White-tailed Deer Management & Hunting
Deer Plant: Mistletoe (Phoradendron tomentosum)
Class: browse; highly preferred
Description: An evergreen parasitic shrub on other shrubs and trees. The species’ name refers to the dense hair-like covering on young leaves and stems. Most commonly found on Mesquite and Hackberry found in the central U.S. All parts of the plant are poisonous and can be fatal to humans and livestock, but are enjoyed by white-tailed deer.
Fruits are also eaten by some species of birds.
Mistletoe Photos:
Deer Plant: Carolina buckthorn (Frangula caroliniana)
Class: browse; highly preferred
Description: A large perennial shrub or small tree occurring in the understories of forests, drainages and stream bottoms. This browse plant has large leaves and showy red (immature) and black (mature) fruit. The Carolina buckthorn fruit is eaten by some species of birds, but white-tailed deer relish the leaves.
This species can be a prolific re-sprouter after a fire.
Carlina buckthorn photos:
Trapping deer can indeed occur accidentally. Very few people actually attempt to catch deer because in just about every instance, to attempt to catch, capture, or even posses a wild white-tailed deer requires some sort of state permit. However, more whitetails are captured in some sort of trap than we probably realize. However, I imagine and hope most are not fatal.
Typically, deer are captured as non-target species while hunters and trappers attempt to catch feral hogs or control predators such a coyotes. The white-tailed buck pictured here was inadvertantly trapped in a hog trap. The use of regular whole-kernal corn in hog traps is very effective at catching deer, so the necessary steps should be taken when using hog traps to avoid capturing deer.
Several precautions one can take when trapping hogs is to use soured corn, milo, rice, or other grain. The sour smell is attractive to wild hogs, but whitetail deer will avoid the smell and trap altogether. Deer do not like soured grains or acorns.
Make sure the doorway or entry to traps are built such that deer are discouraged from entering. Otherwise, make traps such as this with open tops so that “trapped” deer can escape by jumping out.
Another way deer can be wrongly captured is with the use of snares. Many people will use snares in an attempt to captured wild dogs or coyotes, but deer will sometimes use the same trails and fence crossings as these animals. Take caution when setting out snares because deer and other non-target species could end up in them. It would be a shame to take the biggest buck you ever layed eyes on in a snare!
If you do happen to catch a deer in a trap, the best way to get it out is to wait until dark and approach with a flashlight. Blind the deer with the light, open the door, and get the heck out of the way!
Deer Food: Texas sophora (Sophora affinis)
Class: browse; highly preferred by deer
Descritption: Texas sophora is found growing as a small tree or shrub uncommon on rocky limestone slopes, drainages and along streams and rivers. Sophora fruits mature in the fall, remain attached into winter, and resemble a string of beads. Texas sophora is a legume, the seeds are reported to be poisonous, but deer love to browse Texas sophora leaves, twigs, and buds.
Texas sophora Photos:
White-tailed deer populations span from from the Atlantic to the pacific, north into Canada, and as far south as Peru. In every area white-tailed deer live, something is out to get them. Hunters will hunt and predators must eat, but deer have adapted to the endless pursuit of predators, including humans, and here is how.
Whitetail deer are mostly active at dusk and dawn (crepuscular) and will often feed at night, becoming totally nocturanal. This may be an adaptation to the habits of man because humans, of all animals, rely most heavily on sight to find deer. Deer, especially mature bucks, go nocturnal counter our limitations.
Sight, however, is not the whitetail’s keenest sense. Deer often can not distinguish between a motionless object and its background, but deer are quick to respond at the slightest movement. Just a twitch is enough to warn a deer that something is not quite right and set the animal on high alert. Deer hunters know this well.
If a deer is suspicious, but there is no movement, the deer will approach and stomp with its front leg in an attempt to make the out-of-place “thing” move. Without a reaction, a curious and smart white-tailed deer may also call into duty their sharpest sense – smell. A deer may circle downwind and analyze the wind with its nose in an attempt to detect danger. If things don’t smell right… goodbye!
As good as their senses are to sight and sound, there is no denying that a deer’s keen sense of hearing is their most effective weapon to ward off would-be predators and hopeful hunters. This is why hunting buck scrapes and using doe urine can be highly effective when used properly. Their ears are designed to collect sound waves, the eyes to collect colors, and their nose to smell danger. They all add up to one heck of a crafty white-tailed deer!
