deer hunting | Buck Manager

Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP) Program

The Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP) program as developed by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) allows Texas landowners involved in a formal deer management program to have the state’s most flexible seasons and increased harvest opportunities. The MLDP program is incentive based and focused on habitat management. The program really is set up to help landowners manage white-tailed deer. Participation in the MLDP program requires a written Wildlife Management Plan (WMP) approved by a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologist. However, a TPWD biologist, a landowner, or a landowner’s designated agent may prepare the WMP. A WMP prepared by a landowner or an agent must be in a format approved by TPWD and submitted to TPWD for approval. Although the program seems to be set up to run with minimal paperwork, permits will not be issued unless the WMP has been approved.

There are 3 levels of MLDPs (Level 1, 2, and 3). Higher levels offer additional harvest flexibility to the landowner, but also have more stringent habitat management requirements. There is no fee or written application, other than the WMP, for the MLDP program. Landowners or their designated agents should contact their local TPWD Wildlife biologist to request permits, but don’t wait until right before deer season. New applicants should submit all required information to their local TPWD contact by August 15 if they want to receive their permits before hunting season opens.

Permits are issued by the TPWD biologists through the Texas Wildlife Information and Management System (TWIMS), a computer automated system. Permits are mailed out of Austin each year after a TPWD biologist enters or modifies a harvest recommendation in the database. By the way, permits are valid only for the specific ranch for which they were issued.

An approved WMP will include an annually updated harvest recommendation for does and/or bucks, dependant on the level of participation. The annual harvest recommendation will determine the number of permits to be issued and will establish the maximum harvest for the property. If permits are issued after the start of deer season, all deer harvested prior to permit issuance, regardless of permit level, must be counted towards the maximum quota. Subsequent survey data may indicate a need to amend the harvest recommendation, which could result in a supplemental issuance of MLDPs.

Once permits are issued, all deer harvested (with the exception of buck deer on Level 1 properties) on that property must be tagged with the appropriate MLDP. Completion of the hunting license log and use of a hunting license tag are not required for deer harvested under the authority of a MLDP, but since all deer must have the MLDP, harvest is stricly regulated and intended to meet a landowners objectives.

Providing reliable harvest data, including accurate ages as determined by tooth wear and replacement, is a requirement for program participation. A suggestion for untrained individuals is to remove and label one jawbone from every deer harvested for a wildlife biologist to age at a later date. Jawbones must be labeled in such a way that the biologist can identify the deer on the data sheet. Check this out for more information on the aging deer using the tooth wear technique.

Now, it’s time for specific information about TPWD’s MLDP program. This information is straight from TPWD’s website: Continue reading “Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP) Program”

More Game Camera Tips for Hunters

Now that you have decided on the best locations to monitor with your game camera, you will need to know a few tips to help make sure that you get quality deer photos. With that goal in mind, when at all possible point the camera toward the north. Not on will placing the game camera in this position greatly reduce the chance of the camera getting triggered by the sun, but it will reduce back-lighting on your subject and give you much better deer photos.

Likewise, placing the game camera in areas of heavy tree cover will also help prevent the mid-day sun from accidentally triggering the sensor. So, if you want to take better photos in a relatively open area, face the camera north. If you are trying to pattern deer using a game camera in a heavily wooded area, any direction will work.

Next, it’s important that you accurately measure the distance from the trail camera to where you expect deer to travel. If the camera is set back too far, then the sensor might not trigger and the camera will miss the shot. Of course, having a deer cross too closely is equally bad since the camera will only capture part of the deer as it passes by — or totally miss the deer all together! Continue reading “More Game Camera Tips for Hunters”

Supplemental Feeding Versus Baiting for Whitetail

Many landowners and hunters consider supplemental feeding an important factor in deer management and a source of nutrition when native forage is inadequate either in quantity or quality. Under certain conditions, a supplemental feeding program can help keep the deer herd in better condition and help meet some of your management objectives. However, most deer feeding programs which provide sufficient additional nutrients to be of value are quite expensive.

