Author: Buck Manager

Deer Harvest Key

Harvest is a key component of managing white-tailed deer populations and their habitat. The underharvest of deer means habitat will be overused by the remaining deer, which negatively impacts the condition and quality of deer remaining in the herd.

The overharvest of deer causes its own set of problems. If too many deer get shot over a period of time then annual fawn production and age structure in the deer herd declines.

This reduces deer hunting opportunity down the road because fewer animals are produced and available for harvest in subsequent years. It’s a balancing act between deer, habitat and hunter opportunity.

In short, the number of deer harvested each year is critical for the long-term management of whitetail populations; sustainable use is an important part of natural resource management.

Doe Harvest Expanded

Some white-tailed deer hunters across the Oaks and Prairies region of Texas had the opportunity to harvest antlerless deer during the new 4-day “doe days” during the Thanksgiving holidays.

Due to mandatory reporting, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologists now have a good idea of the number of antlerless deer harvested during the archery season, October youth-only season, and the 4-day Thanksgiving period.

While harvest reporting likely was not 100%, the hunter-submitted data is valuable information that was not available to TPWD in past years. This no doubt provides the state with a better perspective on how new hunting regulations/doe days directly impacts antlerless harvest, deer populations.

Harvest In for Doe Days

For decades, the harvest of antlerless deer in these counties has been very limited. The harvest of does was limited to archery season and to those properties managing deer populations through TPWD’s Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP), so the addition of doe days during the General Season is kind of a big deal. So how many antlerless deer were shot during the doe days?

Season totals by county have been summarized in Table 1 with data through December 5th, 2019. January muzzleloader season and youth-only season harvest will be added later. Also, Table 1 does not include antlerless harvest for properties using MLDP tags; this data will be compiled and summarized after the program’s April 1 reporting deadline.

Overall, TPWD biologists in the Oaks and Prairies District believe that the additional harvest (to date) by the newly implemented doe days regulations and seasons is an annual harvest rate the whitetail population can withstand.

TPWD says it will continue to monitor white-tailed deer densities through annual surveys, which are conducted from late July through September on a landscape basis throughout the region. Annual deer surveys are recommended for all landowners interested in managing local deer populations.

Food & Cover for Deer

Question Submitted by Debbie: We have about 100 acres of coastal hay field that butts into dense brush. We keep 3 feeders running year around with soy/corn mix for deer. This year we had an abundance of acorns.

What do you suggest to build the big super bucks? Food plot ideas for whitetail in a droughty area? How do we draw them out of the brush into our feeder areas?

Deer Habitat 101

Response: Several questions were posed, but overall it sounds you are interested in improving the white-tailed deer found on your property. It also sounds like a lot can be done to improve the habitat found on the land, at least based on your description.

Building better habitat for deer will help you achieve many of your objectives. Food and/or water will attract deer. Deer will use a property if these items are unavailable on adjacent lands. But in order to hold deer and make them feel comfortable there the the property will need to an adequate amount of usable space for deer. Screening cover offers several benefits, for both deer and hunters.

Big Bucks & Screening Cover

First, it’s a lofty goal to grow “Super Bucks,” although I don’t know exactly what that term means to you. My guess is that you want to produce some high quality deer, at least those well above average for the area. Most land managers interested in whitetail hunting are right there with you.

The first step to growing better deer is to develop whitetail habitat on your property. This may be hard to hear, but coastal grass is of zero value to a white-tailed deer. It provides neither food nor cover for whitetail. From a land management standpoint, the only positive that coastal provides is the roots prevent soil erosion.

For native wildlife, including deer, areas comprised primarily of “improved,” introduced grasses may as well be a gravel road. Both are devoid of food and cover. Introduced grasses and gravel roads have their place in the world, but wildlife would assume avoid both.

Whitetail require screening cover, which can be provided by small trees, brush or tall grass, tall forbs. Brush is better overall, especially diverse brush cover, because deer eat the leaves and tender stems of palatable brush. This type of food is referred to as browse and is more important to deer during stress periods, summer and winter.

Land managers can increase the use of a property by deer by developing (designing, if you will) where screening cover exists on the property. Screening cover can be allowed to passively establish in certain areas/corridors, or screening can be actively planted directly into specific areas. Egyptian wheat, sorghums and switchgrass are good candidates on most properties.

Developing Deer Food Sources

Traditional spring and winter food plots are not recommended for wildlife in low rainfall areas unless a landowner has the ability to irrigate. Period. If supplemental food is desired then it should be accomplished another way. Options include supplemental feeding and improving native habitat.

It’s better to establish native, perennial forbs in areas where non-native grasses exists. This is 100-percent recommended if you are interested in providing both food and habitat for deer, since a native grass and forb mix will increase food and screening cover (usable space).

Converting improved pastures into deer habitat is not easy. It’s expensive to enhance and restore wildlife habitat. It’s also a decision between the animals that the coastal was planted for, cows, and white-tailed deer. Although both animals can coexist on a property, a landowner can not maximize both.

You can find a middle ground, where both livestock and deer benefit, but even then I am unsure whether “Super Bucks” can be produced.  There are a number of factors that come into play, especially for small acreage properties.

Increase Screening and Habitat

In order to see a noticeable change in the deer on your property I’m going to recommend that you make real changes to the habitat found on the property. Work towards habitat solutions to habitat problems. Increase the amount of usable space for whitetail on the property and ensure adequate screening cover exists. It would be insane to do the same thing year after year and expect different results, right?

