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Texas Deer Study Group: Management & More

In today’s world it seems that successful white-tailed deer management programs are just like everything else; they never sleep. There are always things for managers to do out on the land, be it checking feeders, developing food plots or “sculpting” brush or forest openings. It never really stops.

There are also opportunities available to hunters and land managers to gain additional, helpful information about deer, their habitat and the methods to improve the overall deer hunting and herd quality on a piece of property. There is always something new to be learned about whitetail, whether it be from university research or a salty ole ranch hand. Learning should never sleep.

Deer Hunting & Management - 2 1/2 Year Old Spike
For those looking to spend a day or two off the ranch (or out of the office), The Texas Deer Study Group is slated to meet in mid-April. The presenters at these annual forums are typically well-versed in wildlife management and offer the latest details on what’s happening in the world of whitetail.

Attendees this year can expect to hear about genetics, nutrition, and diseases, as well as talks on the social and economic factors impacting deer hunting in Texas. There is also a ranch tour on the second day that allows folks to see on-the-ground deer habitat management.

Source: “This year’s theme is Navigating the Deer Management Continuum, which reflects the spectrum of deer management intensity and technologies,” said Dr. Dale Rollins, AgriLife Extension wildlife specialist at San Angelo and steering committee member. “A growing trend towards more intensive deer management, including deer breeding, illustrates some managers’ goals, while others believe such intensive management diminishes the overall value of deer in the eyes of the hunter and the public.

“The slate of speakers assembled for this year’s meeting is a who’s who among deer biologists. Topics will range from biology to ethics. Several veterinarians will lead the group in a hands-on deer dissection which will help set the stage for the other presentations. The hands-on teaching method will continue during the second day’s tour of the Quail Ridge Ranch where participants will be trained on proper habitat management.”

Texas Deer Study Group - Deer Hunting and Management Information

If you’ve not attended a Texas Deer Study Group meeting in the past, let me just say that they can be quite interesting. In fact, anytime you get a group of experts together, regardless of the subject, you are going to have the opportunity learn a lot, and from many different takes.

Spoiler alert: You will also find that the experts do not always agree. You should, however, leave with more information about the management of the deer and the habitat found on your property. You can get more information and register at the Texas Wildlife Association web site for the 2013 Texas Deer Study Group meeting.

Deer Hunting Season Ends, Starts All Over

The last of the 2012-13 Texas deer hunting seasons officially ended as the month of February came to an end. Many hunters put deer season behind them months ago when the General Season ended, but properties enrolled in Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP) Program under Levels 2 and 3 just wrapped up their hunting. Now that the month of March has blown in (literally) it appears a new crop of fawns will be hitting the ground in just a couple of months. Where does the time go?

But as one season ends, another is about to bloom. Hopefully. Chalk up another drier than average winter for almost every corner of the state. Things have been green as of late, but soil moisture is low and everyone is going to need more rain when the temperatures increase. There just is not much in the tank and it’s going to get ripped out of the soil as plants use it for both growth and evaporative cooling. Deer and their habitat need rain from time to time. As research out of Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where they were investigating antler growth in both fed and unfed bucks, recently stated:

Deer Hunting and Management in Texas

“Average antler size of males in both treatments decreased noticeably during drought in 2009 and 20011. Antler size decreased during drought even with pelleted feed; we interpret this result to imply that maintaining quality natural forage is important and deer depend on vegetation even when pelleted feed is available.”

Amen, brother.

High quality forbs and browse will always be the gold standard when it comes to whitetail deer foods. That’s the primarily reason I am a big believer in deer habitat management. Food availability can be manipulated through habitat enhancement and deer population management, but it’s hard to grow good habitat when Mother Nature does not lend a helping hand. Fortunately, whitetail deer are a hardy species that can make do when times are tough. Things are looking okay so far.

There are more than just deer in them there woods though. Improving deer habitat benefits many other wildlife species too. Most habitat management practices for whitetail deer fall right in line with turkey management techniques, creating better habitat for those animals as well as other game and non-game species. Habitat enhancement is a large part of developing better deer and turkey hunting, but it must start with action on the ground.

It ends with happier land managers, hunters and wildlife, including rabbits, quail (if you still have some) and dove. Unfortunately, healthy plant communities attract everything, including feral hogs.

The next deer hunting season starts in about 6 months, so no better time to get cracking on all the projects you planned during the last one. Hey, there’s only a couple of months left before it gets really hot. Take advantage of it. I’ve been meaning to get out and get a few more things done myself, as well as get some exercise while searching for shed antlers.

Although bucks have already started dropping antlers there are still quite a few holding on to their headgear. The 2012-13 deer season is definitely in the books, but my shed hunting season is about to be in full swing.

Mid-Winter Deer Management Practices

The white-tailed deer hunting season has closed on most hunters, but there is a new season among us, something I have termed “mid-winter deer habitat management season.” Admittedly, it’s kind of a long name and unfortunately it’s not a hunting season, but the deer and other wildlife found on your property will definitely benefit from it. It’s during this mid- to late-winter time that many landowners and hunters put whitetail deer out sight and out of mind, but the animals that you will be hunting next year are still out there, right now. If you have ever needed a reason to stay out in the field during late January and February this is it.

