experts from TPWD, Texas Animal Health Commission, Department of State Health Services, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine, and USDA.”

The deer disease was first recognized in 1967 in captive mule deer in Colorado. While mule deer populations in that state declined, but the economic impact on elk and deer hunting activities has never been quantified. CWD has been documented in captive and/or free-ranging deer species in 19 states and 2 Canadian provinces. Dr. Dee Ellis, State Veterinarian and TAHC Executive Director, also had this to say about Texas’ situation, “We know that elk in southern New Mexico are also infected with CWD. It will take a cooperative effort between hunters, the cervid industry, and state/federal animal health and wildlife agencies to ensure we keep this disease confined to southern New Mexico and far West Texas. I am confident however that will be able to do that, and thus protect the rest of the Texas cervid industry.”

Anthrax Confirmed in Deer in Uvalde County

White-tailed deer diseases are common. Although most only result in minimal impacts on a local deer population, some deer diseases can can have a severe impact on deer hunting and management activities. Anthrax is one of the diseases that is really good at making deer dead. This bacterial disease not only kills deer, but all other mammals as well. The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) announced in a news release last week that the first confirmed case of anthrax in a Texas animal for 2012 has been detected in a whitetail buck in Uvalde County.

An anthrax outbreak occurred on June 6, 2012, and involved 10 dead white-tailed deer on a newly purchased ranch approximately 20-25 miles north of Uvalde, Texas, on Highway 55 (to Rocksprings). There was one freshly dead deer when the veterinarian visited the ranch, and this was the one he sampled and sent to the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in College Station for confirmation. Information from that sample spurred TAHC’s anthrax news release. The high fenced ranch where the anthrax outbreak occurred has both whitetail and exotics deer species. There are no livestock grazing on the property and the size of the ranch is not available at this time.

Anthrax in Texas - Deer Hunting to be Impacted

The 10 deer are said to have died over a two day interval. This tells me that there are already other prior cases in that general area that either no one is talking about (not unusual), or they have yet to get out and check their stock and watch the vultures. The fact that “ten” deer were affected essentially at once would confirm fly activity, because in dry years, it is usually just single or double deaths and no follow through. The flies feed on an index case, and then with contaminated mouthparts feed on other deer, mammals nearby. From the nature of commercial deer breeding in Texas, the deer density is high, as they are frequently fed with protein pellets or cracked corn at multiple feeding stations, so the female flies do not have trouble finding another deer to feed upon, infect and kill.

The new ranch owner had been moving dirt, as new owners often do, and it is theoretically possible he had disturbed an old anthrax grave site, which, with the recent four to six inches of rain, the turned soil could have sprouted some tasty deer foods. Though normally browsers, whitetail deer will graze on fresh, succulent grasses. Anthrax outbreaks based on grazing usually start with a single affected animal from which the infection spreads. Ten “at once” is not likely to be from grazing, but the full story has yet to unfold.

Because of the increase in rainfall in early May 2012 in the area bounded by Interstate 10 and Interstate 90, essentially between Uvalde and Sonora, Texas state veterinarians had been warning the local deer ranchers of the risk from a sudden tabanid hatch and resulting anthrax outbreaks involving numbers of animals. Additionally, they have been reporting a lot of flies in the area. Unfortunately, it looks like they have been correct their prediction about this deadly deer disease. Expect an active summer in this part of Texas, where wildlife anthrax is endemic.

Whitetail Deer Diseases - Anthrax in Deer in Texas

TAHC News Release:

“Anthrax Case Confirmed in White-tailed Deer near Uvalde

The first confirmed case of anthrax in a Texas animal for 2012 has been detected in an adult white-tailed male deer near Uvalde (Uvalde County). At this time no domestic livestock are involved.

Anthrax is a bacterial disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, which is a naturally occurring organism with worldwide distribution, including Texas. It is not uncommon for anthrax to be diagnosed in livestock, whitetail deer or other wildlife in the Southwest part of the state. In recent years, cases have been primarily confined to a triangular area bounded by the towns of Uvalde, Ozona and Eagle Pass.

“The TAHC will continue to closely monitor the situation for possible new cases across the state. Producers are encouraged to consult with their veterinary practitioner or local TAHC office about the disease,” Dr. Dee Ellis, State Veterinarian, said. For more information regarding anthrax, visit the Texas Animal Health Commission website or call 1-800-550-8242.”

CWD Regulations on Red Deer, Sika Deer

Texas has been keeping an eye on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) for a number of years now. Whitetail, mule deer and elk are known to be highly susceptible to the disease. CWD poses a significant threat to the social and economic importance of both mule deer and whitetail deer hunting in the state. State agencies have done as much as possible to safeguard CWD from entering into Texas by regulating the movement of deer through the commercial deer breeding industry, but CWD is currently knocking on Texas’s door, found just north of the Texas-New Mexico border in the Trans-Pecos region.

To complicate matters, recent findings have discovered that other ungulates can carry the disease. This has resulted in two more deer species being added to the list of “CWD susceptible” species, the Red deer and the Sika deer, both exotic species commonly found with whitetail deer on hunting ranches across Texas. The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) announced that effective immediately it is has determined that Red deer (Cervus elaphus), and Sika deer (Cervus nippon) are “susceptible species” for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and thereforemust meet the same entry requirements as other cervid species regulated by the agency such as moose and elk.

