Question: I just watched the newest “how many does to harvest” episode. It seemed like the criteria on annual doe harvest was implied to be based solely on the condition the the conditions you find your in your food plots.

Should there be any consideration on trying to get to the 1:1 buck/doe ratio for the herd? GrowingDeer has been our “North Star” and we want to get things right.

Answer:

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Question:

Answer:

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Drew,

I believe neighborhood deer coops are a great tool!  The QDMA has much information about deer coops.  We formed ours with very simple guides.  There are no membership fees and no mandatory harvest rules to follow.  We started by sharing the basics of deer biology and management.  We have had tours of coop members’ farms so we could discuss food plot and native habitat management techniques, etc.  We try to focus on subjects of interest to our members.

We share news and events that we believe our members will find interesting via email, etc.

I welcome you to join one of our meetings if you are interested.

Enjoy creation,

grant

February 23, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Will,

The primary determinant of antler size is a buck’s age.  We allow bucks to mature before harvesting them!  That’s the easiest way to produce large antlered bucks.  Providing good quality habitat is also very important!

Enjoy creation,

grant

February 23, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Derek,

“High fence” is a very generic term.  I’ve seen very small high fences where deer didn’t have much escape or native cover. I don’t consider hunting in such an enclosure fair chase.  I’ve also seen high fences that surrounded several thousand acres.  There’s often plenty of natural escape cover in these fences.  I don’t have a problem with folks that hunt in these.  

“High fence” is a tool like a gun. It can be used for good or bad and depends on the mission of the person using the tool.

Enjoy creation,

grant

February 21, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Frank,

The best way to determine if there are so many does that the herd’s health is reduced is to determine if there is plenty of quality forage year round.  I especially like to consider the amount of quality forage available during the late summer and late winter or the two most common stress periods.   

Whole body weights are another excellent indicator of overall herd and habitat health.  If the average body weight of two year old and older does is below normal for that area you know there are more deer than quality habitat on the farm.

Enjoy creation,

grant

February 15, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Matt,

It sounds like you have a good place to hunt!  Supplemental feed stations can make it much easier for predators to pattern deer.  If the deer are healthy I suggest you don’t use supplemental feed. If you need to feed, then consider spreading it along interior roads, etc., to simulate deer foraging on acorns, etc.  This will make it much more difficult for predators to pattern deer.

Enjoy creation,

grant

February 11, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Kenneth,

It is true that deer that haven’t had access to corn can be harmed by if it’s added to their diet when they are already stressed (during late winter).  Deer do much better on a balance ratio such a provided by a high quality blended feed. I use Antler Xtreme (www.AntlerXtreme.com).

Enjoy creation,

grant

January 25, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Alec,

Deer require trace minerals year round.  This is why I keep Trophy Rock (www.TrophyRock.com) out year round!  Deer tend to use it more during the late winter and spring/summer.

Enjoy creation,

grant

January 25, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jared,

Each state sets their antlerless season so that the vast majority of fawns are able to survive independently.  There always the odd late born fawn, but those should be the rare exception.  If does are to be harvested, I tag the doe that presents a good opportunity unless I see a very immature fawn (spotted) with the doe.

Enjoy creation,

grant

January 25, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jeremy,

Conditions out of normal such as too warm or too cold can cause deer stress.  Deer don’t have sweat glands and often pant to cause evaporation/lose body heat.

In addition parasite loads often increase during abnormal conditions.  

Out of balance adult sex ratios that favor does can also cause bucks significant stress.  Bucks in one acre or less pens at research facilities with all the high quality food they can eat, no predators, etc., will lose 25%+ of their body weight during the rut.  Imagine the cost of participating in the rut for wild, free-ranging bucks when the adult sex ratio is out of balance in favor of does.

Deer herds are healthiest when the adult sex ratio is one to one or one buck to two does.

Enjoy creation,

grant

January 22, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Darrin,

Age or maturity is the biggest factor in bucks expressing their full potential. Habitat quality is the next most important factor. In most states hunters aren’t allowed to modify the habitat on public land. They can pass immature bucks and allow them to mature!

Enjoy creation,

grant

January 21, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Ethan,

Age or maturity is the largest factor in determining antler size.  The best way to have more large-antlered bucks is to not harvest young bucks.  Deer rarely travel outside their home range.  Bucks whose home range currently overlap the property where you hunt can be encouraged to spend a higher percentage of time there by improving the habitat.  

Deer need food, cover, and water daily.  They will use the best of these resources daily that they don’t associate with danger.  

Enjoy creation,

grant

January 21, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Michael,

With wild critters we manage populations not individual animals.  The decision to harvest does should be the balance between the herd’s health and the habitat quality.  If there is more quality forage during the late summer and late winter (the two common stress periods) then there’s less need to harvest a lot of does. If there’s more deer than quality forage (not just food but quality forage) than good managers will harvest does so the remainder of the herd has access to plenty of groceries.  In herds with plenty of quality forage year round does will typically carry twins. Survival of the twins depends on habitat quality, the number of predators, etc.  

I recommend you consider the herd and habitat quality and make your decision based on what’s best for the herd.

Enjoy creation,

grant

January 10, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jason,

It can be frustrating to invest in a property and find out the neighbors don’t share the same deer management objectives.  I helped start a local neighborhood deer cooperative for that same reason.  Ours is a 100% voluntary, no fee membership.  We simply share information. We don’t force anyone to follow any deer management rules. I’ve learned it’s much better  to educate than legislate.  There are many deer management cooperatives throughout the whitetail’s range.  

Don’t expect results in one season. It takes time for folks to change their minds and/or habitats.  We’ll having our next meeting February 11th at the local Bass Pro store (more folks will show up for a meeting there!).  I’ll try to share portions of that meeting on http://www.GrowingDeer.com. Maybe you can start a coop with your neighbors!

In the meantime don’t give up!  Enjoy the process of improving the habitat. 

Finally – if your neighbors are baiting during season, you may need to feed in the middle of your property. I suggest not hunting over or near the bait as that often results in deer only using the area after dark.

Enjoy creation,

grant

January 8, 2016

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Drew,

It sounds like you have a very nice property! 

Deer seek quality food, cover, and water daily. Water is rarely a limiting factor in Arkansas.  Quality food that deer don’t associate with danger can be a very strong attractant for deer!  I suggest you develop some quality food plots and have one that you don’t or rarely hunt.  This plot should be strategically placed so to encourage deer to spend the maximum amount of time on your property.  

Cover – where deer are almost never alarmed – is often a limited resource.  I recommend you designate a portion of your property as a sanctuary.  Sanctuaries are fabulous tools for properties the size of yours!  They encourage deer to spend a large portion of the daylight hours on your property versus the neighbors!  

I a huge fan of sanctuaries!

Enjoy creation,

grant

January 5, 2016 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Gene,

I’m 54 also!  I had the same conversations about tagging does with my father.  

We’ve learned a lot about managing deer since those conversations.  Whether to harvest does should be based on two factors. These include:

1. the current balance between the number of deer and the amount of quality food

2. the adult sex ratio

The first factor is most important.  If there’s ample quality forage available during the late summer and late winter (common stress periods for deer) then it’s not necessary to harvest does.  Taking a few does for meat won’t hurt the herd but an aggressive doe harvest isn’t necessary.  If there’s more deer than quality food during the two stress periods than an purposeful doe harvest will benefit the herd and habitat.

Deer herd’s can function with an adult sex ratio skewed toward females.  However, the research is clear that herds with a balanced adult sex ratio and older age bucks is healthier. 

So – evaluate the number of deer compared to the quantity of quality food in your area.  If there’s plenty of quality browse and you want to see more deer, then I recommend going light on the doe harvest.  If deer in your area are making a living on twigs and tree leaves, it might be wise to take a doe and work on improving the habitat qualitiy.

Enjoy creation,

grant

December 30, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Bob,

Whew – there’s too many variables for me to give you an accurate answer!

Yearling bucks in areas with great food (areas that grow a lot of soybeans and corn) and produce antlers that score 110″.  For comparison bucks may have to be three or four years old to produce antlers that score 110″ in areas with poor/sandy soil and covered primarily with mature trees.

The amount of hunting pressure on neighboring properties is also a very large factor.  I’ve known 100 acre tracts that were bordered by parks, no hunting areas, etc., where hunters tagged 20 or more deer annually.  They created great food sources and hunted smart and deer from surrounding properties continued to frequent the relatively small tract.

I suggest you strongly consider the quality of habitat and hunting pressure and habitat quality on neighboring properties before you lease or purchase any land for hunting.

Enjoy creation,

grant

December 21, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Joey,

Thank you for sharing the encouraging words!

I suspect there are more deer in the area with a home range that overlaps the property you hunt.  I also expect these deer will spend more time on the property as you improve the habitat quality.  Therefore I’d have no problem tagging a mature doe (or buck if you see one!).  

I wish you success!

Enjoy creation,

grant

December 21, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Phil,

I’m OK with the changes. There are many states that have legalized crossbows during the past decade and the data is clear that the deer harvest totals didn’t significantly increase. I’m Ok with reducing the buck harvest from a total of three (two archery one firearm) to two (max of one with firearm or two with a bow).  Only 500+ hunters took three bucks legally last year so that change isn’t significant except maybe encouraging some hunters to hold a tag for a larger buck.

I suspect more youth will hunt after Thanksgiving than after Christmas so I glad they moved the second portion of the youth season.

Overall I think the Missouri Department of Conservation does a good job. It’s very tough to please everyone. I hope folks review the data and not judge based on the rumor mill.

Enjoy creation,

grant

December 16, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Tony,

The minimum acreage that can be successfully managed for deer depends on your goals and the actions of neighbors.  

The better the quality habitat the smaller deer home ranges tend to be.  However, its rare for deer to have a home range size less than a half mile. It’s also rare for deer’s home range to be centered in a property. Deer frequently have ranges that overlap on neighboring properties.  The best case scenario is when neighbors have similar deer management goals. 

That doesn’t sound like the case where you hunt. I’d consider altering your goals to fit the neighborhood or trading properties for one with neighbors that share your deer management goals.

Enjoy creation,

grant

December 10, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Herb,

The home range size of deer varies significantly based on the quality of habitat.  The better the quality of habitat the smaller deer home range sizes tend to be.  

Unless the property is several thousand acres most of the deer will have home ranges that overlap on neighboring properties.  

Deer spend most of their time during daylight hours in cover. So cover or the ability to create quality cover is a priority.  An even larger priority is studying the neighborhood.  I like to consider the sources of quality food, cover, and water throughout the neighborhood.  

It’s also important to visit with neighbors and discuss their deer management goals.  I suggest asking if they have or have an in interest in forming a deer management cooperative!  Good deer management cooperatives make small properties much easier to manage for mature bucks.

Enjoy creation,

grant

December 10, 2015 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Paul,

If you have training or can get help (many state agencies offer assistance with prescribed fire) prescribed fire is a great tool to remove weeds and duff. 

The weeds can be mowed and when new growth occurs be treated with a herbicide.  A seedbed can be prepared or a no-till drill used to plant. Before planting, make sure to have the soil tested and add the appropriate amount of lime and fertilizer to insure the crop has property nutrients.  

Malnourished plants don’t produce as much forage or taste as well as healthy plants. Don’t skip the soil testing and adding nutrients phase.

It’s a horrible, old wive’s tale that spikes will always produce small antlers.  Many wild, free-ranging spikes have been captured and fitted with a radio/GPS collar and followed throughout their lives.  Many of these bucks produced great antlers, including record book bucks!  

Most spikes are yearling bucks that were born later than normal or had poor nutrition.  Once they mature and/or have access to better nutrition they produce great antlers!

Enjoy creation,

grant

December 10, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jon,

It may surprise you that most states report hunters harvest an average of 1.1 deer per year.  This is fairly consistent even in states like Georgia where hunters are allowed two bucks and ten does!  

