Predator Management | Deer Hunting & Management

Predators and Deer Management: Bobcat Kills Fawn

Predator control can be an integral part of a white-tailed deer management. Regulating predators should be a year-round activity on properties that are serious about the task, but it’s usually right about the time fawns start hitting the ground that hunters think about doing it. Limiting predators can work well when used hand-in-hand with other practices such as habitat management and supplemental feeding. Though there are many things looking to chow down on a deer, the “whitetail killer” that gets most of the attention is the cunning coyote.

They are smart. They do get a lot of attention from hunters, and for good reason. The coyote is the most abundant predator on the landscape with the ability to take whitetail, especially when they pack hunt. Case in point: Recall the article where a group of coyotes kill a whitetail buck on game camera? But as much attention as song dogs get, they aren’t the only game in town. Bobcats can also do a number on deer, especially when it comes to fawns.

Bobcat Kills Deer Fawn on Game Camera

Bobcat Goes for the Kill

The game camera photo below shows a whitetail fawn being attacked by a bobcat while near a deer feeder. The photo was taken in Central Texas within the last month. And yes, the date and time on the camera are wrong because apparently the hunter did not set them.

That’s not uncommon — and neither are fawns in the bobcat diet when recently-born whitetail fawns are available. Research conducted in Texas found that the bobcat diet contains more deer during the month of June than any other time of the year. Coincidence? No.

It is, however, believed that bobcats have a more limited impact on adult deer than coyotes despite the fact that bobcat attacks on adult deer have also been photo-documented. I would imagine that the majority of adult deer killed by bobcats are already either sick or injured. I also suspect there are individual cats that operate as exceptions to this rule.

It’s unlikely that predator control as a component of a deer management program would have a “bobcat-only” control aspect, but rather their numbers would be reduced through general predator control tactics that target coyotes, bobcats and feral hogs. Bobcats, though shy like other felid species, are susceptible to snares, #3 leg-hold traps, and calling and shooting, with the latter being the most targeted method. Like anything, it takes experience with predator control to become proficient at it.

Predator Control and Deer Management

Should intensive predator control be a part of your deer management program? Maybe. Maybe not. It all depends on the characteristics of the deer herd in question as well as the potential for the habitat found on the property to provide the protection that deer need. Quality habitat will alleviate a lot of predator issues. On the other hand, poor deer habitat will likely compound them. An absence of grass and tall forbs makes fawns really easy to find. A lack of screening cover (trees, shrubs, tall grass) makes every deer easy to find.

Controlling predators is a management tool that must be evaluated on a property by property basis. Predators are a part of the natural system, but the impact they have on a specific property may not fit into your deer management plan. High fenced properties, specifically smaller ones, should consider predator management for the sake of the deer herd. I’ve seen several situations where coyotes in particular have drastically reduced deer populations.

Before declaring all-out-war on predator populations it is important to consider a few things. Are predators such as coyotes, bobcats or even feral hogs limiting the deer population on the property you hunt or manage? If predators are controlled, can the property support more deer without a decline in habitat quality? Are you prepared for more time spent deer hunting, increased harvest and the removal of surplus deer, and will those animals be used?

Whitetail Fawn Eaten by Feral Hogs

For as long as there have been white-tailed deer there have been predators that have relied on deer as a source of food. Of course, before feral hogs (and European wild hogs) were introduced into Central and North America, that was one less predator whitetail had to worry about. Not so now days, with hog populations on the rise throughout much of the whitetail’s range.

Not only do feral hogs compete with native wildlife for food, habitat, and space, but hogs also have direct impacts on wildlife populations through predation and direct consumption. Every bite of native food that a hog eats and every fawn that a hog kills takes a little more from the deer herd on your property.

Whitetail doe gives birth to a fawn

Predators and White-tailed Deer

I’ve examined the relationships between deer population management and the impacts of whitetail predators — particularly coyotes — and deer populations can still thrive in the presence of healthy predator populations as long as high quality habitat is available for whitetail.

However, even in the best habitat predators will have some impact on white-tailed deer populations. I think most landowners, deer managers, and hunters understand this fact. But even so, it can be difficult to sit back and wait for predators to do what they do best considering the time, energy, and money that property owners and hunters put into their property, leases and deer management programs.

It can be even more discouraging when such offenses are caught on camera. Such is the case with the attached photos that I received via email recently.

Feral Hog Eats Deer Fawn

One hunter, located in Schulenberg, Texas, sent me some very unique game camera photos that captured a whitetail doe giving birth to a fawn. The photos are interesting because rarely do we have the opportunity to see a fawn being born, but in this case we’re lucky because it happened right next to a deer feeder and it was all caught on camera.

As you look through the pictures, the photo series shows the whitetail doe setting up in front of the camera, giving live birth to the fawn, and then cleaning up the newborn deer. All of this happens between roughly midnight and 3:30 a.m. in the morning.

Though these photos give us an idea of the amount of care and attention a whitetail doe gives a newly-born fawn, the real drama takes place shortly after 4:00 a.m. In the first photo below, you can clearly see that two large feral hogs arrive on the scene. Also, if you look very carefully, you can see that the spotted fawn is lying flat on the ground directly in front of the feral hogs.