Deer Hunting in Texas - Red Deer and Sika Deer CWD Regulated Now

The new entry rules for Red deer and Sika deer will require they originate from herds with at least five years of participation in a herd certification program from states where CWD has been detected, and at least three years participation in programs from states that have not found CWD thus far. The TAHC decision was based in part on the disclosure that a farmed Red deer herd in Minnesota was confirmed positive for CWD in May of this year.

Additionally, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released an interim final CWD rule on June 8, which designates Sika deer and Red deer as susceptible CWD disease species. The USDA rule is intended to establish minimum requirements for interstate movement of all deer, elk, moose, and other susceptible cervids, and to also establish a national CWD certification program.

Under the new deer entry requirements, besides originating from a herd with three or five year status as described above, Red deer and Sika deer shippers must also obtain an entry permit and request entry in writing. Proper supporting documentation must also accompany the request for entry at least 10 days prior to the proposed entry date. More information on TAHC entry requirements related to cervids can be found in Texas Administrative Code.

Sika Buck - Deer Hunting in Texas

Native cervid species such as white-tailed deer and mule deer are regulated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), not the TAHC. Currently those species are entirely prohibited from entering Texas based on TPWD rules. Will all of these agency regulations prevent CWD from enter Texas? The answer is definitely no, especially since a deer (probably a mule deer) carrying CWD can walk right into West Texas. The bigger question is, “Will CWD ever severely impact deer hunting in Texas?” That I do not know, but I’m definitely in favor of slowing the spread of CWD and waiting as long as possible to find out.

Deer Nutrition Key for Better Hunting & Fawn Survival

A Look at Deer Nutrition

Rainfall (received or not received) during the first half of the year dictates deer hunting season. Although the rains dried up recently, many areas received good amounts of rain throughout the late-winter and early-spring. This will generally improve deer nutrition. However, it’s almost summer and more often than not it’s dry. Strong spring rains equate to better than average body condition in all deer and enhanced antler growth in bucks.

Summer rains are an appreciated bonus and can provide stable nutrition for whitetail deer herds during what is often a hot and dry stress period. The best way to manage for disappearing forage is through supplemental feeding. Thanks in a large part to the rain received this spring, in addition to the abundance of high protein forbs it produced, many deer managers reported sharp declines in protein consumption by deer. This is good for the pocket books and good for the deer, too.

“Supplement” to Improve Deer Nutrition

When it comes to quality, nothing competes with the nutrition offered by high quality forbs and new-growth browse. Forbs are weeds and wildflowers. Browse is the leaves, stems and twigs of woody plants. These foods are the best of the best, often packing high protein levels that make pelleted feeds look weak in comparison. Currently, good habitat conditions exists around the state. However, I have a feeling that things get really dry all over again. Now is the time when the “supplemental” part of supplemental feeding comes into play.

Dietary supplements for deer compliment foods naturally available. This helps improve deer nutrition during stress periods. Do not use supplements to provide everything a whitetail needs. Otherwise, that’s called complete feeding. If this is the case, it’s time to reduce the deer population.

Looking at Nutritional Stress

Does start dropping fawns in late-May over much of the whitetail’s range. However, most of the fawns drop during the month of June in Texas. Supplemental forage, which includes pelleted protein, whole cottonseed, roasted soybeans and food plots (irrigated or otherwise), help compliment deer nutritional requirements during the summer. Many provide supplements to deer to increase antler growth. Hunters like big bucks. More importantly, scientific data says supplemental feeding elevates deer productivity and survival, which increases the density of the deer population.

Healthy deer results in an increase in deer density (after fawns are born). This can be correctly diagnosed through deer surveys performed during the late- summer, then properly treated through harvest during the deer hunting season. However, from a nutritional standpoint, early-May is a long way from the fall. Fall is the next boom of natural foods, but deer nutrition can wane during the summer, especially in Texas.

Summer, like winter, is a tough time of the year for deer. It’s important to keep in mind because the the most expensive nutritional part of a doe’s annual cycle is in raising fawns. Mother Nature has already provided for all of her needs to date, but it’s going to get worse before it gets better. A lactating doe that is on a high plane of nutrition can be expected to raise more or at least more healthy fawns. With temperatures heating up and fawns about to drop, this is also the time of year when doe greatly benefit from supplementation.

Rainfall Provides Nutrition

A wet spring season means a strong start to the year for deer. Good spring rains provided a bounty of foods for native wildlife and domestic livestock. Even without another drop of rain (hope not) until the fall, habitat looks better for deer than they did in 2011. Deer in many areas improved in body condition through the fall and winter thanks to heavy acorn crops, mild temperatures and good rains. However, it did make for tough hunting.

READ: Management to Improve Deer Nutrition

If the trend of favorable environmental conditions continues through the spring, then I suspect hunters experience a really good deer hunting season. Let’s hope we catch a few rains throughout the summer to help get these deer through to the other side. Manage livestock grazing to preserve fawning habitat and to bank valuable deer browse into the summer. Again, it’s been a good year to date, which is good for antler growth and fawn production. That’s all good for hunters!