The time from late January through the month of February is one of the best periods to perform on-the-ground deer habitat management. The practices performed during this time will positively impact the deer on your property throughout the year. These practices include prescribed burning, brush control and tree thinning, and protecting bottomland areas. These management practices will not only improve the health of the plant communities found on your property, but also increase the quantity and quality of deer foods for the whitetail that live there. Other deer management activities that can be performed during this period include spring food plot preparation and predator control. When combined, all of these practices will lead to improve deer hunting on your land.

Habitat Management Practices for Whitetail Deer

Prescribed Burning – This is one of the least expensive deer habitat management practices out there on a per acre basis, but it’s also one of the least used. The benefit of prescribed burning and well-applied fire on habitat for deer and other critters had been well documented. The time to burn for increased cool-season forb production was months ago, but you still have time to pull off a late winter burn that will promote native grasses. Grass comprises very little of a whitetail’s diet, but they will readily utilize nutrient-rich grasses following post-fire green-up. Native grasses also provide valuable fawning cover later in year. Burning as a habitat management practice should be completed before mid-February.

Brush Control & Forest Thinning – This is one of the more popular deer management practices, but sometimes the word “brush” is over-applied. Make sure that the brush being removed is not a browse plant that the whitetail in your area rely on. Most of the brush species out there do provide some benefit, whether it be from leaf or fruit, but not all. These undesirables should be the target of removal, making space for forbs and better browse plants and to decrease competition for water. Complete removal of brush can occur in small patches, but avoid the desire to open up huge blocks of land (i.e. 100 contiguous acres) in the name of deer management. Smaller clearings take more work, but they also provide more edge. Whitetail deer are edge species, so limit patch clearings to 5 to 25 acres in size, do not clear more than 50 percent of your property, and think ahead. Make sure to leave a network of wooded corridors so that deer feel secure traveling within your property.

Brush management or even forest thinning is not a one-and-done management practice. Brush management not only includes the removal of “old-growth” plants, but also the removal of those trying to establish or re-establish. Open and recently-cleared areas must be monitored at least every two to three years so that unwanted regrowth can be removed.

Riparian Fencing – It’s always a good idea to keep livestock at proper numbers for a property, but it’s especially important to limit their access to riparian areas. The term “riparian” is just a fancy word for the area immediately adjacent and around a drainage such as a creek, stream or river. Riparian areas typically have the richest soils and the highest plant diversity on a property, so fencing livestock out of these areas for the majority of the year means the high quality browse and forbs found in these areas ends up in the mouths of antler-growing bucks and fawn-rearing does. Help deer and the plants they eat on your place, take advantage of the cooler temps, and build riparian-protecting fences during late winter.

More Management Practices for Deer

Food Plot Prep – Food plots are not the be-all, end-all cure for deer management, but they can help substantially in areas where they will grow. Deer located in more arid areas are out of luck, unless irrigation and the money to do so are in place. Late winter is a great time to start prepping deer food plot sites for spring planting. Food plots are not necessarily habitat, but they can supplement it. Avoid the urge to plow under fall and winter food plots. Many will continue to grow into May or June, providing leafy forage and seeds for deer and many other wildlife species.

Predator Control – It’s tough sledding when it comes to finding food in late winter. This is true for whitetail and all other wildlife, including predators. Animals that are hungry tend to move more often, cover more ground and increase their daylight activity. All of this makes predators more susceptible to shooting and trapping during mid- and late-winter. Clean up on coyotes and feral wildlife, especially wild hogs, to minimize their impact on native animals and the habitat they need. This will not only help white-tailed deer, but also help all ground-nesting birds such as quail and turkey.

Lease Management to Improve Whitetail Hunting

Submitted Question: “I have some deer hunting questions. I hunt in Mississippi right off the Mississippi river. We have been on a deer management program for several years. The rules are, you must shoot a doe before taking a buck. If you shoot two doe then you can take two bucks. For a buck to meet the regulations, it must have 21 inch main beams and be 4 1/2 years of age or older. Our deer manager says we have too many doe, but a lot of the members are getting concerned. We see way more bucks that doe when we sit in our stands. Our trail cameras pics have also captured way more bucks on them as well, but our lactation rate is only 50 percent. Why is this and how can we get an accurate head count of our deer herd?”

Buck Manager: The answers to the questions that you have asked are critical pieces of information for any deer management initiative. In many cases, if a property manager can identify the both the buck to doe ratio as well as the reproductive (fawning) rate, then that gives the manager a real good picture of what is happening out on the ground. That being said, I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s virtually impossible to be spot-on with exact numbers when talking about a population of wild animals. However, there are various techniques available that can help you reliably estimate those all-important numbers.