I doubt Tennessee hunters are much different from the national trends.  In my home state of Missouri hunters are allowed two bucks with a bow and one with a gun. Last year only 527 hunters tagged three bucks statewide. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to how many deer are killed by cars each year in Missouri.

Kentucky may be an exception as they allow hunters one buck a year. Many bucks do survive to maturity in Kentucky!   

Deer will adapt to avoid danger and certainly will switch to being active primarily during the night to avoid hunters.  This is most obvious in state parks or areas where hunting is prohibited.  Deer in these areas are often very active during daylight hours!

It’s tough for state agencies to satisfy the masses.  The best approach is educating hunters so they will make good choices in the field!

Enjoy creation,

grant

December 10th, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Caleb,

Sounds like you and your guests had a fun hunt!  

Very rarely do deer have a range of 100 acres or less.  The home ranges of these bucks most likely included portions of neighboring properties.  The impact the of buck harvest would have to be considered on a larger scale.  You should inquire about how many bucks where harvested on neighboring properties.  If there weren’t many bucks harvested in the area then the herd is probably in good shape.  If your neighbors had a similar harvest (buck per 25 acres) then I doubt many bucks will survive to maturity in the area.  

if no does were harvested in the area there should be a supply of yearling bucks annually. This is how deer herds were commonly managed in many areas decades ago.  The harvest indicates your goals are for quantity, not quality

Enjoy creation,

grant

November 27, 2015 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Greg,

There are many examples of wild free-ranging immature bucks which were fitted with GPS collars that had less than desirable antlers.  In most cases the bucks developed nice to great antlers once they matured!  

It’s important to note that there’s been much research on “culling” white-tailed bucks with the goal of improving the herd’s genetics.  The results clearly show this doesn’t work!  Antler traits are primarily passed by does.  Without a pedigree (knowing who bred who for generations) there’s no way to know which does or bucks are producing offspring with the most antler growth potential.  Culling bucks only results in fewer bucks that reach maturity and makes it tougher to balance the herd’s adult sex ratio.

Enjoy creation,

grant

November 25, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Question

Dr. Woods, Below is a link to a video I have published on Youtube. This was from a hunt in western Kentucky, December 2010. I was the cameraman and my good friend was the shooter. This was a paid hunt with trophy minimums. This injured deer came out tending the doe. His leg was so severely injured he couldn’t stand for long periods of time. He was laying down watching the doe. We were in contact with the outfitter, who left it up to us. We were scared to shoot because of the financial penalty. Back at camp we showed him the footage and he said he’d like to let the deer go to see what he could become. My question since then has been if there was ever a chance for this deer to become “normal” again? While he didn’t appear malnourished, the leg injury and opposite antler nub, along with the malformed “good” antler gave me doubts. I’m not asking to second guess the outfitter, my question applies to my own lease. If I find a buck in a similar state, is the best course to cull the deer or let him go?

Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
Patrick Elia

Patrick,

There’s no way to determine if the buck will recover from the video.  I doubt he’ll produce “normal” or typical antlers. However, he may produce great non-typical antlers!  

Given that the buck may survive, I agree that it was the landowner’s choice. When I encounter such bucks I typically give them a pass unless they are mature enough to meet the landowner’s deer management goals or it’s obvious the injury is life threatening.  I don’t wish for critters to have prolonged suffering with no chance of recovery.

It’s important to remember that wild deer are managed on a population level – not based on individual deer.  Removing or passing this buck will have little impact on the whole population.  It’s the sum of all the pass or shoot decisions that determine the health of the herd.

Enjoy creation,

grant

November 13, 2015 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Tom,

Sounds like you have a great deer management program!  States like Wisconsin and New Jersey had/has an earn a buck program. Hunters generally hate this program so I doubt it will ever be considered by MDC.  

I simply shoot almost every doe I legally can on my farm and asked my guests to do the same.  As you know, were basically limited to harvesting does with a bow in southern Missouri so it’s tough to over harvest does in areas with good quality habitat and where the predator populations have been balanced with prey species.  Currently the deer herd’s adult sex ratio at my place near Branson is almost balanced – almost 1:1.  

I had a research project in South Carolina for 11 years.  In that area there was no bag limit on bucks from August 15th through January 1st – with rifles and using corn and dogs! The local deer herds had very unbalanced adult sex ratios. I required all the hunters to tag five doe before harvesting a buck.  After 11 years the observed adult sex ratio was 3.1 bucks per doe!!!  It was amazing how well rattling, grunt calls, scrape hunting, etc., worked!!  

Keep leading by example!  It’s always better to educate than legislate!  

Enjoy creation,

grant

November 11, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Ethan,

The number of does that should be harvested from any property depend on the landowner’s deer management goals and the amount of quality forage available during the two normal stress periods (late summer and late winter).  If there’s more quality food than the local deer herd can consume then there’s not a huge need to harvest several does. If the best sources of planted or naturally occurring food is low during the late summer or late winter, than the herd will benefit from reducing the number of does.  

Keep in mind food sources on adjoining properties also!  You may be taking about 150 acres of timber while there’s large ag fields joining the property.

Enjoy creation,

grant

November 11, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Aaron,

Most states don’t open the antlerless season until the majority of fawns can fend for themselves.  There are always a few late born fawns that are immature the early stages of deer season.  If the fawns have lost their spots and have grown a winter coat (longer gray hair) they should be fine!

Enjoy creation,

grant

November 11, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jeremy,

Congratulations on having the lease!  

Wow – I can’t imagine anyone (legal or otherwise) taking 50 deer from 400 acres. 

If there is more quality food than deer (prefered forage isn’t browsed) then there’s no need to harvest does. If the body weights of deer harvested are above average there’s no need to harvest does.  

If prefered plants show a lot of browse and the average body weights are low I recommend you harvest enough does to balance the number of deer with the habitat’s potential to provide quality forage.  The quality of the habitat will tell you much about the local deer population.

The only way to improve the average age structure of bucks is to pass up younger bucks!  

You might watch our show on this website as there’s more information here than we can share on YouTube.

Enjoy creation,

grant

November 3, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Brian,

There is no research that shows spikes are genetically inferior deer.  Such tales are started by folks desire to kill a buck and have no understanding of genetics.  

There have been many, many spikes in research pens, wild and marked with GPS collars, etc., that have produced great antlers once they matured!  I never prescribe removing spikes.  There’s always a chance an individual deer will produce spikes as an older deer. I’ve seen one in my career.  Such bucks usually have very large antler bases as antler bases almost always increase with age.  

Remember that does contribute at least half of all antler traits!  There’s no way to “cull” does based on antler production without a long-term pedigree (record of who bred who for years).  

Bottom line – removing spikes simply means there will be fewer bucks to reach maturity where you hunt!  Age is the biggest factor in antler size!

Enjoy creation,

grant

October 24, 2015

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Winston,

I’m very impressed with the data collection and analyses!!  

If the surveys were performed correctly and approximately during the same time each year I’m most concerned with the decreased fawn recruitment.  Traditional camera surveys during August will underestimate fawn recruitment. However, it should be an index and representative each year.  The data indicates more does and a substantially lower fawn recruitment rate.  

Bucks have the best opportunity to express their antler growth potential if they have quality forage year round.  Based on your description I doubt you’ll remove enough does to allow 31 acres of plots to provide enough food.  This is compounded by the fact that your property is in an area where there’s not much native vegetation and agricultural crops are the primary food source year round.  Deer in such areas tend to have very large home ranges and will travel to quality food sources after production crops are harvested.  I suspect some of the deer on your property during the winter are on different properties during the remainder of the year. This is great for shed hunting, but reduces the amount of forage available for resident deer during a critical time of year.

There’s obviously more deer than food at your farm during the late winter.  Harvesting does is a good plan. However, it may not have the impact it would have in areas where deer tend to have smaller home range sizes.  

I strongly encourage you to have more quality forage available during the late winter if the goal is to maximize buck’s antler growth potential.  Often the least expensive method to accomplish this in areas with commercial soybeans and corn is to pay the farmer to leave a few acres unharvested.  Farmers often purchased seed, fuel, etc., in such large quantities that they can produce food for less than food plot farmers.

Enjoy creation,

grant

October 16, 2015 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Tyler,

All states set the antlerless harvest seasons to occur when most fawns can survive on there own. There’s always a chance of late born fawns.  Such fawns would likely still have spots, etc.  The fawns in your picture appear healthy and well developed!

Enjoy creation,

grant

October 9, 2015 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Dan,

Your observation is odd?  Deer rarely continue eating forage when acorns are available!  That’s great for you as deer are usually much  easier to pattern when they are feeding in plots/fields than chasing acorns.

Most state agencies in the midwest are reporting a substantial decrease in the number of deer. I’m thrilled you are seeing more fawns!  Consider that a blessing!

Enjoy creation,

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Troy,

Thank you for the kind words and for watching GrowingDeer! I have several clients in southeast Missouri and a college I attended (Missouri State) took many field trips to Mingo Refuge.

I agree 100% with your assessment that new hunters need to see deer sign and deer to remain excited about hunting. I’m thrilled you are concerned about your family continuing the hunting tradition!

I always begin new projects by evaluating the food, cover, and water resources on the property that I’m trying to improve and on the neighboring properties.

Unless you border a unique part of the Mingo refuse, there’s probably plenty of water and cover on the refuge. Certainly deer on the refuge won’t be disturbed frequently when on the refuge. Unless there’s better quality food on your property compared to the refuge, there’s not much reason deer would leave the security of the refuge to spend time on your property. It’s likely that the development of quality food resources in areas where your family can approach, hunt, and leave without alerting deer would significantly increase the amount of time deer spend on your property and the quality of the hunts for you and your family. To create this huntable habitat requires some evaluation and planning.

Many folks establish and maintain soybean plots without the aid of a no-till drill. The appropriate steps are to do a soil test and add the appropriate amount of lime and fertilizer. Malnourished plants won’t be healthy and unhealthy plants don’t taste as well (attract deer and other critters) as well as healthy plants. In addition a good seedbed is prepared and the seed is broadcast just before or during a rain. The rain helps cover the seed and ensure there’s adequate soil moisture for rapid germination. Some folks use a drag of some typ  (a section of chain link fence, etc.) with hopes of covering the seed.

Cover the seed is important for two reasons. First, it significantly reduces the amount of seed that will be removed by birds and rodents. Most folks are amazed at how many seeds birds and rodents will remove within a few days. Second, soybeans have a much higher germination rate when covered with a 1/2″ or so of soil.

Many counties rent no-till drills (through a NRCS office) for extremely reasonable rates). Another neat option is that Paul Hollis (south of St. Louis) has crews and lots of equipment and contracts establishing and maintaining food plots for landowners and government agencies. You may reach Paul at 636 326 1009.

Adam, Daniel, Matt or I would be happy to assist you in developing a habitat management and hunting strategy plan. Send me a note if you wish for us to quote you a price for this project.

Enjoy creation,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Mark,

A severe outbreak of Hemorrhagic disease (H.D.) occurred at The Proving Grounds during 2012.  It was so severe that I got tired of my wife (she really enjoys shed hunting) bringing in skulls versus sheds.  Finding a mature buck was like finding a needle in a haystack during the fall of 2012 and 2013.  There were a few more mature bucks during the 2014 season.  This year there are more mature bucks on the property than any time during my Tracy’s and my ownership of this property (13 years).  

Based on other experiences as a hunter and biologist it seems to take about three years for herds to fully recover from and H.D. outbreak.  The recover rate will be impacted by the amount of hunter harvest after the die-off, predation rates, etc.  

I backed off the doe harvest after the H.D. outbreak and have been aggressively removing predators for years.  This allowed the local deer population to recover rapidly.

Enjoy creation,

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Colby,

I always start by evaluating the best sources of food, cover, and water year round on the property I have permission to hunt and on the surrounding properties.  Remember that what’s a preferred food source during December likely won’t be a good food source during July. 

By identifying what’s the least available or lowest quality resource (food, cover, or water) I can then work to add or improve that resource where I have permission to hunt.  Most folks overlook cover. However, cover is where deer, especially mature deer, spend most daylight hours.  

I suspect you’ll be able to quickly determine what you need to do to attract deer year round if you consider which resources are the most limited where you hunt.

Enjoy creation,

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Chase,

There are many good deer food products.  Some have better marketing than others, but most have enough protein and energy to help deer.  In most areas, energy is a bigger concern that protein.  Deer in the Midwest grow large due to the readily available supply of energy from grain crops.  

It requires an intensive feeding program to improve a deer herd’s quality. This will require feeding year round – not just during the hunting season.  A good feeding program is a big commitment!  You should also know that feed placed on the ground is usually primarily consumed by raccoons, rodents, and birds. Literally more than half the feed your purchase may be consumed by raccoons.  

It’s often less work to grow food plots than to maintain a quality, year round feeding program.

Enjoy creation,

grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Christopher,

Thank you for being part of the GrowingDeer Team!  

We are still testing different grunt calls.  I haven’t found one that has the correct tone and rhythm yet.  

I’ve found that deer management changes are the easiest to make and most readily accepted when they are proposed through education rather than legislation.  Most humans don’t like change- they certainly don’t want to be forced to change.  Therefore showing folks better systems by example seems to be more effective than trying to force change through legislation.  For example, Tracy and I have owned The Proving Grounds 13 years.  None of our neighbors would even listen to our form of deer and habitat management.  I didn’t attempt to force my ways.  I simply continued doing what was right, knowing many great young bucks would be tagged on neighboring lands.  

Through time and example many of the neighbors have started using the deer management guidelines I follow.  We’ve now started a neighborhood Deer Management Coop. This would have been impossible if I hadn’t continued doing what I thought was correct and gently sharing information.

I encourage you to gently share good information and work for a positive change by setting the example.

Enjoy creation,

grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Keith,

It appears your plots did very well!  

There are many variables that determine what percentage of a property should be established in food plots to provide ample quality forage for the local deer population.  Some of these variables include growing conditions (there’s often a huge difference in the tonnage produced during a year with ample rain compared to a drought), the number of deer (the number of deer per square mile can vary drastically from location to location), and the availability of alternate food sources (location being all timber compared to commercial soybean farms, etc.).

The best rule of thumb is to continue establishing quality food sources until there’s plenty of food available during the late summer and late winter (the two traditional stress periods for deer).   

There are about 60 acres of food plots out of 2,000 acres of land at The Proving Grounds.  During years with good growing conditions, there is ample quality forage during both traditional stress periods. However, there’s not near enough quality forage during drought conditions.  This year I will try to remove two does per 100 acres to reduce the number of deer and establish some additional food plots.  Due to all the variables, finding a balance between the amount of quality forage and number of deer is a constant balancing act.

Enjoy creation,

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Winston,

I’m thrilled you are doing camera surveys and tracking data year to year. Year to year comparisons (or trends) are often very useful!

Do you see more deer and/or more deer sign on the lease compared to during 2012?

There are several factors that could explain the trend of an increasing population.

1.  I noticed the fawn recruitment rate increased significantly even during 2012 and 2013 (both years when corn was used as an attractant).  Increasing fawn recruitment rates will allow for deer populations to increase rapidly!

2.  If the neighbors fed and stopped feeding (due to new regulations) deer may be much more attracted to your food plots, at least during certain times of the  year. This could easily explain the increase in number of deer.

3.  I never use a deer population correction factor .  The correction factor won’t solve error. It will simply be same amount of error from year to year.  If the survey yields erroneous data, the data will simply have a 10% larger error if the correction factor is used.  Remember – it’s the trend that’s important – not the actual number of deer. 

4.  If you know you have more deer than quality forage produced on the lease it will be necessary to harvest more does compared to past years.

5.  Have you initiated a predator control program?  My biggest question based on your data is why the fawn recruitment rate has increased so significantly.

Enjoy creation,

grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Matt,

We’ve worked for 13 years to improve the habitat and balance the predator/prey relationship.  This has resulted a great deer herd with about 100 deer per square mile.  We will attempt to reduce the number of deer by harvesting two does per 100 acres this fall. We love venison so this is good news!

Enjoy creation!

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Matt,

I believe hunting should be fun!  It’s not much fun to hunt for something that’s not present.  I tend to set my buck harvest criteria based on the top 25% of bucks (by age class) for that area.  For example, if 25% or so of the most mature bucks harvested in an area are three years old then I hold out for a three year old or older buck.  

I also realize that I need to set the example in the local area.  So I don’t say one thing and practice another. If I encourage hunters to hold out for three year old bucks, I don’t harvest bucks less than three years old.

This example almost always results in other hunters following my lead and results in improved deer herd quality in the neighborhood.

Enjoy creation,

grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Briley,

It looks like your grandpa’s farm is laid out nicely for hunting!  The blend of ag and narrow strips of timber should make finding deer travel patterns relatively easy.  

I like that there are food plots in addition to the row crops.  The row crops will provide an excellent source of forage throughout the summer.  Once those crops are harvested deer should be attracted to the food plots.  

You may wish to focus on scouting and learning ways to hunt the farm without alerting the deer!

I encourage you to seek God’s will for your life.

Enjoy creation,

grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Dale,

I always start by evaluating the local sources of food, cover, and water.  I try to identify which one (quality food, cover, or water) is the most limiting to the local deer herd.  This may vary during different times of the year.  For example, if there’s an ag field next door, there may be plenty of food until the crops are harvested.  However, that same field may be plowed ground (a desert for wildlife) during the winter.  

Once I identify the most limiting resource I see if it’s within my budget to add that resource.  Trace minerals are an easy thing to add.  They are often overlooked.  

Enjoy creation,

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Cade,

I always consider where the best food, cover, and water are on the property where I hunt and on neighboring properties.  

The ag fields, especially when they are planted in soybeans or peanuts should attract deer. This is especially true if there aren’t ag fields with these crops on neighboring properties.

Unfortunately most deer have a home range larger than 80 acres.  No matter what you do I suspect most of the deer will have a range that includes at least a portion of a neighboring property and may be using some of the food, cover, and water resources there.  It will be difficult to keep hunting dogs from crossing the property border and dogs can certainly cause deer to alter their normal patterns/behaviors.  If you attract deer the dogs will certain smell the deer and venture onto the property where you hunt.

Sorry – but I don’t have a good answer for you!  You may have to find another place to hunt if the situation isn’t tolerable.  

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jordan,

Thanks for the note!  You’ve probably already spent time intentionally seeking God’s will for your life/career. If you haven’t that’s the most important step in choosing a career!

The number of does to be harvested should be determined by the amount of quality forage available. If there’s more quality forage than deer than it’s not necessary to harvest does unless the deer herd is causing damage to society, such as crop damage, excessive car/deer accidents, etc.  

If there’s limited quality forage, especially during the normal stress periods of late summer and late winter then it will be best for the local deer population to reduce the number of does, increase the quantity of quality forage, or do both at the same time.  

The quantity of quality forage can be monitored by visual inspection and by comparing average body weights year to year. If the trend is that the average body weight is decreasing then it’s likely there are too many deer for the amount of forage. If body weights are increasing, there’s probably no need to harvest does.  

Each year will be different due to growing conditions, etc.  For example, it’s been a great growing season at The Proving Grounds. However, based on the past trend of body weights and observations of forage last year I know there are more deer than the local habitat can support during normal growing conditions. My goal is to harvest two does per 100 acres this year.

Enjoy creation,

grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Ryan,

Tracy and I used to live near Abbeville, South Carolina!  

I know several folks that do a great managing deer on similar sized properties!  Much of their (and your) success is influenced by what happens on the neighboring properties.  If the neighbors tag every yearling buck they can you may be facing an uphill battle to produce mature bucks.  If there’s light hunting pressure in the neighborhood then I suspect you can make great progress!

Based on your picture it seems some bucks are surviving to maturity!  That’s a great sign you program can be successful!  

If you enjoy the process of managing deer and habitat there’s nothing to lose.  The rewards of watching the process will justify the cost.  Tagging a mature buck will be a bonus!

Enjoy creation,

grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Marcey,

Thank you for the kind words!  

The buck appears healthy.  I didn’t notice any sign of infection, etc.  If he’s putting weight on the leg I suspect the break/wound has healed and he will survive.  If he doesn’t meet the harvest criteria and there’s no sign of infection I’d give him a pass.  If you notice that he’s not putting weight on that leg and/or you notice signs of infection than I would consider tagging him.

May you be blessed with an enjoyable fall!

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Dustin,

I’m not aware of any shortcuts to learning how to accurately estimate the age of bucks on the hoof.  It can be difficult especially in a moment of excitement!  I strongly prefer my clients do a camera survey and use those pictures to identify and learn which bucks they wish to tag and more importantly which bucks they wish to pass!  We often make booklets so clients can study which bucks to pass.  This system has worked very well for me and my clients!

There’s no doubt that a well ran supplemental feeding program can help. Most folks focus on protein.  However, usually quality sources of energy are in much shorter supply than protein.  Good feeding programs require substantial resources (dollars and labor).  Feeders need to be moved and cleaned frequently.  Non target critters such as squirrels, raccoons, bears, etc., can literally remove 50% or more of the feed.

However, if implemented correctly a feeding program can increase the health of a deer herd!

Enjoy creation,

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Phil,

The accuracy of a trail camera survey can potentially be increased by increasing the number of cameras and the number of pictures each camera takes per deer visit.  

More pictures should allow for better identification of individual bucks. More camera stations should pick up a few more deer as some deer won’t use stations where other, more dominant deer frequent.  

The trade-off is steps that accumulate more pictures will add more time to analysis process.  

The number of acres per camera is influenced by the habitat.  If the survey is conducted in an area with lots of pasture and/or ag fields then deer will be bottle-necked into smaller areas and fewer cameras will be needed. If the area is primarily cover than more cameras will be required to conduct an effective survey.

Deer tend to hang around bait a long time.  There’s no problem taking more pictures but I usually set my Reconyx cameras to take two pictures with a 10 second interval between pictures.  I use a five minute delay to keep from getting bunches of pictures of the same deer.  

I never use a correction factor.  Correction factors are best guesses.  I use the actual numbers and compare them year to year.  The trend of the deer herd’s demographics is more valuable and probably more accurate than the estimates!  

There are detailed instructions of how I conduct a trail camera survey at:  https://www.growingdeer.tv/view/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Conducting-a-Herd-Survey.pdf

Enjoy creation,

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Cliff,

Trail camera surveys are great tools!  There’s complete instructions on how to conduct a trail camera survey at:

https://www.growingdeer.tv/view/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Conducting-a-Herd-Survey.pdf

Enjoy creation,

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Steve,

Thank you for the suggestion!  Briefly, the first year after Tracy and I purchased The Proving Grounds I saw one deer.  Now there are lots  of deer and the average body weights and antler sizes have increased significantly.  Deer readily respond to better habitat.

We’ll try to find time to do a review someday.

Enjoy creation and good deer management works anywhere!

grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Sam,

The biggest factor that determines antler size is a buck’s age.  For example, two year old bucks rarely produce more than 60% of their antler growth potential and three year old bucks rarely produce more than 80%.  Even four year old bucks rarely grow their largest set of antlers.  In most areas the number one source of buck mortality is being harvested by hunters. So, the old saying “let them go so they will grow” is true!  

The second factor is the quality of a buck’s diet.  Plants are only nutrient transfer agents.  That means that if most of the nutrients are in the ground the plants can’t transfer them to deer.  This is is so important to do a soil test and lime and fertilizer as recommended by the soil test!!  Healthier plants will produce healthier deer and make them easier to hunt as healthier plants taste better/attract deer better!

There is no magic solution to producing bucks with large antlers. Simply allow the bucks to mature and make sure they have plenty of quality groceries!

