Category: Whitetail

Question: “We hunt in Northeast Texas and only have about 130 acres. We want to attract more bucks, especially during the hunting season. The property is covered with trees, but few deer seem to live there. We believe most of the deer pass through going back and forth between bedding and feeding areas. What can we do to bring the bucks in. We have our best hunting during the rut, but many bucks are shot even before that. What can we do to get first shot?”

Texas Hunting: Food is always a way to bring in deer and it will attract more bucks to your land. Feeding protein will definitely bring in the bucks, but planting food plots or performing habitat management practices can also get the job done. Fall food plots can be effective, even in wooded areas, if enough sunlight reaches the ground.

If your property lacks cover, then you can also create more of it to attract deer. Dense bedding cover will attract does, which in turn brings in the bucks. A small clear-cut will produce a quick surge of new growth— also known as food—followed by dense cover—also known as brush.

Another more novel approach would be to consider planting some mast producing trees if you do not currently have many. This will attract bucks and and does during the fall. You can also create more deer foods using hinge cuts, where you cut a small live tree half way through the trunk, allowing the tree to falls over on its side and grows upward from the horizontal trunk. Deer will be attracted to the instant browse and this will improve the deer hunting on your tract of land.

Hunt in Texas? Stay connected:

Leave this field empty if you're human:

Question: “We a protein feeder for deer in Brown County and we are feeding protein pellets with 20 percent protein. We are having trouble with the feeder clogging up due to moisture. The number of deer on our ranch is not hug, but it is respectable with some good quality bucks. We have been feeding protein for the last year now hoping to improve deer health and the whitetail deer hunting on the place. The deer have been using it some, but not eating all of the pellets.

There is mold forming on the north side of the protein feeder barrel. We were recently told that the metal barrels will cause the protein pellets to mold if they are not properly vented. We added some ventilation, but the mold build up has continued, and it is causing the feeder to clog up inside of the barrel. We used a similar feeder on a deer lease a couple years back and we did not have these problems. Do you think the feed dealer is selling us bad protein? Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.”

Response: It’s not hard to figure out the problem — moisture. The problem you are facing is likely a combination of many factors. Pelletized feeds, protein pellets for deer included, are all made with some small percent of moisture in them. The problem arises in tightly sealed protein feeders, especially when they heat and cool. The humidity in many parts of Texas only adds to the feeder clogging and moisture build up issues.

When it comes to metal feeders for deer, heat is bad too. Once a deer feeder clogs or begins feeding very slowly, it will start to make it’s own moisture that collects as water droplets on the inside of the lid of your feeder. The rate at which feed moves throughout the feeder will impact moisture and mold development. Low deer numbers or an abundance of natural vegetation means feed will move slow or not at all due to lack of consumption. I suspect the great spring rains in your area, like much of Texas this year, produced a good amount of native food. Deer were not using the protein pellets.

No feed movement means lots of moisture, mold development and problems for you. Once the feeder clogs it is going to keep making moisture everyday. One recommendation: If you use high capacity protein feeders for whitetail deer only put in the amount of feed that they can consume in a month. Feed is expensive, and cleaning out your feeders takes time, so better to put in a little less than a little more when you fill them. The whitetail will be fine if they run out for a few days.

In short, the top layer of protein in the feeder needs to move some everyday. Keep in mind that whitetail deer typically consume much less protein in the spring and during the fall because of many times there will be abundant natural foods. Protein cannot compete with high quality forbs. As the spring green declines deer will turn to protein feeders much more. This is the best time to supplement doe deer for fawn production and the bucks for antler growth that you will benefit from during the deer hunting season. Lastly, place your feeder in a shaded area if at all possible. This will prevent the super-heating of your setup in the Texas sun, reducing the amount of moisture that is given off by the pellets inside the barrel.

Question: “I have a small 80 acre property that is surrounded by a large ranch of about 7,000 acres. We primarily use the property as a deer hunting ranch. I am right in the middle of the big ranch and everything is low fenced. Our deer management program over the last several years has been to manage for age. Most all of the whitetail bucks we have harvested over the last 10 to 15 years have been 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 years old, with some even older. The ranch surrounding me really does not do that much deer hunting. They mostly conduct a quail hunting operation. My question is, will feeding protein help my deer herd or is it not going to matter much since they have such a large range?”

Response: Yes, feeding protein will help the whitetail deer found in your area even though their movement will have them moving off and onto your property quite regularly. Protein helps both bucks and does. It will help bucks put on additional antler growth, and it will help does with fawns big time during the late Texas summer with the high demands of milk production. Just make sure the buck to doe ratio is tight, 1:1 or even slightly in favor of bucks. Protein feeding can get expensive, so you want to make sure it is meeting your objective.

If you want bucks with bigger antlers, then I would suggest feeding. If you want more fawns, then I would suggest feeding. Protein will allow does to raise more fawns because of the stable food supply, which means in turn you will need to shoot more deer. This is why I recommended that the buck to doe ratio be tight, because it would not be wise to feed a bunch of does just to make them more prolific so that you have to shoot a bunch more does.

In addition, make sure to remove the inferior bucks relatively early in the deer hunting season based on their antler quality for their age. There will will be no need feeding these animals for several more years when the better bucks of the same age can be eating the high dollar protein. The deer hunting in your area can be improved through the supplemental feeding of protein pellets or even whole cottonseed, but make sure you know what your objectives are before you start a feeding program.

Make sure to record everything you see while deer hunting in the fall. This will give you a good idea of what’s happening on your property, as well as what you will need to harvest. Do not use game camera photos placed on protein feeders to give you survey information. Bucks tend to dominate protein feeders, so it will look like you have nothing but bucks in your area. You can use game cameras to survey deer, but make sure you put them along roadways, water sources or trails away from feeders. Good luck!

Question: “We enjoy deer hunting and have a lease in south central Texas. We have no problems around here this year, habitat conditions are awesome compared to last year. We typically fill protein feeders around the first week in January each year and it usually takes the whitetail about three months to clean out six 2,000 pound protein feeders. Last year was so dry we were already filling them up for the third time in late April.

This year is a different animal. Deer are not eating protein.Nothing. The feeders we filled in January are still 80% full. I’m okay with this, but will protein feed go bad in a free choice protein feeder? Also, is there any chance that I see a fall off in horns this year due to the deer eating stuff with lower protein content than what we are offering?”

Response: This year has been a real turnaround compared to the last one. Plants are green and tall compared to dead and brown. With regards to whitetail not eating your protein, I would not be concerned. The protein content on forbs can be very high, with many hitting in the 25 to 35 percent protein range. This is why deer are not eating your protein pellets. No offense to you or to the manufacturers out there, but protein pellets suck compared to high quality forbs—and the deer know it. That is why they are eating the better stuff that is available to them right now.

There should not be any real problem with the stagnant protein. However, the feed will start to lose it’s smell, and I assume its flavor too. There will be nothing wrong with the pellet quality. Problems could occur if you start getting some light mold on top and on the sides of your pellets inside the feeders.

I would recommend opening them up and inspecting them. If the air in protein feeder feels either hot or moisture-rich then I would let them air out. Just open them up on a day when it’s really sunny and you’ve got a good breeze blowing.

As far as antler quality, the deer hunting will be better than ever! Do not expect the “horn” quality to fall off. In fact, expect bigger and better. As mentioned earlier, high quality native forbs are chock-full of protein. And with the rain we’ve received this year, there are lots of good native forbs out there for deer to forage on.

Another benefit of the rain is that the deer browse will be putting on new growth. Last year was a bust. The browse grew very little and was low quality. When it comes to high quality browse it does not get any better than fresh growth. The rains have definitely brought it on. In short, the rain has been a blessing for the habitat and for whitetail in general. The fawn crop should be out of this world this year. The deer hunting should be good around Texas as antler quality will up.

People that harvest wild game illegally, break the law, are called poachers. For as long as there have been hunting regulations there have been poachers. These individuals steal the public’s wildlife resources, taking game outside of regulations that are designed to manage wildlife populations. The poaching of white-tailed deer has always been a concern of landowners in Texas, but especially in recent years because of the increased monetary value that quality deer represent. An illegally shot deer not only aggravates law-abiding hunters, but it can be a direct shot to a landowner’s pocket book.

The Law Enforcement Division of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is always on the lookout for poachers. In fact, they just wrapped up a big deer poaching ring that involved the unlawful taking of numerous deer. An extensive 16-month poaching investigation in East Texas that has netted stout fines and jail or prison sentences for four men responsible for illegally killing 30 whitetail deer in Wood and Rains counties.

Wood County Game Wardens Derek Spitzer and Kurt Kelley along with Van Zandt County warden Steve Stapleton began the investigation on December 7, 2010 when a dead deer was found hanging from an oil well pump jack on a wooded 1,500 acre deer hunting tract near Alba. Only the deer’s backstrap had been removed, with the rest of the meat left to waste. The subsequent investigation, which involved an estimated 270 man hours, uncovered an extensive pattern of deer poaching in both Wood and Rains counties.

During the course of the investigation, the wardens conducted several protracted interviews, secured a large amount of evidence, and were able to document the illegal killing of 30 deer by four individuals. All of the deer had been killed at night from public roads with the aid of a spotlight over a three-month period.

In one documented incident, two of the men involved were found to have shot two deer behind a high fence at night and returned later with a pair of bolt cutters, which they used to cut a hole in the fence and remove the deer. Most of the venison in the investigation was found to have been wasted, with the violators often only taking the backstrap from the animals.

While probing the hunting law violations, the wardens recovered multiple stolen items and several theft cases are still pending. A total of 528 offenses were determined to have occurred with 40 of those being state jail felonies. Of the total offenses known, 22 charges were brought forward in Wood and Rains counties. Nine Class A misdemeanor charges and two state jail felonies were filed in each county.

Of the four defendants, three made plea deals with prosecutors with one of them entering a plea in exchange for a one-year sentence for hunting deer without a land owner’s consent. The protracted investigation was finally closed on February 23 when the fourth subject changed his plea to guilty and received 3 years in state jail and $12,000 in fines for hunting deer at night, hunting with artificial light and hunting from a vehicle – all Class A misdemeanors. Sentences handed down added up to more than $41,000 in fines, 3,000 hours of community service and a total of 12 years of jail or probation time.

In addition, six firearms were seized and awarded to the state. Finally, all the defendants lost the privilege of hunting in the state of Texas for five years and will be paying civil restitution for the game animals taken.

Whitetail deer hunting in Texas is a big deal, so the unregulated take of game causes many problems. Lawful hunters pay thousands of dollars for hunting leases that “may” allow them the opportunity to legally harvest deer. In addition, long term deer management is one of the items that resource agencies such as TPWD are charged with carrying out. Poachers undermine both private landowners and the agencies responsible for ensuring populations remain viable into the future.

If you don’t own land with deer, then you know that finding a place go white-tailed deer hunting in Texas can be hard. So it’s always a good thing when more hunting lands become available. That’s what just happened this past week in some parts of the state. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved opening a whitetail hunting season for deer in Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and Galveston counties as part of changes to the 2012-13 Statewide Hunting Proclamation.

Under the new deer hunting regulations, the current whitetail season structure in Grayson County will be altered to allow full-season, either-sex whitetail harvest. The amended Grayson County archery-only deer season structure will also be added to Dallas County, Collin County and Rockwall County. But that’s not all. The Commission also approved implementing the current Harris County season structure in Galveston County.

The deer hunting season in Collin and Rockwall counties has been closed since 1976 after farming and ranching development virtually eliminated all deer habitat. Since that time, agriculture has been gradually displaced by the extensive urban, suburban, and exurban growth of the Metroplex, which has resulted in highly fragmented deer habitat and minimal populations of white-tailed deer, mostly in riparian areas surrounding lakes and streams.

However, whitetail deer populations in others suburban parts of Texas have risen in the face of decreased habitat, creating political issues on how to control deer populations. The state’s move to increased deer hunting in these urban counties will no only provide hunters with more places to chase whitetail, but may alleviate deer population issues along the human-wildlife interface. This will really the help deer hunters in and near Dallas County and Rockwall County.

The clocks in my house were just updated to “spring forward” so that means it is just about antler hunting time, when we head to the woods in search of shed antlers. The majority of whitetail bucks in Texas still have their horns, but many will be losing them over the next month. Some bucks will shed their antlers early right after deer hunting season, some late, but most lose them at or about the same time. With antlers getting ready to hit the ground, there is no better time to talk about shed hunting tips.

We officially found our first pair of shed antlers today, after the much needed rainfall ceased. The rain received over the past month has kept the deer habitat in great shape, but it’s going to make finding antlers much more difficult since the herbaceous plants are going to be growing quickly. The deer antlers we found this morning were laying side by side, just a few yards from one of our deer protein feeders.

The funny thing was that the sheds were not on Friday around lunch because we drove right past the same feeder that day. The whitetail buck must have just dropped them, and he is among the early group around here, with most still holding on to their headgear. The antlers were from a nice 8 point buck that I recognized as a deer I had aged at two years old this past hunting season. We are hoping this buck can put on a couple of more points this summer.

