Deer Management | Deer Hunting & Management

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.

Impact of Pre-Rut Buck Harvest on Genetics

Early season deer hunting can be very effective because white-tailed bucks are more easily patterned prior to the rut. Novice deer managers may think that removing a high quality buck prior to the rut is a bad idea because it limits the buck’s ability to pass on his genes. Yes, harvesting a buck prior to the rut does limit his ability to pass on his genes, but it does not limit the ability of his offspring. When it comes to deer management we must manage the deer herd, not individual animals. If you manage the herd as a whole then good things will happen.

The most important aspect of managing the buck segment of the deer population on your property should be maintaing good quality bucks in each age class. If you are interested in improving antler quality of bucks then inferior bucks in each age class should be removed. Bucks that are deemed inferior (by your standards) in the yearling, 2 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 1/2 year old age classes should be removed each year. By doing this you ensure that only the best quality bucks remain each year, pass on their genes, and once mature are ready for harvest. Continue reading “Impact of Pre-Rut Buck Harvest on Genetics”

The Fundamentals of Deer Management

Deer management. You have heard the words before, but what does it mean to you? To different people it means different things. To pure hunters, deer management revolves around harvest management. You either shoot to get the deer population down or you lay off the herd to let the numbers grow. Sure, harvest management should be an important part of any comprehensive deer management plan, but keep in mind that it’s not the only thing.

It’s real easy to talk about deer management, but there is talking the talk and walking the walk. White-tailed deer, like all animals, have three primary needs: food, cover, and water. This seems easy enough, but there really is a big misconception among lots of folks about what deer actually eat. If you don’t already know that deer eat primarily forbs and browse, then you have some homework to do because the words “browse” and “forb” mean absolutely nothing to you. But it’s not a big deal because it’s relatively easy to learn about and research the important deer browse and forbs in your area. Once you know what deer eat, the next step is to figure out how to provide more of those foods through proper habitat management.

Habitat management is important not only for the food that it provides, but also to satisfy the cover requirements that white-tailed deer need. Deer can live in a variety of habitats, but landscapes that range from 40 to 60% brushy and woody cover and interspersed with open areas provide ideal deer habitat. This is because, once again, deer eat both browse, the leaves and stems of woody plants, and certain forbs, which are commonly referred to as weeds or wildflowers by the majority of people.

A key factor to deer management is knowing that deer drastically impact the quality of their habitat. A lot of people to not realize this. Here is where it gets a bit tricky, but I will spare the more important details that are available elsewhere on this site. If your deer population is at the proper carrying capacity (winter density) for the habitat, then habitat conditions will be good. If habitat conditions are good, then reproduction of deer (fawning rate) will be high. If reproduction is high, then a large number of animals must be removed (harvested) each fall because so many animals will be recruited into the existing deer population.

Now, if one fails to remove these animals then over time habitat conditions decline. Once vegetative conditions deteriorate, the number of fawns produced each year declines. Eventually, you end up with a bunch of deer that exhibit poor body conditions and have very poor reproduction. However, if you strive to create good deer habitat through sound habitat management practices and work to keep the population in check, then each year you will have a healthy doe population, a high fawning rate, and a buck segment with excellent body condition and antler quality.

Of course, this is an overly-simplified article discussing the basics of deer management. If you desire to properly manage the white-tailed deer and habitat found on your property, then I encourage you to check out the rest of this site and subscribe via email above to get the latest articles sent directly to your inbox.

Selective Whitetail Breeding Works in Texas

Texas allows the owners of high-fenced (game fenced) properties to operate under a Deer Management Permit (DMP) after meeting specific requirements. This permit allows DMP property owners to place 1 white-tailed buck and up to 20 white-tailed does in a breeding enclosure ranging between 5 to 100 acres for genetic “improvement” with the ultimate goal of increasing antler quality in bucks. After breeding, the deer must then be released onto the property and are considered “wild,” meaning they can not be recaptured.

A recent study at the King Ranch attempted to assess the effectiveness of the DMP by comparing antler scores of between pastures including DMP offspring and pastures without DMP offspring. To collect antler measurements by age class, white-tailed bucks were captured using helicopters and nets guns. Continue reading “Selective Whitetail Breeding Works in Texas”

Movement and Survival of Translocated Deer

In the US, white-tailed deer were originally transported to restore populations that were “shot out” during the early 20th century. Today, land managers continue to move deer from one area to another, but not just to restore populations. The driving force behind today’s deer translocations is primarily twofold: to augment low-density deer populations and to promote genetic improvement. However, a third option for translocation is an alternative to harvest — to manage overabundant populations; remove deer found in high deer-density urban areas, transport them, and release them elsewhere.

But regardless of why deer are moved, how do they cope? What is the survival rate and performance of transported deer after they are “liberated” at their release site? These are good questions and a study out of Texas A&M University-Kingsville hopes to answer them. We know that for a translocation program to be successful we need two things, a high survival of released deer and for the animals to remain in the area where they were released. Without achieving these two objectives, the overall goal will not be met. Continue reading “Movement and Survival of Translocated Deer”