Are You Feeding or Just Baiting?

There is a distinct difference between feeding and baiting white-tailed deer. Maintaining deer feeders from October through December is a common practice on many properties to attract deer to hunting locations during the whitetail hunting season. Unfortunately, most of these baiting efforts cease just before additional the additional feed is really needed by the deer — in late winter.

Supplemental feeding is most-beneficial during stress periods. Stress periods for deer are usually encountered when the protein content of the forage is at a low level. This is almost always during winter and summer or as a result of prolonged period of drought.

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As mentioned, supplemental feeding of deer is expensive, and unless properly done it may be of little or no benefit to the deer. The most efficient means of insuring adequate nutrition is through a good habitat management program that provides sufficient cover and a variety of browse plants as well as forbs. This is done by reducing deer numbers and domestic livestock numbers to levels that allow the plant communities to recover and remain in good condition.

Before Supplementing Deer…

A common mistake made by many managers attempting to develop a habitat management plan is to disregard the number of animal units of deer present when calculating use of the range. If deer are present, they will also be using available forage and must be considered as part of the stocking rate. If large numbers of deer are desired, domestic livestock must be reduced to prevent damage to native plant communities.

This also holds true for farmlands. There is plenty to eat during the growing season, so the limiting factor for deer occurs when food sources are low following the hunting season in the winter.

Under good habitat conditions, white-tailed deer and cattle do not compete for food. However, deer, sheep and goats are in direct competition for the available food supply. When habitat is in poor condition, deer and cattle will compete for forb and browse plants.

True Supplemental Feeding Has Benefits

The supplemental feeding of deer may be beneficial if the herd is harvested adequately each year and the habitat is maintained in good condition or constantly improved through management practices. Only under managed conditions will supplemental feeding benefit the growth-rate of a deer’s body and a buck’s antlers.

The benefits of a supplemental feeding program may be more quickly realized when feeding is done within game-fenced areas that allow the manager to closely control the white-tailed deer population, but most of us are managing and hunting under free-range conditions. Feeding can work just about anywhere, but it takes proper implementation and a higher level of manager involvement to be effective.

Patterning Areas with Game Cameras

Every hunter would love to pattern a big ole monster buck prior to hunting season. Knowing when and where to be set up come hunting season would be worth a mint! But what about those areas where you put up your game camera and don’t see any bucks? Is there any value in that information? Yes.

Believe it or not, many areas are rarely or never visited by white-tailed bucks. Eliminating areas where you should not be is hunting is of great importance and actually increases your chances of taking a buck on any given day — assuming you aren’t hunting “dead space.” Continue reading “Patterning Areas with Game Cameras”

Kerr Wildlife Management Area Deer Pen Research

In 1974, a high-fenced research facility was constructed on the Kerr Wildlife Management Area located near Hunt, Texas. The purpose of the research facility was allow the Wildlife Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to study antler growth in native white-tailed deer. The 16-acre facility consists of six 2/3-acre breeding pens, three 4-acre pens, and a series of alleys and chutes to facilitate the handling of research animals.

The orginal breeding pens consisted of seven brood bucks, of which six were spikes, and 5 to 7 does. All deer were native Texas whitetails obtained from various locations throughout the State. No additional deer were added after the fall of 1974 and the herd has been maintained as a closed, pedigreed herd.

The orginal purpose of the pens was to address the following objectives:

1. To determine factors which contribute to antler formation in white-tailed deer.
2. To determine the effect of nutrition level on antler formation and body weight.
3. To determine if deeer that were spike-antlered at 1 1/2-years of age (yearlings) have the same potential for antler development and body weight in later years as bucks which were fork-antlered at 1 1/2 years of age.
4. To determine the influence of genetics on antler characteristics.

Continue reading “Kerr Wildlife Management Area Deer Pen Research”