whitetail management | Buck Manager

Grape is Good White-tailed Deer Browse

Deer Food: Grape (Vitus spp.)

Class: browse; preferred by deer

Description: There are many species of grape throughout the white-tailed deer’s range, but all species seem to serve as good sources of deer forage. In areas with high deer populations, grape leaves will not be found within the reach of a deer, but foliage can be found higher in brush and tree canopies. Common grape species include mustang, post oak, and muscadine.

Grape is deer browse

Grape plants are vigorous and clump forming or high-climbing woody vines occurring on moist sandy soil and loose clay soil in both bottomlands and uplands. Most grape species are very aggressive, often outcompeting other vegetation in an area.

Grape plants are usually found along fence rows, adjacent creeks, and within forested areas. Growth can be encouraged on properties managed for white-tailed deer by loosely stacking brush piles so that small, protected grape plants can establish with the physical protection of the pile and then grow outward where deer can consume the leaves.

The fruits are also eaten by many birds and mammals, including deer and wild hogs. These animals will plant the seeds of the highly sought after fruit directly into the areas they frequent, such as brush piles!

Grape Photos:

Mustang (2 photos above)

Post oak (above)

Muscadine (above)

Time to Hunt for Shed Deer Antlers

Hunting for shed antlers means getting out in the woods at a different time of the year. If you’re like most white-tailed deer hunters, then you spend the majority of your time in the woods during the fall and winter of each year. However, the habitat that white-tailed deer live in — just like the animals themselves — are found there year-round. Shed hunting is a good opportunity to get out and explore the area you hunt, learn more about it, and possibly even find some nice shed antlers.

With spring just around the corner and whitetail bucks beginning to shed last year’s antler growth, there is a good opportunity to learn more about your deer hunting area as well as the deer that live there. Hunters get excited when bucks start growing their antlers each year because it’s a chance to witness the affect of past management activities and offers a look ahead to, hopefully, future harvests. It really is something to get pumped up about.

Shed Hunting Season

Then, on the other hand, there are some hunters that also get pumped up after the hunting seasons have already ended. Those guys and gals are the shed hunters. Once winter sets in, it marks the fact that soon whitetail bucks will be dropping, casting their coveted antlers. As it turns out, there are ways to get a huge set of antlers on your wall other than shooting the big boy. He may have eluded you during the season, but you can still find his shed antlers!

Finding shed deer antlers not only ends with great rewards you get to take home, but also with some valuable information you can tuck away in your back pocket for next season. Information such as the quality of bucks that made it through the last hunting season, the number of different bucks that were in the area, and specific areas that these bucks used while in your area.

Shed antlers also allow you to physically track bucks that you may have been keeping a close eye on. Measurements that can be taken from year to year include common measurements such as beam length, tine length, and mass measurements.

Shed Hunting Tips

Look in and around late-season food plots and other food sources.
Examine deer travel corridors, water sources and anywhere deer commonly travel.
Use a game camera to monitor the deer herd and ensure most of the bucks in the area have already shed their antlers before your start. More antlers on the ground ups your chances at finding them.
Don’t wait too long to hunt for sheds. Rodents will eat and destroy cast antlers due to the coveted minerals they contain. In addition, warming weather will spur forb and grass growth and make finding antlers much more difficult.
Keep an eye out for new hunting locations. This may inspire you to cover more ground, increasing your chances of finding deer sheds.

Proper Harvest Essential for Good Deer Management

Harvest really is a key management tool required to manage white-tailed deer populations. However, remember that successful management must also involve proper habitat management. The basic strategy for deer population mangaement, which involves harvest, consist of the following:

1. Deer numbers must be maintained at or below the carrying capacity of the property to maintain excellent body condition and maximum antler growth. It’s kind of like cows in a pasture. You can have more, but body condition and overall health will suffer.

2. The desired sex ratio must be achieved for proper recruitment levels and desired harvest quotas. Maintaining too many does will require harvesting many deer each year. Too few does and recruitment may not be adequate to replace deer harvested.

3). The harvest rate of bucks must be established to attain the desired age structure of bucks available for harvest (which includes spikes and other culls as part of the buck harvest quota). A lower harvest rate keeps more bucks in the older age classes.

Warm Season Whitetail Food Plots Considerations

Thoughts on Spring and Summer Food Plots

Warm-season (Spring-Summer) plant species are most reliable, work best when food plots for white-tailed deer are located in bottomland habitat. This out-performance is because low-lying sites retain the highest amount of soil moisture is during the dry, summer months. This is important information to remember for the success of your food plot, as well as your overall deer management program.

However, care should be taken to select a site that is not prone to flooding from nearby streams, rivers, or other waterways. Flooding is not necessarily a bad idea if we were talking about food plots for waterfowl, but no so much when we think about food plots for deer. Also, should the plot also be expected to serve as a food source and hunting area during cooler months a flooded out food plot is going to offer you zero access.

Warm Season Food Plots are Hot

On the other hand, dry upland sites are not good sites for warm-season deer plots, so try avoid such areas and stick to the better soils on your hunting property to increase your odds of a successful food plot. Of course, not every property has moisture-rich bottomland soil. In this case, position plots at least 50 yards from woodlands, since nearby trees will wick water from upland soils.

But if you have the option, go to the lower elevations of the property because that is where the water is found. This seems simple, and it is, but it can make a huge difference between a successful warm season foraging site for deer and a complete failure of a food plot.

Fast Growers for Spring & Summer Plots

Warm-season plant species should be selected for their ability to grow quickly and compete with native weeds. Remember, with either warm or cool-season supplemental forages, soil samples should be taken to determine lime and fertilizer requirements. Failure to properly prepare the soil may result in drastically reduced yield or excessive weed competition. A good source for local information will be your county extension agent and they can usually help with soil testing for your food plots.

So whether you are planning on establishing a cool (fall) season food plot or a spring food plot, the best thing you can do is ensure you do your research before doing anything else. There are many commercial sources for seed, but check around with several sources before you make your selection. Seed sources have a vested interest in selling you seeds, but it may not be the best seed for your soil — or for the deer on your property. Good luck with your future food plots and deer management program.

Talking Food Plots and Deer Hunting

If you have any questions about warm season food plots or any other inquiries regarding white-tailed deer hunting or management, just drop me a line in the comment box.