From coast to coast across the United States, wildlife game species get the most interest of any wildlife. This interest stems from income and recreation to private landowners through hunting, and state and federal agencies are available to help landowners interested in wildlife and habitat management. One of the best-known game species around is white-tailed deer. Deer management and deer habitat improvement are the number one drivers of land owner interest in manipulating plant communities.

Fire is an important management tool that has been almost eliminated from many habitats, but is beginning to make a comeback. Prescribed fire is generally accepted as the most economical habitat management tool available, and it’s a very effective tool for whitetail deer habitat improvement. However, we all are aware of the risks and liabilities of improper use of this tool. Prescribed fire is a great tool for managing deer habitat, but also providing high quality plants for other game and non-game species.

There are many theories when it comes to producing good white-tailed deer year after year, but the common theme among all deer management techniques is to provide good habitat. Habitat plays a critical role in a deer’s life because this is where they find their food. Good nutrition is required for individual deer to be healthy, and a bunch of healthy bucks and does make for a healthy herd. Habitat is the cornerstone of deer management.

Like many states, habitat is in poor condition across much of Texas this year. One of the hardest hit regions is the Texas Hill Country, located in the center of the state. This region has boasted the highest deer densities and hunter numbers for at least the past three decades, and although hunters should not expect a big change this fall, whitetail bucks, does and fawns are having a tough go of it this year.

Interest in white-tailed deer management decades ago spurred all sorts of research on improving deer herds. Since that time, many habitat management practices have been implemented on properties across the whitetail’s range, but none are more popular than providing supplemental foods. Supplemental forages are often presented as food plots or as protein pellets for deer. And no matter how you slice it, there is nothing easier than providing good, stable nutrition to ensure that the whitetail deer on your property meet their genetic potential.

If asked, most managers and hunters would tell you that the foods with the highest percentage protein are best for deer. Although it is true that deer prefer high protein foods, there are no foods occurring in nature that are 100 percent protein. In fact, a whitetail deer would die if all it had to eat was a pure-protein diet. It just would not provide proper nutrition for the animal.

Hunters and landowners alike often look for quick-fixes when it comes to white-tailed deer management. However, nothing is better than good old fashioned habitat management for maintaining and enhancing vegetation that is favorable for deer. Of all the possible management activities, one of the most beneficial and most overlooked management practice is prescribed burning.

Often referred to as controlled burning, prescribed burning is almost a one-stop shop for maintaining habitat in areas that already have above average deer vegetation. Burning carried out under a managed situation can eliminate excessive brush, stimulate the growth of beneficial plants, return nutrients tied up in dead material back into the soil, and increase the palatability and protein content of native plants. Below are some tips to think about when you plan on using prescribed burning for wildlife and habitat management.

Landowners and hunters wanting to produce bigger and better white-tailed deer through deer management practices are often looking for an economical way to provide supplemental foods. Food plots are a common way to provide additional forage, but often times the most cost is associated with high protein foods. Protein pellets are the most common supplement delivered through feeders, but other options exists, such as roasted soybeans and whole cottonseed. But is feeding cottonseed to deer a good idea, and does it work?

The intensity of deer management across much of the whitetail’s range is high and many managers provide supplements to meet management and deer nutrition goals. Many managers have considered cottonseed as a supplement to pelleted feeds because cottonseed delivers a high amount of protein (23% protein) and it does not easily degrade, even in under moist conditions. In addition, in many areas cottonseed is readily available and much less expensive (half the cost) than formulated pellets. Lastly, cottonseed is not readily eaten by animals other than deer because it contains the chemical gossypol, which protects cotton plants from herbivores.

It goes without saying that white-tailed deer hunters love to see deer when they head out into the woods. But when it comes to deer management and the ability to grow bigger bucks, numbers can work against you and the habitat that your property provides. Deer foods, after all, are in limited supply. There may be times when the food supply far exceeds the demand of hungry deer, but then there are the stress periods where demand exceeds the available food supply.

Few hunters really think about deer being hungry, other than the ones that show up at the feeders or food plots. Research has shown that a gap of just two to three months during the winter period, when deer are having to consume suboptimal food, can have as much as a 20% impact on the size of the antlers those bucks will grow the following year. In short, adequate deer nutrition is a must throughout the year if you want to manage for improved body condition and buck antler quality.

The most wide-scale deer management problem facing whitetail herds in the many parts of the country is competition for available forage by white-tailed deer, other wildlife species, and livestock. Excessive numbers of any of these animals will have detrimental effects upon the others, and the resulting deer habitat. The first step in developing a deer management plan is to identify the “right” number of deer for the habitat found on your property.

The importance of maintaining deer at carrying capacity — the population level that prevents damage to the habitat — by the direct harvest of surplus deer can not be stressed enough. However, livestock and competing wildlife, such as exotic ungulates, also must be maintained within the bounds of the carrying capacity of the habitat. The key to good whitetail deer management is allowing deer to be as healthy as possible, which means that deer on your property are getting all the food they need. You can increase the amount of food per animal by either decreasing the deer herd or improving and enhancing the food supply through habitat management.

There are a lot of factors that come into play when one starts talking about whitetail deer management. Though many things can be done to manage a deer herd, there are 3 things that you should know before you start. Every landowner or hunter owner needs to determine the carrying capacity of the property, how many deer actually live on the property, and the buck to doe ratio.

The carrying capacity of a piece of land will vary from property to property. In fact, some properties can be the same size but have completely different deer carrying capacities. The number of deer that a property can support depends on the habitat (plant communities), annual rainfall, livestock stocking rates, and a few other factors. I would suggest contacting a local state biologist in your area. They can meet you on your property and give you an idea of the ideal deer herd size.

The next step will be to estimate the number of deer on the property. This is not an exact science because deer are wild animals that are difficult to count, but you can conduct deer surveys to get a very good estimate of the number of animals using the place. There are different kinds of deer surveys that can be conducted depending on the habitat found on the property, but common methods include helicopter counts, spotlight surveys, and blind counts. Each is better suited to certain situations.

Hunters head to the woods each fall in search of big whitetail bucks. Although luck is one way to bag a big buck, most are the result of active deer management. This takes luck out of the equation and allows you to work with your property and your deer herd to maximize what Mother Nature has given you. The cornerstone of growing and producing big whitetail deer is habitat management.

There are many activities a landowner can implement that would fall under habitat management practices that benefit deer. In general, many of these practices simply involve manipulating the habitat to produce better, more palatable foods for deer. The television shows will tell you to plant food plots, but the most drought-tolerant, longest-lasting food plot consists of native plants.