Hundreds of thousands of white-tailed deer are killed in Texas each fall and winter, but typically by deer hunters in search of big bucks and those looking to fill their freezers. Automobiles even get a few, but it seems the deer and hunters in Eastland County have something else to look out for now—poison. The Texas Agriculture Extension is advising all area health care providers of a poisoning in Eastland County that occurred approximately two weeks ago.
It seems a ranch south of Carbon, Texas, tried to kill feral hogs by mixing deer corn with a pesticide called Temik, which is a neurotoxin. Apparently, the rancher spread a very large amount of mixed, poisoned corn over their 2,000 acre peanut crop to kill feral hogs, but it turns out that white-tailed deer where also feeding on the same ranch. Continue reading “Poisoned Deer in Eastland County?”
Hunters that have been out in the woods early this fall have undoubtedly bumped into some fresh rubs created by white-tailed bucks. Often times, discovering a new buck rub is enough to get my mind thinking about the deer that left the sign. How big is this whitetail? When was the animal here? Does he prefer the habitat found on this part of the property more? Where is the buck now? And, of course, will he return?
The general thinking on deer rubs is that big bucks rub actual trees and small bucks rub on saplings. This line of thinking suggests that the bigger the tree rubbed the bigger the whitetail buck doing the rubbing. Is this true? I would have to say yes, at least most of the time. The majority of bucks rubbing on larger trees are in fact larger antlered bucks. Bucks with large antlers tend to be larger bodied, mature, stronger, and as a result of all these attributes, dominant animals. Continue reading “Whitetail Rubs Revisited”
Food plots are commonly used by deer managers to provide supplemental forage for white-tailed deer. Most hunters and deer managers like to plant forage species that are easy to maintain. However, a little extra work is usually worth it. Alfalfa food plots for deer fall into that category. Besides, nothing worth having comes easy. And, a little extra work can pay off big, especially if you consider establishing alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) as a forage plant for deer on your property.
Alfalfa is an excellent spring, summer, and early fall food plot choice for white-tailed deer. Alfalfa is a cool-season perennial legume that contains 16% to 26% of highly digestible protein. Whitetail will flock to a well-established alfalfa field. In addition, this perennial can survive for 5 to 10 years if managed properly. It’s a good food source for deer for those willing to put in the effort.
Alfalfa Food Plots are Tough
Established alfalfa plants have taproots that extend 4-5 feet deep in the soil. As a result, this forage species makes for a very drought tolerant food plot for deer and other wildlife. And what’s better than a drought tolerant food plot? Well, how about a highly productive food plot that is capable of fixing its own nitrogen? Yep, there is a lot to like about alfalfa.
This forage plant is a legume and does not need the application of nitrogen fertilizer. Like other legumes, it makes its own. Established alfalfa is tough. However, it’s not always easy to establish, Alfalfa is a highly effective forage plant for fall and winter food plots, but spring planting is recommended. After the first year, alfalfa serves as a dependable spring food plot for whitetail.
Alfalfa has many attributes that make it a great choice for forage plots. However, some deer managers find it difficult to establish and maintain. Alfalfa is not a plant where one can just disk, throw, and grow with the addition of a little fertilizer like oats or wheat.
Alfalfa has low tolerance for moisture and soil acidity. In addition, it performs best on well-drained soils (loam to sandy loam) with a pH between 6.5 and 7.5. And even though alfalfa is capable of fixing its own nitrogen, plots usually require annual applications of other soil nutrients. These often include macro- and micronutrients such as phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, and even boron. Additionally, alfalfa must be inoculated with Rhizobia bacteria (Type A) prior to planting.
Managing Alfalfa Plots
New alfalfa food plots for deer and other animals must be managed. Heavy competition from weeds can will put a lid on recently-planted and poor (thin) stands of alfalfa. In addition, white-tailed deer can over-browse alfalfa plots. This is especially true before plant establishment and/or early in the plant’s growing season. However, proper management by the manager ensures the alfalfa planting is successful.
First and foremast, proper seedbed preparation is important. This is true for any food plot, but especially when trying to start alfalfa. Control competitive plant species through chemical or mechanical treatments. In addition, ensure that white-tailed deer are not present at a high density. If so, overuse of the food plot by deer could be an issue early on. Options include reducing the deer population or excluding animals from the food plot until it is established. Electric fencing and tall net-wire fencing will do the job.
Alfalfa for Food Plots
Believe it or not, there are currently over 220 varieties of alfalfa! Alfalfa varieties are rated for fall dormancy and winter hardiness. These factors should be considered based on the latitude of your property. When evaluating alfalfa, pay attention to hardiness and dormancy. Fall dormancy relates to how soon an alfalfa variety stops growing in the fall and how early it begins growing again in the spring. Winter hardiness pertains to how well an alfalfa variety will survive over multiple winters.
Once established, the dormancy and winter hardiness ratings determine the length of the variety’s annual growing season and the life of the alfalfa food plot. The best way to choose alfalfa varieties that are suitable in your area is to talk directly with local seed dealers, agricultural extension agents, and wildlife biologists.
Planting Alfalfa Food Plots for Deer
Alfalfa food plots can generally be planted in April or September-October each year. Spring is preferred. Timing depends on latitude and the variety of alfalfa. Alfalfa can grow 2 to 3 feet in height and produce an astounding 3 to 5 tons of high quality forage per acre! It is a cool season species that will start growing in late-March, persist through the summer, and grows throughout October at southern latitudes.
Alfalfa planting rates vary by variety, but usually run around 15 to 20 pounds per acre. Seed costs for alfalfa plantings range from $60-80 per acre. Alfalfa food plots for deer and other animals requires more costs and effort up front than other plots. However, the reward is a high quality forage that benefits your whitetail and deer management program year after year. Alfalfa plots are a good investment for properties with suitable soils.
Every animal, including white-tailed deer, has an area that they call home. In the wildlife world this area is know as home range. The home range of an individual white-tailed buck, however, varies by season. One would expect that the range of a buck would be fairly stable for much of the year, only to increase in size during the breeding season. This increase in range would be the result of the buck’s behavior and increased movement in his search for receptive does. Although thought to be true, does this phenomenon really happen?
Summer is a good time to be a whitetail buck. Not only do male deer get along, but packs of bucks run together in beloved bachelor groups. Hunters and managers alike get a thrill every time they stumble across a fraternity of whitetail. These observations often serve as confirmation that their harvest stategies or deer management programs are effective. We all like to see healthy bucks. Bachelor groups, by the way, can range in size from 2 to 3 deer up to as many as 28 bucks. At least that is the largest number of free-ranging bucks seen together that anyone has ever reported to me.
It is also during the summer that bucks move around a fair amount, but not as much as during the rut. As summer draws to an end, most bucks become less mobile and highly patternable. It is the time immediately after bucks shed their velvet that they become aggressive towards one another and a bit more territorial. By September, hunters at southern latitudes will start to see individual bucks visiting the same feeding areas again and again.
This is especially true for hunters that use game cameras to monitor their feeders, ag fields, and food plots. That is, if there is a spring food plot left to monitor after summer and the local deer have their way with it. During much of the summer, bucks will be picked up here and there on game cameras as they travel around the countryside eating where they may, but after developing hardened antlers it is a whole other story. A buck’s antlers are quite tender while covered in velvet. Not the case once they harden.
Changes is hormone levels in addition to physical changes cause bachelor groups to disband. Bucks flying solo will hone in on stable food sources and form a core area until the rut. During the breeding season, whitetail bucks will, for the most part, expand upon their summer range in search of receptive does. Following the rut, bucks will sink back into their core range.
A buck’s seasonal range increases and decreases based on many factors, but bucks fall into a very repetitive routine between the loss of velvet and the start of the rut. Year-in and year-out, white-tailed deer have a fairly predictable home range that will vary between seasons. Much a whitetail buck’s movements are determined by environmental conditions, food availability, and the breeding season. Whether you are a hunter looking to bag a buck this year or a landowner interested in better deer management, pay attention to the areas that whitetail bucks are using and use it to your advantage.
The importance of estimating a white-tailed deer herd on an annual basis is critical to any ranch interested in deer management. And although several survey types (methods) should be combined to get the most accurate deer population estimate, I prefer to use spotlight surveys to estimate the deer density on any given ranch. With that said, deer spotlight surveys on properties less than 400 acres in size become less reliable. The smaller the ranch, the more I shy away from using spotlight routes. This is not necessarily because the methodology is bad, but because smaller ranches have fewer roads. Fewer roads equates to shorter spotlight survey routes and data that is less reliable.
But it can get even worse, especially if a property owner tries to create more survey length by looping around in a smaller area. Surveying smaller properties increases the potential of counting deer in one area, then looping around and counting them again in another area. To accurately estimate deer density on any ranch, animals can not be repeatedly counted along the route. I refer to the importance of maintaining and recording data on individual deer herds all of the time, but I’ve never mentioned exactly how a spotlight survey should be conducted. We are going to fix that today. If you are interested in getting the best white-tailed deer density estimate possible, then this is how a spotlight survey should be performed. Continue reading “Spotlight Surveys for White-tailed Deer”
