Buck Manager | Buck Manager

Winter Deer Browse Gets More Important as Temps Fall

White-tailed deer are primarily browsers. They typically eat very little grass, with most studies estimating grass comprising no more than 7 to 9% of a deer’s diet in any season. Browse consumption is important to deer, but learning to read browse utilization can be important to your overall deer management program. Browse is defined as the leaves, twigs, and buds of woody plants. Browse is the bread and butter of a white-tailed deer’s diet on almost every landscape, but the importance of browse becomes particularly important during the winter months.

Why? Well, winter is the most nutritionally stressful time of the year for deer. Not only does a deer require massive amounts of energy to regulate its body temperature during the coldest part of the year, but food in many cases is not readily available. This is especially true at northern latitudes where extreme winter conditions prevail. In the southern part of the white-tailed deer’s range, winter temperatures are simply mild inconveniences. However, prolonged periods of cold weather at southern latitudes can take its toll on deer populations in this area simply because deer densities are higher. There may be more browse in southern forests, but there are also more deer! Continue reading “Winter Deer Browse Gets More Important as Temps Fall”

Bowhunter Bags a Big Illinois Buck

The deer hunting season is well underway around the country and from time to time I like to post some of the big bucks taken by hunters. The photos today come from a lucky Illinois bowhunter that bagged this big non-typical white-tailed buck. The mid-west is known for big-bodied bucks that sport huge racks. It is important to note that Northern deer get much larger than whitetails at southern latitudes, primarily because they need the body mass to make it through the harsh winter they receive each year.

These big-bodied bucks often develop monster antlers. Why is this? Well, all mammals get larger as you head north — it’s just a scientific fact. But the amazing thing about bucks in general is that many of the minerals used to grow antlers is taken directly from their bones. More bone mass means the potential for more antler mass. So the take home message here is that big healthy bucks have the potential to grow large, massive antlers — regardless of latitude.

Any guesses on the score?

Food Habits of White-tailed Deer in Texas

Landowners, deer hunters, and deer managers and biologists have long recognized the need for a comprehensive study on food habits and the seasonal preference of plants eaten by white-tailed deer in Texas. Knowledge about the food habits of deer is fundamental to deer habitat management and wildlife managers for a better understanding of the food requirements important to whitetail and other wildlife species.

Food habit studies conducted in other parts of the U.S. do not represent the seasonal availability or preference for plants used by white-tailed deer in the north central portion of Texas.

In the mid-1990s, a research study was initiated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to address these deer-related questions. Prior to this work, no definitive research had been conducted in north-central Texas. The purposes of the study were to identify what plants are seasonally important in the diets of white-tailed deer and which plants they prefer with regard to seasonal availability.

In addition, foods represented in deer diets could be grouped into general forage classes (grasses, forbs, browse, mast) by season to provide land managers information for conservation and management of key habitat components for white-tailed deer.

White-tailed Deer Diet in Texas

To accomplish this task, whitetail were collected from private ranches in six counties located throughout the area. This counties included Bosque, Brown, Erath, Jack, Parker, and Wise. Collection sites were grouped specifically to represent the two major soil and geologic regions containing sandstone and limestone based soil groups and associated plant communities and habitat. As you would expect, a wide variety of habitat types and land management operations occurred on these properties.

The properties included high and low fences, different livestock densities and grazing systems, poor to excellent range conditions, the presence of absence of agricultural crops, supplemental feeding programs, and varying densities of white-tailed deer. The study differed from many previous works describing deer foods in that data was collected over a broad geographic area and wide variation of land uses.

Deer diets and available food sources were studied year-round for two consecutive years. Deer diets were described by examining stomach contents from deer collected across each of the ranches where samples were collected. Available food sources of food were described by conducting vegetation surveys. A plant list was developed of all plant species identified on each of the sites. A minimum of 5 white-tailed deer, primarily does, were collected during feeding hours following sundown on each site for two years during the months of May, August, November, and February. Over 230 deer were collected!

What do Deer in Texas Eat?

A sample of rumen contents for each deer was collected and washed to address deer food habits. Plant fragments were studied and identified to genus or species where possible by general leaf shape and other external characteristics. Identification of fragments was based on a plant reference slide collection prepared at the beginning of the study for each site.

