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Habitat Management and Supplemental Feeding Work Together

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. Continue reading “Habitat Management and Supplemental Feeding Work Together”

Elbowbush is Good Deer Browse

Deer Food: Elbowbush (Forestiera angustifolia)

Class: browse; moderately preferred by deer

Description: A perennial, small rounded shrub occurring in open fields, brushy prairies and limestone outcrops. The stems of elbowbush are often looping and appear almost vine-like in many instances.

The fruit may be eaten by some birds and mammals, but white-tailed deer use foliage for browse where this plant is found. Elbowbush’s shrubby growth form provides good cover for deer and other wildlife.

Elbowbush Photos:

Chaining for Brush and Deer Management

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. Continue reading “Chaining for Brush and Deer Management”

Brush Management Recommendations for White-tailed Deer

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. Continue reading “Brush Management Recommendations for White-tailed Deer”

Japanese Honeysuckle is Great Deer Forage

Deer Food: Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)

Class: browse; highly preferred by deer

Description: An introduced (from Asia) woody, twining or trailing evergreen vine occurring on moist soil of bottomlands and uplands along streams, fence rows and timber edges. Japanese honeysuckle is often introduced into “wild” areas because it is used as an ornamental around dwellings. It has showy and fragrant flowers in addition to evergreen foliage.

Fruit, flowers, leaves and stems are used by many birds, mammals and insects. Deer love honeysuckled leaves and the fresh-growth of stems. Honeysuckle is a high quality forage with protein contents ranging from 9 to 20 percent and a digestibility of 75 percent. Protein content is dependent upon season and soil fertility with the highest levels reported during the cooler months of the year — when deer need food.

Japanese honeysuckle Photos: