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.
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.
Image woodswalksandwildlife
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.
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.
Colder weather has finally rolled into Texas and the drop in temperature has white-tailed deer on the move. Several reports have made it to me over the past few days regarding an increase in the number of bucks observed traveling during daylight hours. Hunters will also be on the move. The general deer hunting season opens this weekend for white-tailed deer.
With an estimated 5.3 million deer in the statewide white-tailed deer population, Texas hunters heading to the field this fall should not need much luck to bump into at least a few deer. It’s been a good year for deer.
More Deer Means Good Hunting
“Good fawn production this year should help maintain the overall population and provide an abundance of deer for hunters to pursue,” said Alan Cain, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) white-tailed deer program leader.
“We’ve seen a slow but steady growth in the statewide population over the last 15 years, particularly in areas such as the Hill Country, Oak Prairies and portions of the Cross Timbers. As a result of the growing population, we’ve expanded hunting season opportunities in the last several years, including a couple of changes to the antlerless season, the addition of doe days in 2019.” This is good news for deer hunters looking to fill the freezer with some high protein, low fat venison.
“Doe Days” Added to Hunting Season, Again
For the first time, 21 counties in south-central Texas can partake in a four-day antlerless season that runs from Nov. 28- Dec. 1.
Any antlerless deer harvested during the archery, youth-only, muzzleloader, and the 4 doe-days during the general season is required to be reported to the department within 24 hours of harvest using either the “My Texas Hunt Harvest” mobile app (for iOS and Android) or on TPWD’s My Texas Hunt Harvest web page.
Counties required to report their harvest include Austin, Bastrop, Caldwell, Colorado, Dewitt, Fayette, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Karnes, Lavaca, Lee, Waller, Washington and Wilson. Also included in the change are Goliad, Jackson, Victoria and Wharton counties north of U.S. Highway 59 and Comal, Hays and Travis counties east of IH-35.
A Change in the Wind Good for Hunters
The change in weather may be what is needed to jump start white-tailed deer movement. Whitetail activity was curbed during archery season due to unseasonably warm temperatures. It also doesn’t hurt that the whitetail breeding season is looming, just two to three weeks away across much of Texas.
As deer hunting conditions improve with cooler temperatures, hunters can expect an above average year in terms of buck antler quality, total deer numbers and, as a result, overall harvest. This is good news for hunters looking to fill that void on the wall.
“Despite a slow start to archery and the Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP) season, I’m hearing of some exceptional bucks being harvested including an incredible 214 gross Boone and Crockett score low-fenced buck from La Salle County,” said Cain.
“I’ve talked to a number of hunters and landowners who have been scouting at their lease or hunting property for the upcoming general season and are reporting good antler quality as well. I think hunter excitement is high this season and hunters have lots to look forward to.”
BOOM: Texas Deer Hunting Season
The general gun season opener kicks off on Nov. 2 and runs through Jan. 5, 2020 in north Texas and Jan. 19, 2020 in south Texas. A late youth-only season is also slated for Jan. 6-19, 2020. For additional late season deer hunting opportunities and county specific regulations, consult the 2019-2020 Outdoor Annual of hunting and fishing regulations.
TPWD is also reminding hunters to review the chronic wasting disease (CWD) regulations for information about CWD testing requirements and carcass movement restrictions for the 2019-2020 season. Also, Texas hunters harvesting deer, elk, moose or other susceptible species in other CWD-positive states must also comply with carcass movement restrictions when bringing those harvested animals back into Texas.
In addition, the Texas Animal Health Commission has mandatory CWD testing requirements that apply to elk, red deer, sika, moose and reindeer in Texas, regardless of whether they are harvested in a high or low fence property. Familiarize yourself with these requirements if you hunt land where there is a possibility to harvest one or more of these CWD-susceptible exotics.
In closing, don’t expect whitetail to hit feeders or food plots hard during the early part of the season. Ample acorns are falling and recent rains have resulted in an abundance of cool season forbs. This will provide all that whitetail need through November, possibly beyond. Bucks will of course be moving throughout the rut.
The weather is forecast to be drier and colder than normal, so expect deer to use bait, feed and plots readily once we get into December. Time your hunts with the cold fronts, keep the wind in your favor and have a good hunting season.
The Texas archery season cranks up for white-tailed deer this Saturday, September 28, 2019. Habitat conditions across the state currently range from very wet to very dry, but the entirety of the state received good rainfall during the late winter and spring, when it was needed for antler growth and fawn production.
Total deer numbers will be up and buck antler quality will be good, but it’s going to be the weather that most challenges hunters during the archery season. Hot and dry conditions have set-in across Texas and that will make early season hunting tough for bowhunters.
Deer Hungry Headed into Archery Season
“Although dry conditions should encourage deer to frequent feeders more consistently and more often, the hot temperatures may curtail movement during much of the day except for the periods around dawn and dusk,” said Alan Cain, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) white-tailed deer program leader. “Until cooler temperatures arrive and deer movement picks up hunters may consider using game cameras to narrow down peak deer movement near their favorite hunting location and increase chances of success.”
Deer will routinely visit feeders when foods are lacking in their environment. In many parts of Texas, hunters should expect deer to make consistent use of bait considering the lack of recent rainfall and green vegetation.
This would apply to much of South Texas, as well as the Hill Country and on up to the Red River. Expect deer movement to be strong through mid-morning and then again in the very late evening. This pattern should hold until acorns start to dump, then all bets are off.
Bowhunters are likely to see fewer deer in areas where decent rains have hit the ground over the past few weeks. The whitetail living in these areas will be the beneficiaries of better habitat conditions, which will put a lid on their need to visit bait sites.
Archery Season Outlook
Texas boasts a robust white-tailed deer population of about 5.3 million deer which should contribute to hunter success this fall and winter. Despite the deterioration in habitat conditions over the last few months with triple digit weather and wind, Cain notes “Hunters should expect an excellent deer hunting season with above average antler quality and fawn recruitment.”
Cain explained that good rains early in the fall of 2018 that set the stage for an excellent crop of winter weeds lasting well into 2019. The excellent habitat conditions continued into early July and were critical in providing the nutrition bucks needed to maximize antler growth. This also kept does in good body condition resulted in good fawn survival and a bump in deer numbers.
2019 Deer Hunting Seasons
While the archery-only season kicks off this weekend and runs through November 1, the general/gun deer hunting season opener is still more than a month away on November 2. In addition, a special youth-only weekend season is set for October 26-27 so make sure to get the kids outdoors early and often.
The general season runs through January 5, 2020 in North Texas and January 19, 2020 in South Texas. A late youth-only season is also scheduled for January 6-19, 2020.
New Deer Hunting Regulations for 2019
Texas once again has some new deer hunting regulations thanks to continued herd management from the state. TPWD has increased and expanded doe days for certain counties and has also implemented an additional requirement for successful hunters. For the first time ever, hunters are required to report all antlerless deer harvested in 21 south-central Texas counties to TPWD.
Starting this season, hunters in parts of south-central Texas will be required to report all antlerless deer harvest in Austin, Bastrop, Caldwell, Colorado, Dewitt, Fayette, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Karnes, Lavaca, Lee, Waller, Washington, and Wilson. Counties also included in that change are Goliad, Jackson, Victoria, and Wharton counties north of U.S. Highway 59 and Comal, Hays, and Travis east of IH-35.
Any antlerless deer harvested during the archery, youth-only, muzzleloader, and the 4 doe-days during the general season is required to be reported to TPWD within 24 hours of harvest using either the My Texas Hunt Harvest mobile app (for iOS and Android) or on TPWD’s My Texas Hunt Harvest web page.
TPWD says the app works without a data signal as long as it has already been downloaded to the device. This feature will allow the user to report their antlerless deer harvest immediately, then the report will upload once a signal is available.
As usual, for additional deer hunting opportunities and county-specific regulations, consult the 2019-2020 Outdoor Annual of hunting and fishing regulations. Wherever you hunt, may your 2019 deer hunting season be a success!