Enjoy creation,

grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Wheeler,

Most state agencies don’t allow doe harvest until most fawns are old enough to survive should the doe be removed.  It’s often necessary to remove does to balance the number of deer with the habitat’s potential to produce quality forage in many areas.  This has been a standard practice for decades in most states and the deer herds have thrived!  

If there are more deer than the habitat where you hunt can produce quality forage or if the adult buck:doe ratio is out of balance in favor of does I suggest you tag some does and allow you and your family to enjoy fresh venison while helping the deer herd!

Enjoy creation,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Ben,

Recently we’ve shared footage of a buck we call Chainsaw!  He has very large antlers several kickers.  I confident almost every deer hunter would gladly tag Chainsaw.  I estimate this buck to be 4 years old. We don’t recognize Chainsaw as any of the bucks from our farm last year.  Chainsaw’s range also includes a member of our local deer coop and that landowner doesn’t recognize him either.  I suspect Chainsaw’s antlers are much larger this year than during any previous year.  Had we (or our neighbor) been tagging 3 year old or younger deer Chainsaw may not have survived to express his genetic potential.

I’ve seen this same pattern many times!  Bucks often don’t show their genetic potential until they reach 4 years old or older.  Several spikes that have been tagged or fitted with a radio collar have produced Boone and Crockett level antlers when they matured to 4 years old or older.  

Based on this and several research projects I do recommend passing bucks until the age criteria used where you hunt. It’s almost impossible to determine a buck’s antler production potential at younger ages.  

Remember that does make a huge contribution to antler shape.  The bottom line is that culling bucks without a known pedigree for several generations on both the doe and buck side is useless.  

Enjoy creation,

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Joshua,

I’m not aware of any research that shows some areas have better genetics than others for producing large antlered bucks.  

You mentioned northern Missouri.  That’s a great example!  There wasn’t a deer season in any northern Missouri counties when I was a child.  Missouri has great stocking records and many of the deer used to stock the northern Missouri counties were from Taney County – where I live!  So – same genetics in northern Missouri where many BC bucks are tagged and Taney County where a BC buck has never been recorded.  

Clearly the difference in soil quality and forage (soybeans versus timber) accounts for the differences.  Within any location there will be huge genetic diversity among deer.  I don’t believe the BC distribution map reflects differences in regional genetic diversity. Rather if reflects differences in habitat quality and management (age structure due to state regulations, etc.).

Enjoy creation!

grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Since first grade I’ve been fascinated with deer. I found a poached fawn at the farm where I lived.  Literally ever since that day I wanted to work with deer.

My undergraduate and master’s degrees were in zoology with an emphasis in wildlife. My Ph.D. was in forest and wildlife resources.

I started consulting with landowners and companies to help them with deer and habitat management while I was in grad school.  After graduating I continued that same work. My firm, Woods and Associates, Inc. has been incorporated 25+ years.

I believe God literally designed me to be a deer biologist and I’ve never strayed far from that path.  I strongly encourage you to seek God’s will in your life and follow that path.

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

The results of the recent research by scientists at Mississippi State University that we shared (https://www.growingdeer.tv/#/whitetail-antlers-and-genetics-fact-or-fiction) hasn’t been published yet.  It is to be published soon and we’ll share a link to that publication when it’s available.

Enjoy creation!

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Brent,

Thank you for watching GrowingDeer and for sharing the encouraging words!  

I believe the primary determinant of deer activity is survival.  Deer certainly co-exist with bears in many areas.  However, deer often change habits/patterns when a new or increase of predators occurs.  Given the substantial increase the number of bears where you hunt it’s certainly possible that deer in the area have switched to using a different portion of their home range.  

I suggest you don’t use any supplemental feed as bears are very attracted to easy groceries.  If you aren’t feeding then there’s probably not much you can do to discourage the bears from spending so much time where you hunt.  Hopefully some of the bears will move on soon!

Enjoy creation! 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

There are many variables that determine how many acres of food plot there should be on any property.  If the hunting property is an area where corn and soybean crops are commonly grown then food plots, especially during the summer, are rarely necessary.  In these areas food plots during the hunting season can be useful to attract deer after the production crops have been harvested.  

In areas where timber or pasture are the primary land uses then more acres of food plots will be necessary to provide enough quality forage for all deer to express their full genetic potential. Ideally there will be enough acres of food plots that each deer has all the quality forage they wish to consume. 

An easy and accurate indicator that can be used to evaluate the quantity of food to the number of deer in an area is to notice if quality forage such as soybeans is being over-browsed.   If it is then either more acres of food plots should be established or the deer population should be reduced – or both actions at the same time.  

Enjoy creation! 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Based on lots of data from GPS collars placed on mature bucks researchers have learned that they are unique individuals and have different habitats and home range sizes just like humans.  These data also show that the home range size of most mature bucks decreases as they mature.  

Based on these findings it is unlikely to “attract” mature bucks outside their home range. So the secrete to seeing more mature bucks on a given property is to reduce the harvest of immature bucks on the same property.  As long as the bucks are dying in a portion of their range that’s outside the property where you hunt, it only requires passing immature bucks to produce mature bucks.  

Hopefully you are part of or can form a neighborhood deer management coop and adjoining landowners will follow the same buck harvest guidelines!  This is a great way to increase the age structure of a local deer herd!

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Matt,

Thank you for for sharing the encouraging words and leading by example!  Your daughter is blessed to have a Dad that loves her enough to constantly protect her and spend time with her!

I’m not aware of a herbicide that’s safe to use over legumes (clover and alfalfa) and chicory.  Weed control in plots with multiple species is difficult.  You can use most of the grass- specific herbicides over legumes and broadleaf (chicory) with damaging the forage crops.  There are several grass-specific herbicides and all have advantages and disadvantages.  

Mowing rarely controls weeds (grasses or broad-leafed weeds).  This is one reason I tend to plant warm season plots with a single species like forage soybeans and use blends during the cool season.  Weeds are rarely a problem in cool season plots – especially if there has been a warm season forage crop and good weed control during the summer.

Depending on the size of the plots and the number of deer in the area the best rotation I’ve found for attracting and feeding deer is Eagle Seed forage soybeans during the summer followed by overseeding the beans with the Broadside blend about 60 days before the first expected frost of the fall.

The Roundup ready beans make it easy to keep the plot weed-free during the summer and the Broadside is a great soil builder and deer attractant!

Enjoy creation,

Grant 

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jason,

We are constantly working or hunting on our place.  To offset this level of disturbance we have sanctuaries or places that we never go in except to retrieve a harvested deer, look for sheds, or limited management activities such as prescribed fire.

Sanctuaries are a critical part of our habitat!  We design/designate sanctuaries on all of our clients’ properties. Is their 20+ acres on your farm that serves as a sanctuary?

Thanks for watching GrowingDeer!

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Tanner, it can get tough when hunting a lot and not seeing deer! When I help folks improve hunting on properties that are similar in size to the one you hunt I always try to determine where the best food, cover, and water sources are in the neighborhood. Deer will certainly use neighboring properties so understanding where they are using food, cover, and water during different times of year and weather conditions is very important. Once I get a better handle on where deer are using food, cover, and water I see if I can create the preferred location for one of those resources on the property where my clients hunt. Second – I always have at least 4 stand/blind sites – one for a north, south, west, and east wind. Just as importantly I plan an entrance and exit route for each of those wind directions. It’s easy to alert every deer on 26 acres by simply walking to the stand with the wind at my back and letting every deer know to avoid the area while I’m there. Sometimes this means walking around the outside edge of the property or entering from the opposite side to ensure I don’t alert deer to my presence. By determining where deer are using food, cover, and water, and approaching, hunting and exiting stands/blinds without alerting deer should allow hunters to punch their tag no matter where they hunt! Finally – I often share with folks to not do the same thing and expect different results. Too often deer pattern hunters more than hunters pattern deer. Remember there are several factors that may impact deer besides the hunter – such as coyotes, bears, or hunters on neighboring properties that alert deer. I look forward to hearing about your results after you try some new strategies!

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Harrison,

To my knowledge, Cargill (huge feed company that researches and sells to the whitetail market under the brand Sportsmen Choice) has the largest whitetail nutrition research program. There is lots of good information on their website.

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Thanks for watching GrowingDeer.tv! I would make sure I have plenty of Trophy Rock (60+ trace minerals) out during January. I want it out year round. I tend to create new hidey hole food plots and stand sites at this time also. There are no ticks and the woods are open so visibility is better! We produce a new show each week and all the past shows (160+) are available online. So can easily see what we are doing each week. Thanks again and best of luck with your habitat work!

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Ron,

I record the date, start and stop time of each hunt (morning and afternoon).  I record the time in military style so morning and afternoon are never confused.  I also record where I hunt based on a grid system, I don’t use stand names as stand names change from time to time.  I also record the number of bucks, does, fawns, and unidentified deer observed.  I differentiate between antlered bucks and male fawns.  I also am very careful to never assume!  If I can’t positively identify the deer, I list it as an unidentified.  Typically about 30% of the deer I observe are listed as unidentified.

I don’t record moon phase, temperature, etc,. as all of those data are available from the Nation Weather Service.  I find the basic information, such as I described above, is more useful than detailed information that doesn’t allow me to see the big picture.  On some of my research projects where I’m attempting to address specific questions, my staff and I collect additional data.

In addition to observation data, I collect harvest data (age, body weights, etc.).  I’m a huge fan of using trail camera surveys to monitor a herd’s population demographics.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Joe,

My wife, daughters, and I really enjoy shed hunting!  Through the years, we’ve learned to spend most of our time looking in areas where deer feed and bed during January through March.  We also search the travel zones between the feeding and bedding areas.  Rodents (squirrels and mice), coyotes and other critters will consume sheds.  However, they usually don’t consume the entire shed, especially the larger ones.  These critters tend to chew on the points and less on the main beams.  The biggest factor to finding sheds is the number of sheds in the area.  Therefore, in areas where a higher percentage of bucks from the herd are harvested each year, there will obviously be fewer sheds to find.  If you and your family are actively passing bucks on your land to allow them to mature, you should have a good opportunity to find some sheds!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Viney,

Unfortunately there are gads of neighborhoods throughout the whitetails’ range that are overpopulated.  Residents go from liking to see an occasional deer to some of the residents hating deer.  It is sad when deer are left unmanaged and then become hated.  They are beautiful creatures and deserve respect and to be appropriately managed.  I’m not aware of any group that will move deer.  Deer are owned by the state (unless part of a captive herd) and can only be moved, harvested, etc., by special permit issued by the governing state agency.  Problems similar to yours have been faced for years and the only solution to date is to harvest the excess deer.  There are several major metropolitan areas that accomplish this by hosting archery only hunts.  These hunts are strongly regulated, and often the hunters must qualify by taking a safety and proficiency test.  If you and your neighbors wish to address the problem I’m very confident this is the only route.  You may wish to contact the regional Missouri Department of Conservation office and seek addition counsel since this would be a state/local jurisdiction sanctioned event.

Whatever you do, don’t allow the neighborhood to lose respect for a beautiful part of God’s creation.  The deer are not at fault.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Shane,

I usually start by identifying if food, water, or cover is the most limiting factor in the neighborhood.  I do this by combining information gathered from using Google Earth and driving around the neighborhood.  If one of these critical habitat elements is limited in availability, I begin by establishing that resource on the property I’m managing.  I also attempt to determine the amount of hunting pressure locally, and how that might impact deer activity in the neighborhood.  I also insure when I hunt the property, my approach to the stand doesn’t alert deer to my presence.  That often means approaching using a non-direct route such as walking the border 1/2 way around the property so I can approach with the wind in my face.  Don’t forget that the smaller the property, the more critical sanctuaries may be.  Deer need an area where they always feel secure.  By providing this on your land, deer are more likely to spend the days on your property.  Having deer present on your property during daylight hours is a huge advantage!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Dan,

Wow – sounds like some great hunting on your farm last season!!  Congratulations!