Whitetail Management for Improved Deer Hunting

Deer Leases and Whitetail Management

Most lands that are leased for deer hunting will have some ability to be managed. Not all properties are created equal though — that is for sure. Larger tracts of land offer better management potential, especially when it comes to controlled harvest. Regardless of the amount of land you lease, the activities (grazing, forest cutting, farming, etc.) of the landowner will, at least at some point, have an impact on the deer herd. Surrounding lands and the management, non-management or mis-management of them will also impact the place that you hunt.

The impact of neighboring lands increases as lease size decreases, another reason size matters. When it comes to whitetail management on lands leased for deer hunting, properties less than a few hundred acres in size must focus even more on habitat management and providing high quality food sources. Habitat quality, in terms of food availability, will impact the body condition of breeding does as well as fawn survival once they hit the ground. A low lactation rate (number of lactating does harvested divided by the total number of does harvested) is typically caused by poor food availability as a result of habitat condition. An increase in deer harvest, habitat enhancement and/or supplemental feeding can help in this situation.

High predator numbers, particularly when combined with low quality fawning habitat, can also result in the appearance of a low lactation rate within doe population if fawns are consumed earlier in the year. Predators, specifically coyotes, are not generally a problem in areas that offer good deer habitat. If the fawning rate is extremely low then targeted predator control should be implemented to reduce added mortality.

Deer Survey Methods – Using Game Cameras

Deer surveys are a must when it comes to managing whitetail. There are several ways to estimate deer population numbers. Unfortunately, a single survey method can not address all of the unknowns. Game cameras were mentioned in the initial question above and, yes, they can be one of the techniques used to survey deer. However, cameras placed on feeders provide little useful information when it comes to estimating overall population parameters. Cameras placed at feeders or at feed stations will do an outstanding job of identifying bucks.

Game cameras are probably the best deer hunting and management tool to come along in recent years. Motion-activated game cameras can gather tons of deer sightings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and do it all remotely. Because of this, managers can get survey information on the deer herd without having to be out at the ranch or lease as much. They are real time savers. But like a lot of things, the results that one gets depends on how the work is done.

If game-camera-collected data is to be used to estimate the buck to doe ratio and/or fawning rate of a property the cameras must be placed away from feeders, either on trails or roadways or near water sources. Feeders are great places to see bucks. This is why hunters put them there. But competition (for food) at a feed station changes individual deer behavior. Many deer will avoid feeders because the larger, more dominant animals get the lion’s share of the feed. In most cases, the dominant deer will be bucks. Feeder photos can be used to assess antler quality in bucks, but should not be used solely for complete harvest management or population estimates.

In fact, hunters and managers will see even more bucks, at least on a percentage basis, during years in which habitat conditions are horrible. It’s not that there are more bucks out there, it’s just that more animals are searching for food. When the bucks move in, the does, and especially those with fawns, will shy away.

Camera surveys should be conducted starting four to six weeks before deer hunting season. Set cameras away from feeders to be triggered no less than 5 minutes apart then use these sightings to estimate the buck to doe ratio and fawn production on your land.

Buck Management by Age and Antler Quality

There are a lot of ideas floating around out there when it comes to managing buck harvest. Some are better than others. Many harvest buck harvest management strategies are just plain wrong. The way in which a property should address buck harvest will depend on the manager’s or hunters’ overall deer management goals. Shooting bucks that are at least 4 1/2 years old with at least 21 inch main beams is a good idea, but I would recommend simply shooting bucks that are at least 4 1/2 years old. If the goal is to get bucks to age 4 1/2 or older, then mission accomplished.

Placing the 21 inch main beam restriction on bucks 4 1/2 and older will ultimately end up protecting bucks that are lower quality (4 1/2 years old but less than 21 inch beams) than the deer you ultimately end up shooting, allowing smaller-antlered bucks to continue to sire and produce fawns in to the future. In addition, many hunters have a difficult enough time accurately aging deer on the hoof, so eliminating the beam length requirement would maintain buck age structure and eliminate the high-grading bucks that are 4 1/2 years old and older. Think about limiting hunters to one buck 4 1/2 years of age and older each year, but allowing them to use their second buck tag on another buck for management purposes (2 year old with 6 or less antler points, 3 year old with 7 or less antler points). Your camera photos will help you identify these deer, too.

Deer Hunting Heats Up as Temps Drop

The month of November has nearly come and gone and, for the most part, it looks like the whitetail deer hunting in Texas has been good to date. A good number of hunters have reported harvesting their best bucks ever, which is likely the result of above-average habitat conditions throughout much of the year combined with good deer management practices. But it’s not been all high-fives and big buck photos for every hunter. The first couple weeks of November were quite toasty (nothing new around here) and that kept deer movement at a minimum.

The warm weather left many hunters wondering where all of the bucks they captured on game cameras had gone. Morning hunts showed better deer movement over evening hunts, but even then deer sightings were slim for the most part. This was especially in areas that were still brimming with acorns. Fortunately, the weather improved. Mid-month delivered a real cold front across Texas that really got whitetail moving. As I traveled across the central part of the state one morning I observed no less than a dozen bucks walking behind, running after or frantically looking for does. Cold, crisp air tends to do that. Continue reading “Deer Hunting Heats Up as Temps Drop”