Habitat Management | Buck Manager

Deer Habitat Management Conisderations

When considering the management of white-tailed deer, unless your property is game fenced, you should realize that adjacent lands are also included in the home ranges of many of the deer on a ranch less than several thousand acres in size. Only those deer within the interior of a really large ranch may have home ranges located totally within the ranch, while those in a wide band around the ranch’s perimeter likely move back and forth onto adjacent lands.

The quality of a ranch’s deer population will in large part be dependent on both the habitat quality and population management strategies (i.e. hunting pressure and deer harvest) on both your and neighboring lands.

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Fallow Discing for High Quality Deer Forage

Shallow soil disturbance on open sites to encourage the growth of herbaceous (weed) growth. This method is cost-efficient and particularly effective for the management of bobwhite quail and other ground nesting birds. The technique is applied through the use of a conventional farm disc disturbing the soil to a depth of 4-6 inches. Continue reading “Fallow Discing for High Quality Deer Forage”

Whitetail Deer Food Plots Without Planting

Have you ever noticed that the first plants to return in a plowed, scraped, or otherwise disturbed area are weeds? Although this may not seem like much, these natural food plots could be of big benefit to your deer management program. When exposed to air, light, and water, seeds that were lying dormant in the soil begin to germinate following soil disturbance. These young, succulent plants are high in nutrient value and attract a variety of wildlife species looking for valuable forage, particularly white-tailed deer.

Disturbed sites can also serve as excellent food plot locations to supplement white-tailed deer diets during the stressful late winter or late summer periods. Areas can be lightly disked during late winter for the production of spring annuals, and then be heavily disked in early fall for winter food plots. This process can be repeated over and over and you can even sprinkle in some seeds during the spring disking to enhance the plot. Remember, you are trying to create supplemental food for deer. You are not trying to grow a lawn. It does not have to look like a perfect stand of manicured plants. Continue reading “Whitetail Deer Food Plots Without Planting”