I understand the desire to shoot better bucks. A buck can be lured across a fence to a feeder, onto a property that offers very little for them. Hunters put deer stands and deer feeders on property boundaries all the time. If you desire better deer then identify the objectives that will help you get there and put those management practices into effect. Better deer habitat means better deer and better hunting.

It takes a lot to get a deer to maturity. It’s even more difficult for bucks. They fight amongst one another. They dodge hunters along the way. Or perhaps some of them survive only because management-minded hunter/s passed on them in the past, hoping to tag an older, bigger buck in a season or two. If there is a big buck across the fence it may be because someone else has already invested in it.

 

Buck Movement During the Rut

The white-tailed deer breeding season has been strong this year. During the month of  November, I received reports of intense rutting activity throughout much of Texas. Bucks were easy to spot for those that were able to spend some time in a stand.  I think the strong rut was a product of good body condition in deer and colder than average temperatures.

To be clear, temperature does not impact the timing of the whitetail rut. Bucks can, however, more aggressive and more active for longer periods of time on cold days during the rut; not so much the case when it’s hot out. That puts a lid on everyone’s activity levels.

Whitetail breeding activity has been highly visible this season but I’ve seen years where it seemed like almost no whitetail rutting activity at all. Bucks and does still did their thing, of course, but sometimes rutting activity can be weak. In fact, I’ve seen years where it seemed as if deer just disappeared.

Where Do Bucks Really Go During the Rut?

Research on whitetail buck movement during the rut has found conflicting results. A number of research projects have affixed various types of tracking devices to bucks in an attempt to figure out what these guys are up to during the breeding season.

All of these studies can be summarized into a handful of bullets:

• Bucks can increase range and movement during the rut
• Mature bucks can decrease movement and focus on doe-rich areas
• Moon phase does not impact deer movement
• Breeding is determined by photoperiod (day length)
• Buck movement is highest at dusk and dawn
• Bucks are individuals and will act differently

Bucks Movement and Range Can Increase

The belief is that during the rut, “you never know what’s going to show up.” I believe that’s true any day we climb in a stand.  Bucks can increase movement and range during the breeding season. This is the most exciting part about white-tailed deer hunting. The thought that on any day, at any time, anything can happen.

Research on buck movements during the breeding season has found that some bucks do move more, much more, during rut. They are also willing to move outside of their normal “home range.” To take advantage of this as a hunter you need to know when the rut occurs in the area you are hunting and then get into areas where bucks are likely to be cruising.

Mature Bucks May Move Less

Mature whitetail bucks may move less than other bucks during the breeding season. This contradicts the paragraphs above, but begins to makes sense once you wrap your mind around that we are only talking mature bucks now. Mature bucks are different than other bucks.

Mature bucks have more experience (surviving and breeding), they are the dominant deer in the woods, and they know where to find does. As a result, mature bucks can focus their efforts on areas known to hold does. These big-bodied deer are much less likely to be challenged by subordinates, so they end up moving less.

One study found that about 30 percent of the bucks in an area moved less during the rut. These bucks actually developed a search pattern that they repeated almost daily. Were these bucks looking in “doe hot spots” or merely staying with does until a mating opportunity presented itself? Either way, this sounds like the activity of older bucks as they would have the access/ability.

The key to hunting mature bucks during the rut then will be to find areas where does are known to frequent. Find areas were does feed and bed and hunt them, or get in between them. You shouldn’t have to wait long since bucks or doe/s (with a buck in tow) tend to repeat this pattern regularly.

Photoperiod Dictates Breeding, Deer Activity

Despite what your buddy thinks, day length dictates when the breeding season occurs within a deer herd each year. In fact, photoperiod determines most everything that whitetail do throughout the year, with some of the key items of interests being estrus in does and antler growth and shedding in bucks.

There is no doubt that geographic variation exists throughout the whitetail’s range, but breeding happens at the local level at the same time each year, rain or shine, hot or cold. Environmental conditions impact deer activity to some extent, but when it’s time—it’s time! Learn it, know it, use it.

Deer Movement Highest at Dusk and Dawn

It’s no wonder most deer hunts are referred to as morning hunts or evening hunts. White-tailed deer movement increases at dusk and dawn. Whether you hunt mornings and evenings because that’s they way you were taught or the way you learned, research has substantiated that buck movement is highest at these times, even during the breeding season.

So rut or no rut, make sure you are in the stand  for at least the first few and last few hours each day. The first and last hours of the day are pure gold. Not a morning person? Don’t blow your stand out by showing up late! That will only tip-off bucks that are already on hoof. Stick to the evening hunt and make the most of your time in the woods.

Bucks are Different, Movement Varies

We can identify the peak of the breeding season in an area but we can not predict the behaviors of individual bucks. It turns out that bucks have different strategies for how they intend to pass on their genes.

We covered how some older bucks may decrease movement during the rut in order to stay with a doe or doe groups, but some older bucks do the opposite. In these situations, is this behavior simply in the buck’s nature or is an increase in movement and/or range a product of the herd or habitat in which he lives?

The answer is likely yes. A countless number of factors dictate buck movement during the rut. As a hunter, the key is to learn as much as possible about the deer herd and area you hunt and then decipher how bucks will behave and then when they will use the area you hunt during the rut.

Key points to know about an area you are hunting:

• When is the rut?
• Where are does feeding and/or bedding?
• Where are travel corridors?

Once you’ve answered these three questions, then it’s a matter of getting into position to take advantage of the limited or expanded movement of bucks in the area. You can do all-day sits, but deer movement will still be highest at dusk and dawn.

Seasoned hunters know to take advantage of cold fronts during the hunting season as deer movement generally increases as temperature decreases. This holds true during the rut as whitetail bucks will stay on their feet for longer periods of time.