What happens next we will leave to imagination, although the outcome is very real — and we can only conclude that the hogs did kill and consume the 4-hour old fawn. The last photo shows a turkey vulture showing up on the scene to pick at any possible remains.

Do Wild Hogs Eat Deer?

Yes. Food habit studies on feral hogs have often found white-tailed deer tissue in hog stomach contents, but there has also been debate on whether hogs actually killed the deer or simply consumed their flesh post-mortem as carrion. The take-home from this series of photos is that yes, feral hogs do eat white-tailed deer. It also appears that new-born fawns are quite susceptible to feral hog predation.

Deer are most susceptible to predators as fawns, but especially just hours after birth. The only remnants the landowner found of this fawn were some of the skin and a small portion of the skull cap. He concluded his email to me in this way:

“As far as viewing the pictures, it seems everyone that sees the sequence of photos has the same reaction: lots of oohs and awhs quickly followed by disgust and anger. But I guess life and death in the wild is never fair… it’s just about survival of the fittest.”

On Predators and Whitetail

Fawns are the deer most susceptible to predation and this fact is also why it is important that fawning within a deer herd take place over a relatively short time period. Tight fawning dates, meaning a very short window from the first fawn born to the last, means whitetail fawns within a local population hit the ground almost simultaneously and predators only have limited access to them during the period when they are most vulnerable.

After a short period of time, fawns are much more alert, mobile and are able to more or less fend for themselves. Managed deer populations tend to have higher annual recruitment rates that those not management and part of the reason is compressed fawning dates.

The length of the fawning period for your area is directly related to the buck to doe ratio. A high percentage of doe deer in the population means a single predator has a greater chance of encountering a new-born fawn because the fawning dates will be spread out. Anyway you slice it, there is a lot to consider when it comes to predators, even such as feral hogs, and deer management. Thanks to Michael Jurica for submitting these photos.

Deer Management and Thoughts on Predator Control

Game cameras are great for hunters and deer management because they allow 24-7 surveillance of trails, feeders, food plots, and water sources. Not only can motion-triggered cameras be used to collect valuable survey data for herd management, but they can also capture some amazing wildlife photos, such as this awe-inspiring photo of a mountain lion dragging a whitetail buck directly in front of a protein feeder and right in the path of a game camera. Although it’s a great photo that demonstrates why an unlucky hunter may not be seeing any mature bucks, the mountain lion is simply doing what it does best.

Game cameras really do capture some great wildlife photos, but not all of the time. In today’s high-tech world, anyone with a little bit of computer knowledge can splice together parts of several photos and fabricate a seemingly amazing photo. I received the above mountain lion and deer photo in my inbox at least every other day for a couple weeks now, so hunters and non-hunters apparently find this photo fascinating and are passing it around. So why do predators get so much attention? I think part of it is the mystique surrounding them. They literally kill for a living. The other reason is because we as humans love to place blame. So although I believe this photo of a mountain lion carrying a buck is fake (May 16 update: the photo is real), predator management as part of your overall deer management program could be very real. Should you attempt to control predators on your property?

In areas where good deer habitat exists, predators do not pose a serious threat to white-tailed deer populations. The only real exceptions include islands of good habitat–say 500 acres or less–surrounded by vast expanses of poor habitat and then high-fenced ranches less than 1,000 acres in size. Good habitat not only makes for healthy does, which increases fawning rate, but also provides excellent fawning habitat that promotes increased fawn survival. These two factors are critical to the recruitment of deer into the population, but good habitat will not make a difference if it’s only 200 acres surrounded by thousands of acres of poor habitat.

This is because the patch size of the habitat is important. Patch size is a biological term that refers to amount of available habitat. The smaller the patch size, the smaller the block of habitat, the more susceptible the patch becomes to the influence of predators. In the example above, the patch size of good habitat was 200 acres because it was assumed that the area surrounding it was not good habitat, as in areas over-grazed by livestock, huge bermuda fields, plowed fields, or wide open prairie. As the patch size decreases, the influence of predators of the deer population increases. In short, if there are 200 acres of prime habitat surrounded by nothing good for deer, then all of the deer and predators sink into that patch.

Now assume the patch size is 80 acres. It makes for easy pickin’ by predators. At some point the patch becomes so small that it does not function as habitat. A smaller patch increases the probability of predators encountering deer, particulary highly susceptible fawns. The same can be said about high-fenced or game-fence ranches, regardless of the habitat quality surrounding them. The issue with high-fenced ranches is that predators, such as coyotes, knowingly or unknowingly use the tall fences surrounding the property as funnels to corner deer. In low-fenced areas, deer can simply run away or run outside of the patch to safety. In high-fenced properties, deer are more prone to run down fencelines and, in a panic, continue to dart into the netwire fence and corners they can not jump.

As the size of a high-fenced property decreases, the percentage of the property that is near a fence line or corner increases. This means that smaller high-fenced ranches are more susceptible to high levels of predation than large high-fenced ranches. In addition, any high-fenced ranch is more susceptible to predation than low-fenced ranches surrounding it in the absence of predator control. This is only because taller-than-normal netwire fences impeed the escape of deer and increase the efficiency of predators.

