White-tailed Deer - Wildlife Management Pro

Bias Associated With Game Cameras for Deer Surveys

Wildlife management, especially towards white-tailed deer, is becoming increasingly important to private landowners. One of the biggest management issues landowners face is calculating reliable deer population estimates using traditional survey methods. One technique that has become recently popular is using game cameras to survey deer and estimate population sizes. Because of its ease of use and cost efficiency, remote photography seems to be increasing in its popularity as a tool for landowners and wildlife biologists, but does this remote survey technique work?

Game camera surveys have been used to estimate population parameters among a variety of wildlife species, including white-tailed deer. These parameters include buck to doe ratio, fawn recruitment estimates, and age-related information. However, this deer survey technique involves placing bait in front of the camera in order to capture animals more frequently, which could introduce biases in parameter estimates. From September 2008 to March 2009, researchers at Auburn University monitored cameras placed at random, along game trails, and at feed stations to determine if sex and age structure could be accurately assessed in a population of white-tailed deer. Continue reading Bias Associated With Game Cameras for Deer Surveys

Deer Management Means Deer Hunting

The white-tailed deer hunting season has arrived and bowhunters will get first crack at the deer again this year. It looks like there are more deer in Texas than there were last year because estimates of high fawn production have been reported. More than a 100 percent fawn survival was observed on some intensively managed ranches, causing deer overpopulation on some native deer habitats.

Add that with quality native food supplies and that should give hunters a lot to look forward to this season. It also means that like last year that deer hunting over feeders may not be as productive because of the abundant natural forage available. According to Alan Cain, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department whitetail deer program director: Continue reading Deer Management Means Deer Hunting

Kerr WMA: Deer Management Seminars

For hunters and landowners interested in healthier deer and better hunting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has announced some upcoming white-tailed deer management seminars. The habitat and wildlife management classes will take place at the Kerr Wildlife Management Area (WMA), which is located about 30 minutes west of Kerrville, Texas. This area offers a very educational view on the interaction between the whitetail and its native habitat.

The Kerr WMA is offering seminars free to the public on the first Friday of each month in August, September, and October. Seminars include an ecosystems approach as it pertains to range and wildlife habitat management with emphasis on whitetail deer management. Topics discussed include deer management, grazing management, prescribed burning and brush control as well as how these management techniques effect threatened and endangered species. You will get some insight into key deer foods and how to appraise the habitat found on your ranch. Continue reading Kerr WMA: Deer Management Seminars

CWD Found in Missouri Whitetail

It was just one white-tailed deer, but people in Missouri are spooked. That’s because in late February a single whitetail buck in central Missouri tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD), a contagious, fatal brain infection. It was the state’s first-ever case, found in one animal among the state’s estimated 1.4 million deer.

The discovery prompted a swift reaction from the wildlife department. In fact, Missouri’s state and federal officials, who had been preparing for this moment for years, quickly quarantined the high-fence shooting ranch in Linn County where the sick whitetail was found. They hoped to quell the outbreak before it spread unchecked in the wild. “We have to be aggressive,” state veterinarian Taylor Woods said. “This all boils down to credibility.” Continue reading CWD Found in Missouri Whitetail

Deer Overpopulation Causes Problems in Texas

Everyone loves white-tailed deer, right? Wrong. Deer cause millions of dollars in damage each year in the United States, so it should come as no surprise that some people downright despise them. Just ask some of the automobile insurers. The problem of deer overpopulation continues to plague one are of San Antoniono, Texas, known as Hollywood Park. But for every person that wants the deer removed, there is another that loves these wild animals. As such, there have been efforts to thin out the suburb’s deer population, but they have been met with opposition from everyone from animal-loving residents to state bureaucrats, city deer control expert Will Mangum told City Council on March 16.

“Some area ranchers were interested in taking our deer,” Mangum told council about the just completed deer season, “but none had received permits, because their paperwork came in too late.” He says it is far more complex than simply picking up Hollywood Park’s deer and depositing them onto a ranch.

“The ranchers first need to contact their wildlife biologist, who surveys the land and provides specific permits on how many bucks and how many does they can take. They then need to get a release site permit from the state. We’re powerless without the RSP.”

Continue reading Deer Overpopulation Causes Problems in Texas

Deer Hunting is Big Money in Texas

More than 1.1 million hunters take aim at Texas wild game species in each. Ninety percent fo those hunters are state residents. So while hunting is more popular among rural Texans, more than 600,000 hunters trade urban sprawl for the great outdoors on an annual basis. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that hunting is worth $2.2 billion annually to the Texas economy, so it looks like hunting is big business.

On average, each hunter spends $1,984 to hunt over an average of 13 days each year. And white-tailed deer are the most popular target, and an increasing target for folks interested in wildlife management. From big spenders who pay thousands for a guided trophy buck hunt to weekend hunters looking for a fat whitetail doe for the freezer, two-thirds of hunters in Texas head out in search of white-tailed deer. Continue reading Deer Hunting is Big Money in Texas

Whitetail Deer Bedding Cover

Every hunter wants to shoot a big buck, but does every hunter want to provide quality habitat for their deer? The answer is no, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as those landowners realize that the choices they make impact the end product. When it comes to providing good habitat for whitetail, quality bedding cover is one of the most important things a landowner can provide, especially on smaller properties. So why is whitetail deer beddding cover so important?

Think about this just for a second: Where does a mature whitetail buck spend the greatest amount of time during the day? You may not have a good answer for me and that’s because you rarely see such an animal in the middle of the day. That’s because mature bucks are not standing in open fields throughout the middle of the hunting season, and they sure aren’t camped out in the middle of a food plot. Continue reading Whitetail Deer Bedding Cover