Clover is easily established using the frost seeding method (GDTV 68).  However, alfalfa rarely can be established as well using that technique.  Alfalfa germinates best when there is a firm seedbed and very good seed to soil contact.  This is rarely the case when frost seeding.

Chicory is a softer seed and often will crack or rot before germinating when planted when frosts are still occurring.  To establish a good stand of either alfalfa or chicory, you will need to either till or use a no-till drill once the soil temperatures warm up a bit.  Many counties rent no-till drills so be sure and check with the local county extension or NRCS office.

As I write this, there is snow covering portions of Pennsylvania.  I’ve established great stands of clover by spreading it directly into late season snows and letting the seed be placed by the melting snow.

Growing Deer (and crops) together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Tom,

I’ve planted all of those varieties of Eagle Seed forage soybeans at that latitude with great success!!  There is a great description of each variety/blend on their website.  I think you will be amazed at the production of Eagle Seed’s forage soybeans.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

John,

The 12 acres is only 1.7% of the property in food plots.  If the remainder of the property is closed canopy forest, then clover might be the best option.  Do the existing plots receive a lot of browse pressure?  If so, more palatable crops such as forage soybeans would most likely be over browsed unless they were protected by a food plot fence.

I have used a no-till drill to seed brassicas into an existing clover stand.  This technique works well if the clover is dormant from drought conditions.  The brassicas will struggle if the clover is lush and blocking the sun from reaching the soil.

No matter what you plant, it’s critical the crops are as productive as possible given the food plot to timber ratio.  I recommend you do a soil test annually and request the lab base their recommendations on a maximum yield.

Finally, I also recommend using a utilization cage in each plot so production versus utilization can be compared.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Colin,

Thank you for the kind words!  I think the key to being successful in any field is to have a passion for the line of work and seek the best information and training to prepare.  To be a wildlife biologist that focuses on deer management, I strongly suggest you find ways through internships, volunteering, etc., to gain experience and make relationships with practicing deer managers.  I consider gaining experience just as important as the coursework associated with obtaining a degree.  One without the other will leave some gaps in your preparation.  I’ve addressed different aspects of this before and those comments can be found by searching the Ask Grant and blog entries on this site.

I look forward to working with you someday soon!

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Neil,

I’ve addressed several questions about becoming a wildlife biologist.  You might check out my answer to Getting Involved and use the search feature to find more answers.  I strongly believe that most folks can be successful at any occupation that they are passionate about.  That doesn’t mean entering or advancing in that occupation will be easy or profitable.  You should know that passion about hunting is not the same as passion about being a wildlife biologist.  The two certainly complement each other.  However, many wildlife biologists (including myself) spend more time helping other hunters and landowners than we do hunting.  My strongest suggestion for you would be to spend a summer as an intern with a wildlife biologist that works in a specific area of your choosing.  Spending a summer, even on a volunteer basis, is much less expensive in terms of dollars and time, then finding out that being a wildlife biologist was a bad choice.  I believe that internships or similar programs are extremely beneficial to folks deciding which career path to take.  I volunteered a summer through the Student Conservation Organization when I was a junior in college.  I worked for the Bureau of Land Management at the Elko, Nevada District.  I was only paid $25 per week and provided a small trailer for living quarters.  It was a fabulous experience.  My best counsel for you is to do an internship and see what being a wildlife biologist is really like before making a decision for your degree program.

Designing studies that provide meaningful results takes a bit of time.  Please take time to consider the question (hypothesis) you wish to address and be honest about all the variables that may impact the results.  Probably the biggest flaw in most studies is not accounting for all the sources of variability.  Results without understanding the variables often lead to erroneous conclusions.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jake,

Thank you for watching GrowingDeer.tv!  Our 2^nd Annual Shed Hunt is scheduled for March 18th-20th.  You are correct in that we charge just enough to cover expenses (hotel room, meals, hat, great prizes, etc.).  I really enjoy sharing what we’ve learned at The Proving Grounds (and other places we work) with fellow hunters and deer managers and learning from them during these events.  There will be several guests from the hunting industry attending also and they love to talk deer with our guests.

I hope to meet you during March!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

David,

Sounds as if you have a nice place to hunt!  Having commercial agriculture on three sides should supply most of a deer’s nutritional needs.  This is especially true if there is both corn and soybeans available within the deer’s range.  Corn is very high in energy, but not protein.  This is why deer having access to both corn and soybeans provides a much better diet.  The toughest part of hunting 50 acres is making sure you don’t repeatedly spook deer from the area.  I strongly suggest you always approach the area with the wind in your favor and avoid over hunting the area.

Trophy Rock provides 60+ trace minerals.  Deer need a very small quantity of each of the minerals to express their full potential.  By placing a couple of Trophy Rocks in the area you hunt would insure that each of these trace minerals are available to the deer that use that area!  Take care of the landowner as it sounds as if you have permission to hunt a great location!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Ken,

A “mineral rock,” at least as I use the term, is a Trophy Rock.  Trophy Rock is simply a “rock” mined from a deposit of sea minerals in Utah.  There are only three such veins of salt sea minerals known in the world.  In other salt deposits, the minerals settled out and left just salt.  Each of the known salt sea mineral deposits have a slightly different composition.  I like the mineral composition in the vein that Trophy Rock mines in Utah.  It is 100% natural and a great blend of 60+ minerals that benefits deer.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jon,

Deer are very alert to smells and noises they associate with danger.  If they associate the noise of an ATV with danger, they will certainly avoid the area or at least be alerted by the presence of an ATV.  On the other hand, they may simply ignore the ATV if they don’t associate it with danger.  For example, deer at most golf courses don’t associate golf carts with danger.  They see them every day and are not harmed or threatened by them.  However, a pickup driving down a golf trail would probably cause the local deer herd to be on alert and limit their movement until they sensed the threat passed.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Matt,

Thanks for the kind words!  I host several annual events (field days, shed hunts, etc.) your group would enjoy!!  You are welcome to join us.  There is a fee for events that covers hotel room nights, meals, etc.  It is not a fee based on me making a profit.  I simply don’t wish to lose money on such events.  The registration information will be posted on GrowingDeer.tv.

I always invite all attendees to join me at First Baptist Church Branson for Bible Study and Worship.

Thanks again and may God bless your ministry!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Dan,

There are some clubs that have a great supplemental feeding program.  However it’s a lot of work to do correctly.  Feeders should be cleaned frequently (every week), moved every other week (so deer aren’t picking up the spilled grain from areas covered with feces, urine, etc.) and enough feeders should be maintained so that deer are not constantly fighting (being stressed) at feeders.  In addition, predators learn to key in on deer at feeders rapidly.  This plus the huge monetary cost of buying feed, feeders, and maintaining the feeders makes a good supplemental feeding program prohibitive for most folks.

It’s almost always much less expensive to grow high quality feed on site compared to someone else growing, harvesting, packaging, shipping, going through brokers, retailers, etc.

Cattle are vaccinated so they are not as likely to get sick when using feeders that are not cleaned.  In addition, predators don’t pattern cattle as readily as they do deer using a feeder.  Finally, cattle rarely fight as much as deer at feeders.  Cattle are herd animals by nature; white-tailed deer are not comfortable in large herds of non-family members.

A final consideration is that it is common for birds, squirrels, raccoons, etc., to consume a significant portion of the supplemental feed.  You can literally have squirrels and raccoons consume thousands of dollars of feed.  Unless it’s prohibited by your lease agreement, I suggest you strongly consider growing the food on site.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Andrew,

It sounds as if you and your father are doing a great job managing the deer on your lease!  You may have another great opportunity on the 17 acre tract!  If you have access to hunt the only stand of oaks around, then when they produce it should be a hot spot!  Remember that deer want to survive even more than they like acorns.  So, be cautious when approaching the area.  Try not to alert deer to your presence.  I suggest you have stands hung for multiple wind directions well before season begins.  I would also develop a food plot in an area where you can access it or a travel corridor to the plot without alarming deer.  There will be some years when acorn production is minimal, so having a good source of food will pay huge dividends during those years.  If the conditions aren’t in your favor, I suggest not hunting the 17 acre tract.  If you alert deer to your presence there many times, mature deer will likely only visit that area after dark.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Dennis,

I think we miscommunicated.  Food high in protein like soybeans is critical for antler growth.  However, so is food that is high in energy.  Corn is a great source of energy for deer!!  The combination of corn and soybeans grown in the same area creates a much better diet than simply a diet of only corn or only soybeans.  Deer will consume primarily the soybean foliage during the growing season, and then consume the carbohydrate rich corn grain during the winter.  These carbohydrates help deer maintain body heat, weight, etc, through the winter stress period!  In fact, most of the record book bucks come from agricultural areas that produce both corn and soybeans annually.  I commonly prescribe corn and forage soybeans for food plots even in non-agricultural areas.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Seth,

There are many sources of information that may be of value.  Some of the sources may not be directly related to white-tailed deer.  For example, there are several sources of information about prescribed fire, soil fertility, etc., that are not considered specific to deer management.  The Quality Deer Management Association produces a great magazine titled Quality Whitetails that includes lots of deer and habitat information.  You might check out my book, “Deer Management 101,” as a source of deer population management information.  We also host multiple field days annually at The Proving Grounds for hands on deer and habitat information.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jim,

Thanks for the kind words!  Certainly habitat can usually be improved and even designed to improve a hunter’s chances of seeing a mature buck.  However, it’s still up to the hunter to approach the stand stealthily, only hunt when the wind is favorable for that location, etc.

The old adage “if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is” seems to be very accurate.  I would suggest researching any product or consultant that claims to consistently produce “easy kills” of mature bucks before purchasing or hiring.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Lennie,

Great to hear from you!  I hope we get to visit again this February at the Deer Study Group.

I would have no fear of cows or calves becoming entangled and/or hurt in the 2-tier Gallagher electric fence I use to protect food plot crops.  I’ve grabbed the fence (on purpose and by accident) and besides wishing I hadn’t, I was not injured.  I think the fear of a cow or calf being injured is totally unwarranted.  I think there is a much greater chance of a cow being injured by being chased into a barbed wire fence by dogs, coyotes, etc.

I’ve been very pleased with the results of the Gallagher fences at mine and several clients’ properties from New York to Alabama.  However, I haven’t tried opening the gates, then closing them again.  I believe this will work as long as the remainder of the fence is maintained with a charge.  If you give this a try, please keep me posted about the results!

I’ve heard a mix of reports from friends having their worst to best hunting season in the Midwest.  I do feel strongly that as more bucks are allowed to mature, the herd’s behaviors change.  I think herds with several bucks 4+ years old show much more of a lockdown style rut than herds with the biggest majority of bucks being 3 years old.  Three year old bucks tend to be more active and aggressive.  Once a herd has several big, mature bucks, the younger deer don’t tend to be as rowdy.  That’s not to say that hunting 4 year old bucks is boring, but that it requires a different strategy to be successful on a sustained basis.

I suspect the post rut hunts may be some of the best hunting during the 2010-11 season.  Let’s visit during February and see if this prediction is accurate.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Andrew,

I haven’t set dates for the shed hunt or field days yet.  The date for our 2011 Shed Hunt will be posted on our web site during early January.  The hunt will most likely be during late March – just before spring green up in the Ozarks and youth turkey season!

I hope you will join us!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Chick,

Several researchers including Drs. Harry Jacobson, Mickey Hellickson, myself, etc., have researched both captive and free-ranging yearly bucks and without question spike bucks can and most often do produce average or better antlers as they mature!  In fact, some of Dr. Hellickson’s research in Texas shows that the difference in antler size, once allowed to mature, between bucks whose first set of antlers were spikes and those with 10 points is not substantially different when they are 4.5 years old.  The conclusion to his research was that shooting spikes only resulted in fewer bucks for hunters to harvest three years later.  Based on that and several other research projects I never recommend hunters harvest yearling bucks with spike antlers as a means to improve the herd’s average antler size.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Tim,

Sounds like you have created good habitat.  Mature bucks will typically use the best habitat within their range disproportionately more than areas with lower quality food, cover, and water.  You may have the best habitat in the neighborhood, but the mature bucks are still probably spending some time on the neighboring properties.  If that’s the case and your neighbors aren’t of the mindset to pass immature bucks, then few bucks are probably reaching maturity at your farm.