With that said, high-fenced ranches have a greater ability to control predators than most low-fenced properties. The most notorious deer predator is the coyote because they are both numerous and crafty. Coyotes can go straight through barbed-wire fences, jump and climb 5-foot netwire fences, but 8 and 10-foot fences are a different story. As a result, coyotes can only go under high netwire fences. Slides, or locations where coyotes cross under netwire fencing, are easy to find and this makes them highly susceptible to traps, particularly snares. Smaller high-fenced properties are more susceptible to the impacts of predators on deer, but they are also easier to monitor and control.

To sum up, smaller ranches can provide good habitat that can sustain a white-tailed deer population, but smaller properties also require more intensive predator control, especially when surrounded by poor habitat. In addition, predators are easier to control on high-fenced properties because of limited predator access, but deer within ranches surrouned by tall netwire fences are very susceptible to predation because of corning. Supplemental feeding and food plots can keep deer healthy and help them grow bigger antlers, but good habitat and predator control, when necessary, can ensure that you have a deer to manage in the future.

Impact of Buck to Doe Ratios on Whitetail Fawning Dates

Past articles on this site have discussed buck to doe ratio more than once, but today we are going to talk about how buck to doe ratios impact subsequent fawning dates and recruitment of fawns into your white-tailed deer herd. Many factors can impact rutting or breeding activity, but most of the breeding takes place over a relatively short time in healthy deer herds.

Timing, of course, depends on latitude, local conditions, and a host of other factors, but year-in and year-out most of the rut takes place more or less over the same time each year in a given area. Though often overlooked, buck to doe ratio should be an important deer management consideration on your ranch.

Buck to doe ratio can impact fawning dates on your ranch

In the previous paragraph, a “healthy” deer herd was mentioned and it was stated “most” of the breeding takes place at the same time, but what exactly does that mean? Well, a healthy deer herd would be one that is at carrying capacity for the habitat, has a buck to doe ratio of no fewer than 1 buck per 3 does, and all animals are in good body condition. With all of these parameters in place, it would be expected that majority of the breeding would happen over the course of a 10-day period, or even less.

Ratios and the Rut

Why? Well as deer have evolved, the timing of deer breeding/rutting as become more constricted. A properly timed rut results in a high fawn survival rate and ultimately in the survival of the species. In some areas at northern latitudes, climate conditions can be extreme — so deer have adapted to a narrow fawning window.

If fawns are born too early, it can still be too cold. If too late, they may not have enough time to build up the needed body mass and energy needed to get through the winter. At southern latitudes, temperature is not as much of a factor, but it still plays a role for fawns born too early or too late.

Sex Ratios and Early Rut, Late Rut

So without getting into all the factors that can impact fawning dates right now, let’s talk about buck to doe ratios and how that effects the fawning season. White-tailed does come into estrus for only a day or two — usually in high numbers as if someone hit a switch. If they are not bred within that time, they will come back into estrus 28 days later. If there are not enough bucks to service all the does in an area, those does will not get bred until about a month later. If they aren’t bred then, it’s another 28 days. This explains what some people refer to as the “late rut.”

At this point you may be asking yourself, “What’s the problem?” Well, it’s true that deer populations with a high number of does per buck still have high breeding success (percent of does bred), but those deer herds don’t necessarily have good recruitment of fawns into the adult population. One reason can simply be because of habitat conditions.

Recommended Buck to Doe Ratio

If it turns out to be a dry spring, fawns that are born just one month later than expected may suffer some serious consequences, specifically regarding the available food sources for a doe to maintain herself, produce milk and raise fawns. If that timing ends up being 2 months later, then that may be well into the summer season and the odds of a doe raising those same fawns is much closer to zero.

In short, manage lands for a proper buck to doe ratio and it will help increase both breeding and fawning success. It’s recommended that there be no more than 3 does for every 1 buck, with the goal being 2 does per buck in most free-ranging deer herds. In the future, we will discuss some of the other factors that impact fawn survival and recruitment. Deer population parameters are closely intertwined, and the buck to doe ratio of your herd is much more than just a number.

Bobcat Attacks White-tailed Deer – Photos

Will a bobcat attack a full-grown white-tailed deer? Yes! And these game camera photos prove it. I’ve always figured that the biggest threat a bobcat could impose on a whitetail was while the deer was still a fawn, and I still believe this to be true. But maybe bobcats kill more deer than we thought. The bobcat is an effective predator, but the larger coyote takes more deer.

In these photos, you will notice that the deer is still battling the deer after two minutes have passed. This seems plausible considering the crushing power of bobcat’s jaw and incisors are really being put to the test considering the size of its prey.

Even a large bobcat at 25 to 30-pounds can only hope to physically wear down an adult deer while biting into it’s neck to increase blood loss. It’s a tough way to go, but nature is violent.

Although the bobcat wrapped up this doe, I suspect that a bobcat would not launch an attack on a larger-bodied, antlered buck. At least not one in a healthy condition. And the health of this doe was unknown when attacked.

Bonus bobcat photos: