white-tailed deer | Buck Manager

Mountain Lion Really Killed This Buck

Mountain Lion Dragging Buck

Have you seen the game camera photo of a mountain lion that killed a buck at or near a feeder? It seems quite amazing that the lion and his kill were caught on camera. However, the mountain lion dragging buck photo appears to be legit. It’s rather lucky photo for the owner of the game camera, but not as fortunate for the buck.

Readers of this site know that I normally write about deer management and anything related to hunting white-tailed deer. In addition, I do my best to get the facts correct before publishing content that I feel is accurate and helpful to hunters and landowners managing the deer and habitat found on their hunting properties.

Well, about a month ago I wrote an article that featured the photo below. It’s a perfect game camera photo of a mountain lion dragging a dead buck directly in front of a feeder. It seemed so perfect, I stated that surely the photo was a fake. As it turns out, the mountain lion dragging a buck photo is not fake. Rather, it’s an actual, amazing trail camera photo taken on a ranch in South Texas.

This photo caught a mountain lion near a feeder after killing a whitetail buck

Mountain Lion Kill Caught on Camera

Every deer hunter that has spent any amount of time in the woods, or more appropriately around a campfire with other hunters, has heard stories related to mountain lion sightings. This can include the alleged black panther sightings that your buddy/uncle/friend/nephew claims he saw, too. The stories always get better as the night goes on.

One of the best things about getting outdoors and into the wildlife woods is that you really never know what you are going to see. And speaking from experience (and the mountain lion photos further below), there are some amazing things going on outside all of the time. After all, nature never really sleeps.

Photos, like campfire stories, are not always truthful. Before writing the first article about this photo of a mountain lion dragging a buck, I did a little research regarding the photo. If this photo had been faked, it would not have been the first. To make a long story short, someone initially admitted that they had “made” the photo. Just to get some attention, someone actually claimed to have faked a real-to-life photo. Wow.

Mountain Lion Dragging Buck After Kill

As it turns out, the real owner of the mountain lion photo saw the article, contacted me, gave me the real story that took place on his South Texas property and even provided me with additional photos to corroborate the mountain lion kill.

The ranch owner even said he found the whitetail buck’s head and remains about 6 weeks after these game camera photos were taken. He confirmed that the buck had been killed by the lion.

The photos below are in time succession and show a deer fleeing the area prior to the buck being killed. You can even see the drag marks in the dirt after the mountain lion walks right in front of the game camera. A truly remarkable occurrence, especially since it was caught on film. A special thanks to Chet Markgraf for his story and these photos!

Photos Document Lion & Whitetail Buck

Mountain Lion Dragging Buck in Photo

Mountain Lion Attacks Buck

Mountain Lion Kills Buck at Feeder

Video: Mountain Lion Kills Deer

Cold Weather, Overpopulation Leads to Deer Die-Off

Every hunter wants to harvest a trophy buck, but when it comes to white-tailed deer hunting the reality falls somewhere between shooting a big buck versus deer overpopulation. On one hand, you have hunters that really just want to harvest a single deer, preferably a big, mature buck. Then on the other hand, you have deer numbers that need to be controlled. This will probably not come as a surprise to you, but the average deer hunter only wants to harvest one deer, or more precisely, one buck. While most hunters love seeing numerous deer while out in the field, an important part of deer management is population management.

The reason I bring this up is because just this last week ranches near Kerrville, on the western edge of the Texas Hill Country, were finding dead deer after several days of cold and wet weather. The cause of these deaths — malnutrition. And before assuming that these deer were confined within a high fence that maintained too many animals, I’ll let you know that they were not. In fact, most of the animals found dead were free-ranging white-tailed and axis deer, but they were all starving. Basically, the deer population of the area has exceeded the carrying capacity of the winter range. They were all competing for limited winter forage, and the weakest died.

Reports indicate that the found deer were in poor physical condition, hip bones exposed, backbones showing, and no internal fat. The rumens of most of the dead whitetails were packed with cedar, some dead oak leaves, and even yucca leaves. Axis deer rumens were packed primarily with dry grasses. The cedars (ashe juniper) in the vicinity of the dead animals were severely browsed. Obviously, the cause of death was malnutrition caused by overpopulation that was exacerbated by the cold, wet conditions that persisted over several days.

Axis deer are more susceptible to cold, wet weather than white-tailed deer because they are an exotic subtropical species, but the end result of malnutrition is realized when mixed with winter weather. Deer in less than optimal condition are always more susceptible to disease and death. Additionally, parasite loads can only make an individual animal’s situation worse. So how can winter die-offs be avoided?

First, the deer population must be kept in check with the habitat. Sure, you may only want to harvest one buck, but realize that the health of each individual deer depends on the availability of food. Supplemental feeding can help, but only if it’s at an adequate level and of the proper type to support the deer population. Each deer impacts every other deer because of the competition for limited resources, but this contest can be greatly reduced if free-choice supplemental food is provided 24-7, year-round. When animals are found dead, remember that the weakest die first.

When monitoring a deer population, many factors can indicate potential deer management problems. Individual body weights, fawn survival (as an indicator of doe and habitat health), and habitat use can all be used to gauge herd health. With that said, pay close attention to the health of deer harvested early in the season. Underweight deer (for their age) are good indicators of a potential problem. In addition, if deer are eating undesirable species, such as cedar, they and the habitat are in very poor condition.

Deer Not Eating Protein Pellets?

Genetics (genes) are the most important factor in determining antler characteristics in whitetail bucks. However, genes are not the only factors that determines a buck’s antler potential. Both age and nutritioninfluence how a deer’s genes are expressed. For example, even a buck with the genetic composition to grow the largest rack in the world was harvested at a young age or was malnourished, then the genes that the buck carried were never fully observed. Because age and nutrition determine how a buck’s genes are expressed, these factors are critical to the success of a sound deer management program that strives to produce high-quality bucks.

Although proper buck harvest is necessary to promote age and antler characteristics, nutrition can be achieved through a combination of habitat management and supplemental feeding. Habitat management is the single best way to provide year-round, high-quality food for deer, but this is typically only a viable option for land owners. Habitat management is not always feasible for hunters that lease land for deer hunting for a variety of reasons. In this case, hunters are limited to providing supplemental food through either food plots or free-choice protein pellets. Continue reading “Deer Not Eating Protein Pellets?”

Buck Management: What’s Up with Missing Brow Tines?

The hunting season has just ended for the majority of white-tailed deer hunters. Now, it’s time to reflect, look back over the past season while it’s all fresh in your mind. If you had the opportunity to spend many days in the field hunting, then you should have a good picture of the overall deer herd using the property you hunt.

Better yet, if you recorded deer observations while hunting, then you have the hard data to support what is happening under your property’s current deer management program. These field observations, in addition to game camera photos, will allow a deer manager to track individual bucks from one year to the next. I strongly recommend keeping both photo and stand observations since some bucks always seem to avoid getting caught on camera.

Are missing brow tines caused by genetics?

Missing Brow Tines

With regards to antlered deer, one issue that always seems to arise is the lack of brow tines (G1) on some whitetail bucks. Hunters have often questioned why some middle-aged and mature bucks simply lack brow tines. Is something going on in the deer herd?

Well, yes. Antler characteristics are genetically linked and highly heritable This means a young buck will likely look a whole lot like his daddy. To back up this claim, I will cite some long-term data collected from Kerr Wildlife Management Area (WMA), located in Texas.

From 1974 to 1997, the research facility at the Kerr WMA was involved in a number of studies designed to determine the role of nutrition and genetics in white-tailed deer antler development. During each of various studies that took place over that time, researchers recorded antler information for individual whitetail bucks throughout a 23 year period.

Deer Hunting and Management

Brow Tines on a Buck?

This wealth of antler data allowed wildlife biologists to back-test 217 whitetail bucks from yearlings (1 1/2) to 3 1/2 years of age and 168 bucks until they were 4 1/2 years old. That’s a lot of deer, and from what I can find, represents one of the largest sets of antler data available. So what did they find?

In short, data from 385 bucks found that 90 percent of the bucks without brow tines at 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 years of age were spikes at 1 1/2 years old! All bucks without brow tines at 1 1/2 years old lacked brow tines at 4 1/2 years old. On the other hand, all bucks with 5 or more points as yearlings had both brow tines at maturity. Bucks that had both brow tines as yearlings had both brow tines at 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 years of age.

Missing Brow Tines Starts with Spike Bucks

Incredible Antler Data

The numbers above speak for themselves. In addition, deer researchers know that antler characteristics in white-tailed deer are highly heritable, so the probability of passing on genes for specific antler characteristics (larger or smaller antlers) is a given. The future of the deer herd on a property depends a good amount on the quality of the bucks doing the breeding.

To sum up, a whitetail buck that has spikes as his first set of antlers has a 90 percent chance of developing into a buck with missing brow tines later in life. A buck that has 5 or more points as his first set of antlers is much more likely to have brow tines later in life, at least according to this data set out of Texas.

Deer Management Implications

How does knowing this information affect you and the deer you manage moving forward? It likely depends on the goals you have for the deer that use your property. If one of the goals is to harvest the maximum number of mature bucks on the property annually then you want to allow all bucks to reach maturity.

However, if you are looking to improve buck antler quality, then at least one of the factors you should consider is the quality of the young bucks on your land. Antlers are the result of genetics, but they are also influenced by the environment. Nutrition plays a role in how genes are expressed, how a buck looks.

This phenomenon can be seen is deer herds with suboptimal nutrition as spike bucks tend to comprise a higher percentage of the young bucks, those 1 1/2 years of age with their very first set of hardened antlers. In these types of situations, increasing the available food by reducing the size of the total deer herd or the addition of supplemental foods/forages may be an appropriate step to increase overall deer health, buck quality.

If a property provides ample food and a manager is seeing a high percentage of 1 1/2 year old bucks without brow tines on the property, then you now know it’s all in the genes. The only way to improve antler quality and reverse missing brow tines in older bucks is to put pressure on spikes and bucks without brow tines, regardless of age.

Deer Management for Brow Tines, Better Antlers

In this situation, deer management practices should also include rolling over the doe herd to reduce the number of old does sired by bucks lacking brow tines. This is not a management strategy that plays out overnight, but a practice that must be integrated into the long-term management of a deer herd using a property.

Texas Deer Hunters Have One Last Shot

The General Deer Hunting Season has ended across much of Texas, but whitetail hunters still have an opportunity to take some deer during the Special Late General Season for spike bucks and antlerless deer. Although deer are very wary right now after a full season of being hunted, the late season gives deer managers one last chance to harvest the few remaining deer needed to achieve their deer harvest goals. Now, not all Texas counties have a Late Season in place for white-tailed deer, but most 5 deer counties do have the special season that runs from January 5-18. Make sure to review your county’s deer hunting regulations before heading out into the field.

As valuable as Texas’ Late Season may be for some hunters, it’s not the only option for harvesting white-tailed deer outside the General Season. For deer managers looking for some additional flexibility, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has the Managed Lands Deer Program (MLDP) that not only allows for an early start in some cases, for the early harvests of does, spikes, and other undesirable bucks, but for an extended season that runs until the end of February. I would recommend that any landowner interested in sound deer harvest and habitat management look into the specifics of the MLDP program. The winter weather is cold as I write, so deer are moving. Get out there and take advantage of Texas’ late season — and pray for rain!