You didn’t mention the creation of sanctuaries on your property.  Sanctuaries are critical for producing mature bucks on relatively small acreages.  I’d also visit with the neighbors about the benefits of allowing bucks to mature.  They may or may not be receptive at first.  However, it’s certainly worth a shot and I’d continue with the educational efforts.  Each buck that is passed will make the hunting in the neighborhood that much better!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Keith,

Thank you for the kind words!!  I enjoy sharing information with deer hunters and managers and GrowingDeer.tv is a great tool to share timely information!  Lord willing, I plan to continue with the show, our annual shed hunt, and food plot and habitat field trips.

Thanks for watching and please join us for a field trip!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Craig,

Deer like to bed and/or rest in areas where the cover at 0-3’ above ground level is very thick.  Anything above 3’ only serves to provide shade when it’s hot.  Such cover can be created by hinge cutting.  However, trees, even when they are hinged-cut, grow up rapidly.  Without additional cuts every few years, the cover will rapidly grow taller and shade out the critical 0-3’ zone that’s important to deer.  That’s why deer prefer to bed in thick grasses or other types of cover that doesn’t grow up as fast as trees.

With that said, deer will readily use the best cover within their range.  If the area where you planned the hinge cutting is primarily forest or open pasture land, then deer will most likely use any cover created!  Deer tend to select the best food and cover in their range.  By creating the best food and cover available in the neighborhood on your property, deer will use it disproportionately more than the surrounding areas.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Hunter,

You are on the right track!  I took a volunteer position with the Bureau of Land Management while in undergrad school and it was a great step in my career path!!  I have several habitat improvement projects planned for this summer.  However, I don’t have any funds designated to pay an intern to assist with this work.  If there are intern or project scholarships available at your school, I’ll be happy to review the program.  I can promise you that you would gain a huge amount of experience in wildlife and habitat management working with my team.  I enjoy working with graduate students and interns.  I’m very thankful for the opportunity my first volunteer position provided.  It was through the Student Conservation Association which is still a good organization.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Craig,

The subject of Deer Management 101 is about the principles of deer herd management.  I explain in simple terms the advantages and disadvantages of managing for different adult sex ratios, age structures, differing numbers of deer per the amount of food available, etc.  It has gads of pictures, graphs and tables that are easy to understand and the information is easy to apply to specific hunting properties.  It’s about deer management and the implications of differing quality habitats, but does not address specific habitat management techniques such as food plots, prescribed fire, etc.

I hope you enjoy and benefit from Deer Management 101!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Garry,

Native warm season grasses and other types of cover in any size acreages will be used by deer and other game species.  However, the smaller the area of cover the easier it is for predators to detect the game within the cover.  In addition, deer are not herd animals like elk.  They, especially mature bucks, like their space.

So, if your property has a limited supply of cover, I’d convert the larger plots into cover if you have more than enough quality forage available during both the late summer and late winter stress periods.  I wouldn’t convert food plot acreage to cover if there is not enough food during those stress periods as you would simply be spending resources to solve one problem and create another.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Brandon,

In order to hold bucks throughout the year a property must contain good quality food, cover, and water.  It appears that your property has plenty of water.  Next, let’s consider food.  Turnips, wheat, and clover are good food sources during certain times of the year.  Deer readily consume turnips and wheat during the fall and early spring but once they “bolt,” or make a stem during the spring, their attractiveness and forage value quickly drops.  Clover is a great protein source during cool, moist seasons but tends to not provide much forage during the dry portions of summer and during the late winter.  I would try to increase my summer food sources by increasing acreage and planting Eagle Seed forage soybeans or even chicory depending on the plot size and number of deer.  The quality and quantity of crops produced are dependent on the soil’s fertility so it is critical to do an annual soil test and lime and fertilize as needed.

I also suggest you view the cover from a deer’s point of view.  Is there a significant amount of sunlight reaching the forest floor?  Is it difficult to see more than a few feet?  Sunlight means there should be ample growth that can provide both food and cover.  If the forest’s canopy has closed and limited sunlight is reaching the soil, it may be time to consider thinning a portion of the timber.

I’m glad to hear you are using Trophy Rocks.  I get gads of buck pictures throughout the summer at my mineral stations.  Remember, if you provide quality food, cover, and water throughout the year, it is likely bucks will remain on your property!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Lance,

It sounds like you have a good deer management program.  I’m glad to hear that you are collecting data before making management decisions.  Camera surveys are a great method of learning deer herd dynamics, however caution must be given to actual fawn recruitment totals from a pre-season survey.  During this time of year some fawns are not old enough to be at the doe’s side.  It is best to look at these numbers as trends from year-to-year.  Collecting hunter observation data is another way of collecting fawn recruitment data and if implemented correctly can provide more accurate results.

Determining how many does to harvest should be based on both a camera survey and the foraging pressure on food resources, with more emphasis on the available food during the two stress periods – late summer and late winter.  To easily and accurately monitor this I place at least one utilization cage (4X10 ft piece of woven wire with the ends tied together) in each food plot to see how much deer are eating compared to growth inside the cage.  If the forage in food plots in some areas of the property is heavily eaten it may be time to harvest more does or increase food plot acreage in that area.

In either case I highly recommend implementing a sustained predator control program.  Coyotes, in particular, can cause a huge amount of stress on adult deer and mortality on fawns.  A recent study in Alabama suggested that fawn recruitment rose 150+% after a heavy predator reduction program.  There is no doubt that coyotes can have a huge impact on deer population quality and quantity!

By maintaining ample high quality food on a year round basis, practicing quality deer management, and reducing predators, the herd’s health will most like improve substantially.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Mark,

As you have noticed deer readily adapt to man-made roads, especially after they grow up providing concealment for both bedding and movements.  This short, brushy habit is very important for cover but can quickly grow too tall to continue providing cover and is also very difficult to hunt.  If the brush on the roadways is wrist thick or smaller in diameter at the base, a prescribed fire may help to set it back.

You mentioned you have plenty of food plots.  Does this mean there is ample quality forage left over during the two stress periods of late summer and late winter?  If so, you have the ability to produce bucks that are expressing their full antler growth and body weight potential!  Also, if food is over abundant, then creating large clearcuts on ridge tops may be a good plan.  I like food on the ridge tops as the wind is usually more predictable on the ridge tops and therefore easier to hunt.  Deer will bed anywhere there is cover, so you can create bedding areas on the side slopes, etc., and leave the prime hunting areas for food.

With that said, gads of deer are harvested from clearcuts every year if a few suitable trees are left along the edges for stand placement.  Large cover areas can be great all day hunting locations.  Just remember to approach such areas from downwind to minimize disturbance during entry.  Here again, prescribed fire and herbicide application of unwanted cut stumps will keep the cut in an early successional stage.

The problem with using hardwood regeneration for cover (or food) is that they rapidly mature past the cover stage into a closed canopy that goes from quality cover to a desert for whitetails.  To maintain hardwoods as a source of cover, be prepared to do frequent thinning or aggressive prescribed fire to continue reducing the growth to a non-closed canopy stand.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Dane,

I think you are already on the right track.  Two things I would focus on are maximizing the productivity of the food plots to make sure you have enough food to last through the hunting season and minimizing disturbance.  I am a big fan of Roundup Ready crops because I have the ability to nearly eliminate weed competition both before planting and well after the crop has come up.  This helps to ensure that my lime/fertilizer is being utilized by the crops, eaten by deer, and transferred to the bodies and antlers of my deer herd.  Healthy plants are also more palatable to deer and thus hold their attention better.

Disturbance can be difficult to manage on small properties because they are often multiuse areas.  To maximize deer use I always try to limit my presence as much as possible.  Obviously planting/spraying, etc. is required but other than that I try to stay out of the areas designated as cover or sanctuaries.

Remember that deer require food, cover, and water daily.  If you have the best sources of food, cover, and water in your neighborhood and deer don’t associate these resources with danger, mature bucks will spend a majority of their time on your property versus the neighbors.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jeff,

I still have some friends that hunt in that area of South Carolina!  I used to live in Abbeville.  I use doe harvest to accomplish two deer management objectives.  These are to balance the adult sex ratio and to ensure each deer has ample quality forage to meet my deer management objectives.

Observation data and/or a camera survey can be used to accurately estimate the adult sex ratio.  I like an adult sex ratio of 1:1 for my management objectives.  I also like deer to express their full potential of producing antlers and fawns for each age class.  Therefore, I want more quality forage than then herd will consume.  This means quality forage left during the two typical stress periods of late summer and late winter.

If deer are consuming all of the quality forage, then a doe harvest is in order.  Once that is determined, I harvest enough does to either balance the adult sex ratio and/or allow enough food to be available to ensure each deer has all they wish to consume during the stress periods.  To meet that goal, I start harvesting does when the season opens.  I harvest the first doe that presents a safe shot.  I don’t select young or mature does for harvest because both have advantages to the herd.  Hence a harvest of what’s available will usually result in a mix of all age classes.

I hope this information helps and that you enjoy a safe and enjoyable deer management program!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jared,

The Proving Grounds is roughly 1,500 acres.  I am surrounded by many, many (34 to be exact) small properties, nearly all of which do not follow our management principles.  This can make it very difficult to grow mature deer.  However, I’m able to produce mature deer every year by striving to provide everything a mature buck requires throughout the year – ample food, cover, and water.  This, in addition to large sanctuaries and limited disturbance allows bucks to spend most of their time on The Proving Grounds and less time on neighboring land.  One way to monitor the success of this strategy is that I’ve identified 20 bucks to put on our hit list this year!  Providing ample quality food, cover, and water can make a huge difference in the size of a mature buck’s home range.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jeremy,

It sounds like you use great hunting techniques and have a good hunting location!  Many folks are discussing the lack of mature bucks observed cruising this year.  I wouldn’t give up on your spot!!  If there’s good habitat, limited hunting pressure, and an area large enough for mature bucks to survive neighbors that might not practice passing yearling bucks, there will be mature bucks.  Consider using some Reconyx trail cameras to capture images of mature bucks without spooking them.  Then you will have the confidence to hunt the area and know which areas the bucks are using.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Thomas,

What you harvest depends on your personal goals as a hunter and the deer management goals of the property where you hunt.  With that said, make sure your goals are realistic.  For example don’t hold out for buck that scores 150” if very few bucks with antlers that large have ever been harvested on the property you’re hunting.  Having realistic objectives will allow for more satisfaction from your hunting efforts.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Eric,

I’m a big fan of the “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” strategy.  With that said, I’ve experienced deer adapting to the use of standing corn as cover in areas where corn is not traditionally planted many times.  I think corn can be a great source of cover eight or more months out of the year.  Any cover or food source can be easily over hunted to the point that mature bucks will only use that area at night or will stop using that area totally.

I’m curious, did acorns become available about the same time deer reduced the usage of the corn plot (even acorns not on your property)?

Corn needs to be rotated with another crop.  So preparing enough food plot area to allow corn and soybeans to be planted in rotation is a great technique.  In addition, it’s always a good plan to have smaller hunting plots scattered throughout the property so they can be approached and hunted in any wind direction.  In addition, these plots will reduce the hunting pressure on the feeding plots (corn and soybeans).

