white-tailed deer | Buck Manager

Patterning Areas with Game Cameras

Every hunter would love to pattern a big ole monster buck prior to hunting season. Knowing when and where to be set up come hunting season would be worth a mint! But what about those areas where you put up your game camera and don’t see any bucks? Is there any value in that information? Yes.

Believe it or not, many areas are rarely or never visited by white-tailed bucks. Eliminating areas where you should not be is hunting is of great importance and actually increases your chances of taking a buck on any given day — assuming you aren’t hunting “dead space.” Continue reading “Patterning Areas with Game Cameras”

Competition Between Whitetail and Exotic Deer

Exotic deer were first imported into North America during the 1900’s and are now found throughout most of the white-tailed deer’s range in the United States. The number of exotics increased rapidly in the 1950’s. In Texas alone, the last exotic survey was performed in 1996 — and at that time there were an estimated 190,000 animals and 76 different species. Current estimates put the statewide number of exotic ungulates at 250,000!

Research has examined food habits of axis, sika, fallow, blackbuck antelope, and aoudad sheep — and data conclusively found that most exotics directly compete with white-tailed deer. Exotic deer, like whitetail, either preferred forbs or preferred browse, but could perform well on grass, as well. Regular readers of Buck Manager know that white-tailed deer prefer forbs when they are available, but as forbs become unavailable, they shift their diet to browse. Continue reading “Competition Between Whitetail and Exotic Deer”

Managing White-tailed Deer on Fragmented Land

In general, white-tailed deer generally live within a home range of approximately one square mile. However, this range can increase during the breeding season, especially for bucks. Unless your property is high-fenced, a deer’s daily movements within that home range throughout the year often results in movements into habitat found on more than one adjoining landowner.

As a result, it is important to understand that landowners share individual animals. For this reason, the potential for successful white-tailed deer harvest management diminishes as landownership size decreases. It makes sense that as the size of individual ranches continues to decrease throughout an area, effective and meaningful management can be a challenge.

Fragmentation of habitat often results when changing land uses occur on adjoining tracts of land that were once uniform rangelands or woodlands. The increasing cost of land and the desire for folks to have just a small “piece of heaven” only increases fragmentation issues. Continue reading “Managing White-tailed Deer on Fragmented Land”

The Question of Harvest Rates for White-tailed Deer

The question of how many deer to harvest and in what proportion is asked in developing all deer management plans, but seldom is answered in an objective manner. Ideally, a deer manager would know exactly how many deer of the proper age and sex should be present to best meet the management goals for a particular ranch or tract of land.

With accurate information on herd size, the buck to doe ratio and fawn survival, and with considerations for rainfall, habitat conditions, and hunting on neighboring property, the manager could then prescribe the percentage of the herd that should be harvested to optimize management objectives. Situations such as this where all pertinent information is availalbe are, of course, very rare in deer management. Continue reading “The Question of Harvest Rates for White-tailed Deer”

Five Important Deer Food Plot Tips and Considerations for Wildlife

Reasons of establish food plots usually involve supplementation of white-tailed deer during times when forage quantity and/or nutritive value is low. Cost-efficient and biologically effective supplementation can only be accomplished by understanding the seasonal nutritive requirements of white-tailed deer. A wildlife food plot could also be used as an attractant to enhance opportunities for survey, harvest, photography, or simple observation. Continue reading “Five Important Deer Food Plot Tips and Considerations for Wildlife”