Identification of browse — tender growth and leaves of woody plants — and forbs was based on epidermal and morphological characteristics of leaves and stems. Forbs, by the way, are broad-leafed weeds. Monocots, commonly referred to as grasses, were identified by the size, shape, absence or presence of hairs and specialized epidermal cells. Keep reading to find out more about the food preferences of white-tailed deer.

Buck Harvest Strategy and its Impact on Your Deer Herd

Harvest is a critical component of any white-tailed deer management program. Not only does hunter harvest play an important role in keeping deer numbers in check with the available habitat on your lease or ranch, but the harvest rate and types of animals removed determines what deer will remain on your property. Although this is important for all segments of your deer population, this is especially important for bucks.

A reader asked over the weekend: “Which is the best way to manage a deer herd? Shoot the does and nothing less than an 8-point buck, or shoot spikes and 4-point bucks to allow the larger bucks to mature, while also thinning does?”

Which Bucks to Shoot?

Well, the question is good one. The quick answer would be shoot all bucks with 4 or fewer antler points, older does, and keep your deer herd at carrying capacity for the habitat. And although this harvest strategy would work for the reader, it does not explain why this action would work.

Buck Harvest Strategy and its Impact on Your Deer Herd

First, I will assume that the carrying capacity of the property is known and that density, herd composition, and fawning success have been estimated through proper deer survey methods. Without this information it would be difficult to tell if any harvest strategy would work, because a high deer density or low buck to doe ratio either would mask or compound issues.

But, assuming that the property provides adequate habitat for the deer found on the ranch and the buck to doe ratio is healthy, then shooting bucks with 4 or less antler points and keeping the doe herd at its target level would improve your deer herd.

Managing Whitetail Bucks

With that said, let’s talk about why the 8+ point or better buck harvest strategy does not work. Simply said, the best yearling bucks (1 1/2 years old) can have 6, 7, 8 or even more points on their first set of antlers! Under and 8+ point strategy you subject your best bucks to be harvested right off the bat. This would cause severe high-grading of the yearling and 2 1/2 year old age classes and leave the genetically worst bucks.

Not only would this strategy allow these bucks to survive, but the hunter would be leaving them year after year to breed available does. This does not make sense.

Managing for Big Whitetail Bucks

On the other hand, it is better to put pressure on inferior young bucks if a good buck to doe ratio exists on the ranch. The level of pressure is up to the property owner, but without drastic measures you will not see drastic changes. Harvesting bucks with 4 points or less is a solid strategy for improving the buck segment of a deer herd. It may not help the short-term buck to doe ratio, but it will help in successive years because antler quality is high heritable. If it were not it would be impossible to manage for better bucks.

Lastly, an important component of this entire harvest scheme is to keep does at proper levels. In addition to continuing to keep does at the target number for the ranch, concentrate on removing older does when given the choice. Does provide half of a buck’s genetics. Removing older does that were sired by potentially genetically-poorer bucks leaves younger does that were sired by genetically-better bucks. Those does will then be bred by your better bucks. Of course, culling bucks at all age classes is still recommended.

Opening Weekend Slow, Bucks Still Out There

Texas’ General Deer Hunting Season opened over the past weekend to warm weather. As expected, hunters that took to the field reported seeing fewer white-tailed deer than expected and very little rutting activity. For hunters with more than a few seasons under are belts, a warm opener with limited deer movement is not unusual.

I reported that deer were interested in rutting in the Hill Country early last week, and they still are, but the increase in temperature has really slowed the deer down. Like us, deer can not be as active (for very long) when the mercury is trending upward.

Bucks will readily respond to cooler weather and even yesterday morning, with temperatures 10 degrees cooler than over the weekend, I spotted a buck chasing a doe — and the patient hunter above did, too.

The peak of the Hill Country rut usually occurs just before mid-November, so expect the next good cold front to really set the deer on fire. But, if you have yet to see many deer in your area you are not alone. Many deer processors reported lower numbers of deer being dropped off for processing over opening weekend.

To make matters worse, in those areas that received lower than average rainfall this year, hunters are reported bucks average to below average antler conditions with respect to age. Cooler weather may not increase antler quality or the total number of deer in your area, but it will help you see them.

The 8-point buck below was harvested on November 3 at 8:00 am in the eastern portion of the Hill Country and the hunter reported that the buck was chasing a doe. The 4 1/2 year old whitetail buck had an 18-inch inside spread, gross scored 130 Boone and Crockett points, and had a live weight of 169 pounds.