By providing multiple food plots, feeding plots in a sanctuary, and ample cover, you should have some great opportunities to hunt throughout the season while producing quality bucks.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Eli,

Wow, I wish I could hunt almost every day!  I think I want your job!!  My first job as a wildlife biologist was as a volunteer.  I applied through the Student Conservation Association and received a volunteer position with the Bureau of Land Management in Elko, Nevada as a wildlife technician.  I spent my summer identifying plants in areas where mule deer wintered and fighting fire.  It was a fabulous start to my career (30 years ago).

The same is true today.  For example I met Brad Mormann, one of my employees for the past five years, while giving a guest lecture at a local college.  I offered the students in that mammalogy class the opportunity to help in a prescribed fire the following Saturday.  Three students out of 30 showed up to volunteer.  Two worked very hard and both of them are gainfully employed in the wildlife field today (Brad currently works for me and Josh is employed by Bass Pro Shops).

There are usually opportunities to get where you want to go, but the route may not be direct.  Brad volunteered simply to gain some experience.  He’s now a published deer biologist that works on projects in several states assisting land owners and hunters with their deer and habitat management programs.  Find an opportunity to start in the wildlife field, even if it’s a volunteer position, and work hard.  I’m always amazed at what can be accomplished with hard work and determination!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Kevin,

That’s a great question!  We have bucks that do that also.  One buck in particular at The Proving Grounds hits the road just after velvet shedding each fall.  Again this fall, for the 3^rd year in a row, one of our oldest bucks disappeared after feeding on my soybeans all summer long.  As in past years, he will probably become a resident again in the spring and summer.  This can be a challenging situation.

GPS collared bucks tell us that bucks often have a slight shift or even an entire shift between their summer and winter ranges.  We’re not sure why it happens but every buck has its own personality and movement patterns.

Another thing to consider is that this time of year bucks can get tied up with estrus does for a day or two cutting down on their movements.  This is especially true when a deer herd is largely skewed toward does.  With few bucks and many does to breed, a buck doesn’t have to move far to find another hot doe.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Garry,

It sounds like you have been working hard to develop a solid plan.  As you’ve said it’s far easier to make the correct management decisions the first time than to have to redo them.

From what I know, I recommend planting the outer seven or eight acres in a mix of tall warm season grasses like switchgrass and big bluestem.  This will provide deer cover plus allow them to bed near the edge of the property and come toward its interior to forage.  The interior acreage can then be planted in corn/soybean rotation.  Again, leave the forage standing if possible.  I frequently create habitat plans for clients that include establishing cover near their property boundaries and food on the interior.  When quality food, cover, and water are close in proximity deer tend to remain in the area.

When creating these habitat features, remember to design stand locations and an approach or two for each stand that allows the hunter to enter the stand without being detected by deer.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Kasey,

Providing mineral is a great way of ensuring the deer herd is acquiring all of the trace minerals required in body growth and antler development.  Mineral stations are also good for attracting deer.  Whenever possible I try to place them near another attraction such as a pond, food plot, etc.  This way I can maximize the number of deer utilizing them and capture some great images of each deer on my trail cameras.  Just remember that if you are placing them by a pond to place them below the pond so the high salt content doesn’t pollute the water.

Create the mineral stations as soon as possible so that deer can begin utilizing them.  Although they use them most during high moisture times of the year like spring, our trail camera images indicate deer are physically licking mineral throughout the year, even in the snow.

The mineral I use is Trophy Rock.  Trophy Rock is different from the average trace mineral block because it is a true rock mined from the earth out west.  With over 60 minerals present in each rock I am providing many of the minerals required in the herd’s daily growth.  I like to have at least one Trophy Rock per 160 acres.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Lawrence,

Thanks for the kind words!  You are correct!  Young bucks, if allowed to mature, turn into big bucks!  The old adage “once a spike, always a spike” is absolutely not true.  If those yearling bucks are allowed to mature and have access to good quality forage, they will produce much larger antlers as they mature.  Some of them will have larger antlers than others, just like some humans are taller than others.  All critters have slightly different genetic potential.  However, environmental factors impact how much of that potential can be expressed.  If a buck is harvested as a yearling, it certainly will not express much of its antler growth potential.

Growing (and passing) Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Chris,

Thanks for the kind words!

Studies I quote are from many, many locations.  Predation and behavior studies will apply to a much broader portion of the whitetail’s range.  Even in Christian County, the habitat changes from typical Ozark forest to areas with some ag or lush landscape plants (urban areas).  However, deer tend to behave the same throughout the county.  Average antler size, body weight, or fawn production for each age class can vary significantly by habitat type.

I grew up hunting Mark Twain National Forest in Barry and Taney County, Missouri (we may have hunted some of the same areas).  Studies throughout the whitetails’ range consistently show that the closer quality food, cover, and shelter are located, the smaller the average size of a deer’s home range will be.  So, even if there’s plenty of water, if quality food and/or cover are limited the average home range size of deer in that area will be larger compared to areas where these necessary habitat components are plentiful in close proximity.  Remember that the average deer range may not apply to any individual deer, just like the average height of a human may not apply to many actual humans.

Deer herds that live in areas where acorns are the primary food source during the winter often present tough hunting challenges.  When there are lots of acorns, deer don’t need to move far so it’s tough for hunters to approach the feeding/bedding area without alerting deer.  When the acorns are scarce, it’s tough to pattern deer as they cover large areas searching for food.

Hunters that harvest mature bucks consistently from acorn driven herds are some of the best hunters I know.  They absolutely shine when they hunt in areas with fragmented habitat and easily identifiable feeding and bedding areas.

One last thought…  It’s relatively easy to use a fence to exclude livestock but allow deer to forage.  This is a great tool for establishing food plots in areas where livestock are grazing.  If there is limited quality food in an area, it’s very easy to pattern deer unless they are alerted to the presence of hunters.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Nick,

Thanks for the positive comments.  I really had a great time on the Kansas hunt (GDTV 48).  I estimated the age of the buck that I harvested to be 4.5 years old.  I didn’t have a cementum annuli analysis performed.

Aging on the hoof is a tremendous management tool for selecting bucks for harvest.  Body characteristics can fluctuate based on location and the time of the year a buck is being aged.  The rut can take a heavy toll on a buck’s mass and overall physical appearance with some bucks losing over 20% of their pre-rut body mass.  Aging can also be slightly different when looking at a buck from the ground or from a treestand.  Depending on how steep the angle is from a treestand it is often times hard to see how long a buck’s legs are compared to the rest of his body, if the neck is fully developed, and if there is any loose skin under the jaw, etc.

One of the best methods to hone your skills is to continually take notes on a harvested buck’s physical characteristics on the hoof and compare them to that of cementum annuli age results.  From this information you can learn your site-specific buck age characteristics.  With that said, it is usually always more rewarding to low ball a buck’s age than to over age it.  Like a harvested buck’s antlers that grow as you approach them, finding out later that you harvested an older buck just adds icing to the cake.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Curt,

The biologist you work with may need conception date data based on fetuses for a specific reason.  I certainly believe that the more data collected the better!  However, I’ve found that many clubs don’t do a stellar job of collecting harvest data.  Not measuring a fetus correctly may cause a significant difference in estimating the conception date.  Such errors are common when multiple club members collect data.  If your club is collecting the data, it would be appropriate to ask the biologist how the data is being used.

Lactation data is not a substitute for fetal data.  Lactation data simply indicates that a doe has at least one nursing fawn.  It doesn’t give any indication how many fawns were nursing.  It doesn’t indicate if the fawn (or fawns) is still alive.  The percentage of yearling does that are lactating during the appropriate time of year is a good measure of the herd’s health.  If a significant number of yearling does produced fawns, the herd is not experiencing nutritional stress.  I’ve worked with herds in northern New York that were very unhealthy.  They still produced gads of twin fetuses, but usually produced less than 25 fawns per 100 adult does.  Fetal data from that herd would have been very misleading.  Lactation data and observation data matched closely and indicated that the does simply were under too much nutritional stress to carry fawns to full term or keep them alive until fall.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Brent,

Like humans, deer exhibit much individuality, especially in their home range size.  In general the home range size of both bucks and does are smaller in areas of better habitat.  Good quality habitat is composed of quality food, cover, and water in close proximity.  The closer the proximity of these three habitat components, the less deer are required to move to meet their daily requirements.

Some, but not all bucks and does take sojourns from their home range, especially  during the rut.  Researchers can track the movements of individual deer using GPS collars.  However, we usually don’t have all the deer in the herd collared, so we don’t know if the buck or doe is traveling with another deer during these sojourns.

There are lots of “average home range sizes” published for deer.  However, that’s like saying the average adult male is 5’8” tall.  That’s the average but the vast majority of adult males are either taller or shorter than 5’8”.  The same is true for the average deer home range size.  The “average” is a nice number, but probably is applicable to only a small percentage of deer.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Kevin,

I don’t believe there is a definitive or singular answer to your question.  It really depends on your deer management and harvest goals and your patience level.  The better the habitat on your property compared to the neighboring properties, the more time the deer in your neighborhood will spend on your property.  It’s critical that you have better quality cover than what’s available on the neighboring properties.  Deer will spend most of the daylight hours, when they are the most vulnerable to being harvested by hunters, in cover.  It would be best to make this source of cover a sanctuary so mature bucks are very conditioned to using that area as their bedding/escape area.  Hunting the edges of the sanctuary is okay as long as the sanctuary is large enough that your scent doesn’t alarm deer throughout the sanctuary.  Remember that your scent is probably almost as disturbing as your physical presence to deer.

It would also be best if you had as good (and hopefully better) quality food for deer during the hunting season on your property than the neighboring properties.  I’m always amazed at how small the range of mature bucks can be in areas with high quality habitat.

It never hurts to work with your neighbors.  Take time to learn their deer harvest objectives.  If they are drastically different than yours, gently work to educate them by sharing sources of good information.  They may or may not change, but there is a good chance you will develop a better relationship that over time will benefit both parties.

Finally, my first rule of deer management is that dead deer don’t grow.  There’s always a chance (sometimes it’s slim) that bucks you pass will survive and grow a year older.  If your deer harvest objective is to harvest bucks at least 4 years old or older, then be prepared to pass lots of three year olds.  I’m okay with hunters harvesting any age class of bucks.  However, if hunters want to harvest mature bucks, they must pass younger bucks.  I think it helps if those of us that wish to harvest mature bucks encourage each other.  I hope you’ll take my advice and be patient.  Harvesting a mature buck is a great accomplishment that’s worth the effort!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jim,

It’s better for the herd to remove the does early.  This strategy leaves more food for the remainder of the herd to consume during the winter months.  If the does are removed before the rut, the bucks won’t expend resources chasing and breeding does that will be removed from the herd.  However, it may cause some disturbance to harvest does before the rut.

The biggest problem with waiting late in the season to harvest does is that managers that use this strategy often don’t meet their harvest objective.  If you use the “after the rut” strategy for doe management, make sure you reach your doe harvest objective.  I prefer to begin harvesting does as soon as legal and continue until the objective is met.  Harvested does are usually a great attractant to bucks.  I’ve harvested many mature bucks that were sniffing a doe I’d shot previously from that stand during the same hunt.  I consider having a doe laying in front of me a good attraction for mature bucks.  I certainly don’t attempt to move the doe until that hunt is over.  By moving the doe it causes much more disturbance than simply allowing the doe to lay there.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Curt,

Harvest data is like providing symptoms to a medical doctor.  The more ACCURATE data available to interpret, the more accurate the treatment that can be prescribed.  This is certainly true with deer harvest data.  If no data from the mature bucks are collected, or fetal data is not collected throughout the entire harvest season, it’s easy to develop an inaccurate image of the deer herd and make erroneous management prescriptions.

I realize the more data that is required to be collected, the less compliance will occur.  Therefore, I’ve changed over the years to requesting only the most basic information from each deer including, gender, lower jaw, whole or gutted body weight (either will work, but it needs to be consistent), lactation (yes or no until mid December), and BC gross score.

Data from fetuses are very interesting, but not necessary for managing a herd.  These data may well be necessary for addressing specific research questions.