Although shed hunting is still too early for the most part, it’s always good to get geared up for a little looking. Bucks loosing their antlers now will be either run down from the whitetail rut or injured. We’ve seen really old bucks as well as some very young bucks shed earlier than March 1 in the past in Central and South Texas, but typically in low numbers. When I was younger I would wear my legs out looking for sheds too early in the year.

After many years and many seasons, I have learned to wait until mid to late March to start, with my initial effort depending on the rainfall and habitat conditions. Low rainfall years will have bucks dropping antlers earlier than normal, whereas good habitat will allow bucks to hold onto them longer. This past hunting season saw habitat conditions that were very good for whitetail deer, so waiting is definitely the way to go this year.

And that’s the real shed hunting tip that I was wanting to share with hunters today. Pay attention to the deer habitat found on your property. Not only will it be a good indicator of deer numbers in many cases, but it can also shed light on potential antler growth, as well as the timing of antler shedding. Deer hunting is about more than just shooting deer. Antler hunting is something we enjoy during the off (hunting) season, although whitetail never have any time off. Good luck out there looking for horns!

Question: “We just moved to a new deer lease near Brownsville and hopefully we’ll be on it for many years to come. We have year round lease access and like many other Texas leases cows are grazed on the property year round. Lots of turkey and some feral hogs in the neighborhood, too. There is an oat food plot on the lease that is a popular spot for anything that eats oats. A good number of whitetail have been seen foraging there in recent weeks.

On our previous place, we always feed corn from September through January. This year, however, I am considering fencing in one feeder for protein pellets and ramping up feeding beginning in March. Assuming the fence around the feeder keeps the feral hogs and the land owner’s cows out, Will one protein feeder make a difference? What results can we expect to see in the deer on our lease?”

Answer: The impact of a protein feeding program for whitetail deer will vary from property to property. A lot will depend on what your neighbors are doing or are not doing, managing or not managing. What it will do over time, if you keep feeding, is increase fawn survival each year. Like a lot of things in deer management, it will not happen overnight, although you will see more fawns a healthier deer fairly quickly.

The key to any protein feeding program is to feed for at least four to five years to see if you are seeing real results. If you increase fawn survival and total deer numbers you will increase buck numbers over time. One time I saw a ranch that was 650 acres really help their deer. They simply fed for nine months out of the year and they noticed more bucks survived the deer hunting season.

In fact, each hunting season after this was better than the year before. The third year of feeding were able to kill a four year old buck that was close to 140 inches. A year later they were able to shoot a five year old buck that went 154 gross. This was a huge change in just five years. A big key to any management program is fawn production and survival, with more fawns means turning into more bucks for the future. But protein feeding is only part of the equation. Deer management for improved deer hunting takes managing for age, genetics and nutrition. Let them go so they can grow!

Let’s face it, folks that live in Texas can not get enough deer hunting! Combining the Archery and General Deer Hunting Seasons equates to over three months of deer hunting, and landowners involved with the Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP) Program enjoy a whopping five months of whitetail hunting. Now, the state is looking at expanding into several for Texas counties. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) is considering opening deer hunting in three North Texas counties and another on the upper coast this fall as part of recommended changes to the 2012-13 Statewide Hunting Proclamation.

TPWD biologist recommended an open season for deer in Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and Galveston counties during a presentation last Wednesday to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission’s Regulations Committee. They cited the rules for Grayson County, the only county in Texas with an archery-only deer season, as a starting point for the Dallas metro area counties being considered for an open deer hunting season.

Under the proposed amendment, the current whitetail season structure in Grayson County would be altered to allow full-season, either-sex whitetail harvest. The amended Grayson County archery-only deer season structure would be implemented in Dallas, Collin, and Rockwall counties. In addition, the department is proposing to implement the Harris County season structure in Galveston County.

The deer hunting season in Collin and Rockwall counties has been closed since 1976 after land use changes virtually eliminated deer habitat. Since that time, agriculture has been gradually displaced by the extensive urban, suburban, and exurban growth of the Metroplex, which has resulted in highly fragmented deer habitat and minimal populations of white-tailed deer, mostly in the brushy/forested areas surrounding lakes and streams.

TPWD believes that there is no biological reason to prohibit deer hunting and adding these additional Texas counties will only increase hunting opportunity. Opening a season would also provide an additional method for addressing nuisance deer issues. Deer population control continues to be a on-going problem in Central Texas, so maybe a proactive approach may shortcut any deer overpopulation issues in North Texas.

Comments on the proposed hunting regulations may be submitted by phone at 512-389-4775 or through the TPWD’s web site. There will also be upcoming public meetings to be scheduled in the counties affected by the proposed deer hunting regulations.