White-tailed Deer - Wildlife Management Pro

Whitetail Deer Hunting Was Texas Tough

White-tailed deer hunting is a big deal in Texas, but hunters had a tough time of it this year in the Lone Star State. “The best estimate is that harvest is down by 30-35 percent this year,” said Alan Cain, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Wildlife district leader from Pleasanton of the South Texas harvest. Some locker plants that process deer are reporting deer numbers are down as much as 40-45 percent!

Cain said to blame the drop on the green-up that came following the drought. “The positive side of this is that a bunch of bucks will probably make it through the season to be available next year and with another year of age,” Cain said.He added that range conditions are still good, and once the bucks shed antlers and begin developing another set they should be healthy. Continue reading Whitetail Deer Hunting Was Texas Tough

Doe Hunting Available and Necessary

Keeping deer populations under control means maintaining the proper deer density for the habitat found in the area, and often this means implementing a proper doe harvest. Although shooting bucks removes deer and lowers the number of mouths using the native forage, nothing is more important at maintaining a healthy deer herd than keeping the proper number of doe. Some hunters will try to shoot young-of-the year (fawns) animals because they are easier to transport back to the vehicle, easier to cut up, and make for good eating.

Plus at Northern latitudes, young-of-the-year are the first to die in a tough winter and someone has to shoot does, and it should be every serious deer hunter’s responsibility to harvest at least one doe every year in areas with healthy deer populations. Another thing to keep in mind: it does not really make a difference whether a hunter shoots a doe fawn or an old doe, the goal is to keep the population from expanding beyond the ability for the habitat to support it. Continue reading Doe Hunting Available and Necessary

Hunter Tags Big Nebraska Whitetail

The Gun Deer Season kicked off in Nebraska over the weekend and it seems some giant whitetail bucks are hitting the ground this year. Several people have sent me photos of a big 38 point nontypical buck. I don’t think all the details are clear yet, but supposedly it was shot last week by a young hunter, possibly on state land. A game warden at the check station aged the monster buck at around 7 years, and after looking at the body on this brue, and the antler mass, that guess is probably on the money.

All indications point to this buck being the new Nebraska state record according to the warden. If anyone knows anything else about this buck, drop a comment and let us know!

Deer in Hunting in Texas – Good to Go!

Improving wildlife populations is all about habitat management. Landowners can improve deer hunting through wildlife management practices, but white-tailed deer still need high quality native goods. An early and abundant acorn crop, combined with new growth of native vegetation may force Texas deer hunters to stray from supplemental food sources during the 2009-2010 general deer hunting season, which opens November 7.

Reports from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department field biologists indicate above average mast crop production and an early acorn drop. Recent rains across much of the state have also helped generate forb production, adding to the availability of native food sources for whitetail. “It’s been at least three years since ground moisture has been this good at this time of year,” said Mike Krueger, TPWD district wildlife biologist in Kerrville. “It looks like springtime in the Edwards Plateau at this time.” Continue reading Deer in Hunting in Texas – Good to Go!

Warden Takes Kaufman County Monster Buck

Big whitetail harvested in Kaufman County

Texas has a handfull of gigantic white-tailed bucks harvested each year. The number of truly impressive bucks taken by bowhunters makes up a small amount of those big deer, but archers do get a few. While most hunters are trying or preparing to get their buck this season, TPWD Game Warden Eric Minter is all smiles. That’s because this past week the Kaufman County warden found himself as the lucky hunter staring down the buck of a lifetime! Yes indeed, Minter put his own tag on a whopper 27-point non-typical buck!

The buck has not been scored, but the multi-tined monster should score well above the 200-inch mark on the non-typical side of the scoring sheet. “I’ve been kind of leery of telling everybody just yet because I don’t know what he scores and I don’t want to guess and it be a lot lower or higher than I expected,” Minter said. “But this is unbelievable.” Continue reading Warden Takes Kaufman County Monster Buck

Whitetail Deer Catches Bucket!

White-tailed Buck with Bucket Between Antlers

White-tailed deer are amazing animals and they have adapted to live almost anywhere in the United States, from rurual to urban areas and anywhere in between. When it comes to wildlife management, deer have no problem increasing in numbers. In fact, the most important thing we can do is keep deer populations in check with their available habitat through regulated hunting. But that’s an article for another day.

With recent advances in technology, mostly motion-sensitive cameras commonly referred to as game cameras, humans can keep a close eye on what deer are doing out there in the woods. These simple game cameras are triggered by movement and then activate to take a photo. It really is a simple process, but the exciting part as the camera’s owner is never knowing what you will see until the pictures are downloaded. Continue reading Whitetail Deer Catches Bucket!

Fallow Deer – What are They?

The Fallow deer is a Eurasian deer that is native to western Eurasia, but in the past century the deer has been introduced into other parts of the world, including the United States. In some portions of the U.S., free-ranging fallow deer populations have increased to the point that they cause serious browsing damage to young trees and compete with native white-tailed deer. Fallow deer have also been introduced in Texas along with many other exotic deer species, where they are often hunted on large game ranches.

Fallow deer have a lot of variations in the color of their coats, with four main types: common, menil, melanistic (black) and white. The white-colored fallow is actually white, and not an albino of any sort. In addition, white fallow deer are often mis-identified as albino white-tailed deer. Melanistic fallow deer are often mis-identified as Sika deer or even melanistic whitetail deer. The common coat variation has a brown coat with white mottles that are most pronounced in summer with a much darker coat in the winter. The white is the lightest colored, almost white. The common and menil colored deer are darker. Continue reading Fallow Deer – What are They?