Other data that is easy to collect is just as important.  For example, the ratio of food availability to the number of deer is easily monitored using utilization cages.  Deer herd demographics can be monitored by a trail camera survey and this only requires access and a few workers rather than every member contributing effort.

Data is critical to a good deer management program, but there is a fine line between requesting too much data and encouraging complete cooperation.  Each deer manager/co-op must decide how much data (how precise the management prescription) they feel is necessary to meet their objectives.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Chris,

It sounds as if you have a very intensive deer management program!  Most supplemental feeds are based on corn and soybeans with some molasses, etc., added to attract deer.  It’s usually much less expensive to grow corn and soybeans compared to paying for someone else to grow, harvest, process, bag, ship, and retail the grains.  In addition, it’s healthier for the deer to feed throughout a field versus several deer feeding out of the same feeder.  Encouraging deer to feed in close proximity day after day results in social stress among the herd in addition to increasing the odds of one sick deer passing an illness to other deer.

Supplemental feeding can be performed with minimal risk to a deer herd.  However, it requires the feeders being moved frequently and disinfected.  I’d much rather grow the feed on site and allow the deer to consume it in the field than pour it out of a bag.

Another consideration is that non-target critters like raccoons can consume huge amounts of supplemental feed.  This is an added expense in multiple ways.  Not only does this increase the amount of feed that is purchased it also allows predators to easily pattern both deer and turkey.

I don’t supplemental feed at The Proving Grounds for the above reasons and am well satisfied with the results.  I’d much rather create a few more acres of feeding plots than pay for a supplemental feeding program.  A final consideration is that most folks would rather observe deer in a feeding plot than at a feeder.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Chris,

I believe the most accurate and practical method to accurately estimate how many deer are using a property, the herd’s adult sex ratio, age structure of bucks, buck:doe ratio, etc. is by performing a camera survey.  In fact, I’m currently in the middle of a camera survey at The Proving Grounds.  I perform a camera survey every year at my place.  It is a fabulous tool for deer and habitat managers.  I’ve written a detailed list of instructions on how to perform a camera survey.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Bret,

I’m glad to hear you are considering a camera survey.  Camera surveys provide much information on learning, watching, and managing your deer herd.  I usually start pre-baiting for a camera survey in late July and plan to start the actual survey in early August.  Typically, it takes 7-10 days of pre-baiting with one camera per 100 acres to get at least 90% of the herd to visit the camera sites.  The survey itself requires about 14 days.  During this time I get enough buck pictures to uniquely identify each individual.

August is one of the best times to conduct a survey because food resources are in limited supply, many fawns are at heal, and bucks are still in their summer movements between food and cover.  Waiting until after the bucks have lost their velvet can negatively affect the survey.  Velvet shedding is a sign that the hormones in a buck are changing rapidly.  This causes them to start behaving more aggressively toward other bucks, especially at a bait site, and alter from their summer movements.  Every year I have bucks that bed and forage on my property all spring and summer and disappear shortly after losing their velvet.  This can be troublesome when looking at inaccurate population data to develop a doe harvest or warm-season food plot strategy.

It is true that fawn counts can be a bit low in August because not all of the fawns are old enough to continuously follow their mothers around.  However, some of the most important information gathered from a survey lies in the trends over time.  Create and add these data to a simple graph year after year to see how the number of bucks, does, and/or fawns changes.  These data contain the answers to proper herd management.  To learn more about how I implement a camera survey, check out my camera survey techniques guide.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Brian,

Sounds like you have a very successful deer and habitat management program!  Like you, I’ve created sanctuaries at The Proving Grounds and commonly design them on land we manage for clients.  Deer readily adapt to using these areas, especially if there aren’t other sanctuaries within their home range.  Sometimes it’s tough to convince hunters not to disturb a portion of their hunting turf.  However, as you have experienced, not disturbing a portion of the land you have to hunt makes patterning deer on the remaining portion of the property much easier!  Thanks for sharing your observations!!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jonathan,

Unfortunately, there are gads of plants that share the common name of Buckthorn. I think I know what you are talking about, but never wish to prescribe a control program without knowing for sure.

Check out the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website and determine if we are talking about the same species. If so, there is a thorough explanation of control techniques on that site. If we are describing the same species, early control is much easier and less expensive than waiting until it spreads.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Thanks for watching GrowingDeer.tv! I explained the qualities of various types of cover (hardwood samplings, mature cedars, native grass, etc.) in the March 8^th episode (GDTV 15). These descriptions included information on how these cover types were established and what I do to maintain them. The April 12^th episode is about using fire to maintain cover by controlling the stage of succession (GDTV 20). In addition, cover has been discussed briefly in other episodes. I hope you find this information useful.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Gary,

It sounds as if you have a great management program to meet your mission of producing mature bucks. To estimate the potential maximum BC score that can be expected from a property, I frequently attempt to find the score of the top ten bucks harvested in the neighborhood or similar habitat. I then consider the management potential of the property in question (amount of quality food, cover, and water), and the current practices on the neighboring properties. I also consider the size of the properties where the largest bucks in the neighborhood were harvested (why did those bucks survive to maturity?). It sounds as if you’ve completed a similar analysis.

Based on the information you have provided me, it seems realistic for a 200” class buck to be produced and harvested on/near your property. With that said, remember that producing and harvesting a free-ranging 200” class buck is a VERY rare event. If that is truly your goal, it is critical to make sure each deer has all the quality food, cover, and water they want. A good indicator that these conditions exist is if there is plenty of quality forage available during late summer and late winter. In addition, it’s best to pass all bucks until they are four years old or older so their antler growth potential can be estimated. Then, the best four year olds should be passed a few more years as many bucks don’t express their full antler growth potential until they are six years old or older. Yes, passing a 170” class buck is tough, but often necessary to produce 200” class bucks. Attempting to produce a 200” deer requires intense management and discipline. Each person must evaluate the costs and benefits, like we should in all activities in life.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

My firm used to offer services to create such maps. Now, much of the same can be created by using Google Earth or other free/relatively inexpensive services. I really enjoyed being involved in custom mapping, but the cost was prohibitive once the on-line services became readily available and much improved. It’s true that one of the only constants is change.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Shane,

Thanks for honoring our Vets!! That’s a great mission!

A summary of Cory’s work was published in the Quality Deer Management Association’s Quality Whitetails magazine in the 3rd issue, June 2009 (pages 20-24). It will also soon be published in a technical journal.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Cliff,

Doe harvest should be conducted for two reasons. This includes reducing the herd’s density to match the habitat’s capacity to produce quality forage (fewer mouths competing for the available forage). The second primary reason is to balance the adult sex ratio. There are other reasons such as crop damage, etc., to reduce a herd’s density. Those are political reasons — I’m only addressing biological reasons.

Since I have no idea of how many deer are in your area, I can only recommend you set your doe harvest goals based on the quality of the habitat you desire to maintain. If you desire the local herd to express its full potential, then the herd density must be low enough to allow the habitat to produce enough quality browse so that each deer has all the nutritious forage they wish to consume.

Bottom line, I establish doe harvest objectives by the goals of the landowner, and the habitat quality/herd density relationship. This relationship is way more important than simply considering the number of deer per square mile (or any other density measure that is not based on available forage).

Does become conditioned to being hunted, and can become extremely wary and nocturnal. Deer observations are an important part of hunter satisfaction, and should be considered when designing any deer harvest quota. However, deer observations by themselves are rarely a good indicator of herd or habitat health. The health of the habitat is the true indicator of a herd’s potential.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

George,

You’re correct! Where the snow depths commonly get 2 feet or more deep, deer prefer dense stands of mature conifers. “Yarding” occurs in these areas where deep snows make foraging very difficult and deer find it more energy efficient to simply migrate to stands of dense conifers and survive off stored fat. This type of habitat prevents some of the snow from reaching the ground. Obviously, if the timber stand is dense enough to prevent snow from reaching the ground, very limited forage can grow under the canopy, so yarding areas provide almost no forage unless the conifers are white cedar (mature white cedar swamps are almost a thing of the past). Unfortunately, many of the traditional yarding areas have been converted to some other type of habitat in the northeast. For wind protection and allowing solar radiant heat during the day, native grass stands are better. For providing relief from deep snows, mature conifers are the preferred habitat type in the northeast and lake states.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Dennis,

I don’t think there is a one size fits all answer to your question. I know of several examples where small tracts of land provide fabulous hunting/management opportunities because they adjoin properties with great characteristics. An example includes a buddy of mine that owns 140 acres in the middle of a 4,000 acre state park that doesn’t allow any buck hunting, conducts a highly controlled hunt to remove does, and there is production ag (soybeans and corn) in the neighborhood. So, his “neighbor” harvests a bunch of does, protects bucks, and the area is constantly patrolled by law enforcement officers — all for the price of only 140 acres. That 140 has produced multiple 180+ bucks. It is an extremely rare 140 acres. Before you ask, the last time I checked it wasn’t for sale…

The size of deer home ranges vary greatly based on the quality of habitat. Generally, deer living in good quality habitat have a smaller home range size than deer living in poor habitat. So, 1,000 acres in great habitat may allow a significant portion of bucks to reach maturity without being harvested by neighbors that don’t have the same deer management objectives. On the other hand, a tract of the same size in low quality habitat probably won’t yield the same return from your management efforts. When buying land, consider the neighborhood as carefully as the tract for sale.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Wesley,

Thanks for the kind comments about Deer Management 101: Manage Your Way to Better Hunting! Sounds like your land is producing some great bucks! It’s often easier to produce mature bucks than it is to harvest them. By the time a buck reaches 4+ years of age, he’s obviously gained much skill at avoiding predators (2 and 4 legged). On the other end of the spectrum, yearling bucks seem to look for trouble. They move frequently in open areas and during daylight hours. This is why I often don’t select stand sites where I’ll see the most deer. If the bulk of the herd is traveling there, mature bucks are probably traveling at a different place or time. This fall, you might try selecting different stand sites doing your best to minimize disturbance. Consider placing more emphasis on figuring out when and where mature bucks are moving, and less time hunting. Trail cameras can be a great tool for patterning mature bucks with minimal disturbance. By changing your tactics, you may not see as many deer, but you’ll probably have a better chance of seeing a mature buck.

Keep me posted as you develop a different hunting strategy. It sounds like it’s time you apply Woods rule #2 about deer hunting and management — don’t do the same thing and expect different results!

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

Jim,

Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers.

I once heard a gentleman talk about creating precisely located bedding sites a few years ago. I admit I’ve never tried to establish such sites. I don’t have, and I don’t think any of my fellow researchers have, any data from placing GPS and radio telemetry collars on deer that indicate deer prefer to bed in the exact same place for several days in a row. That’s not to say it’s impossible, but based on my observations this would be most unlikely.

One problem with deer bedding in the same specific location would be the high level of vulnerability to predation. Any prey critter would experience this by bedding in the exact same place frequently. Smaller critters do use the same specific location, but they use some type of protection such as a den. Turkeys nest in the same place for 26-28 days but experience 60-80% predation as reported by multiple studies. Turkey populations can remain stable at that level of predation because individual hens can recruit many poults (one surviving nest compensates for several nests that predators destroy). However, deer average a much lower recruitment rate. 60-80% predation on deer would rapidly reduce the herd’s density. I always try to create bedding areas that are several acres in size. I’d rather put the odds in my favor, not a four-legged predator’s favor.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top

I agree that older does typically are more likely to detect the presence of a predator (two or four legged). This is one reason mature does usually have a higher success rate at raising fawns compared to younger does. However, my primary objective for harvesting does is to balance the herd’s density with the habitat’s capacity to produce quality forage throughout the year. Hence, my doe harvest criteria is based on meeting a quota to improve or maintain the local herd and habitat’s quality. This is much more important to the herd’s overall health than attempting to select a specific age class of does to harvest and not reaching the harvest quota.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

🔗 Link | ↑ Top