Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Post Season Evaluation
Since deer season has come to a close, it’s time to use a bit of that 20/20 hindsight. If you’re anything like me, the hunting season went too quickly and the trips you wanted to take and the projects you wanted to tackle may just have not be completed. However, we must continue on and now is a great time to look back on the hunting season and assess your accomplishments and shortcomings of your management activities.
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Posted by Cody Zabransky on 04/10 at 11:41 AM
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Monday, April 09, 2012
WHAT DO SOUTH TEXAS DEER EAT?
White-tailed deer eat a wide variety of plants depending upon the time of year and which region of Texas they inhabit. In fact, one food habits’ study conducted at the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Refuge, located north of Sinton in San Patricio County, found over 160 different plant species in the deer rumens they examined!
Consulting and Food Plot Services">White-tailed deer eat a wide variety of plants depending upon the time of year and which region of Texas they inhabit. In fact, one food habits’ study conducted at the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Refuge, located north of Sinton in San Patricio County, found over 160 different plant species in the deer rumens they examined!
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHAT DEER EAT?
From a management perspective, improving the nutritional level of the habitat is one of the most important jobs for a deer manager or biologist. Antler growth is directly related to nutrition. If nutrition is limiting during any time of the year, antler growth will not be maximized.
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Laying Out Your Food Plots - Part I
You like the idea of more and bigger deer on your property, and you’ve become convinced that food plots can help get you there. You’re ready to commit the time and resources necessary to get into an agricultural-based food-source management program, the kind that’ll significantly enhance the nutritional plane of the property, not just attract deer to a field. In short, you’re ready to start “farming for deer” so you can get the most from your land, investment and deer hunting. Now what?
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Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Choosing the Right Outfitter
Many of us put aside money over the course of a year, or in some cases several years, to finally go on that hunt of a lifetime. Unfortunately what happens in a lot of cases is that the hunt you have dreamed of for so long now becomes a nightmare you wish you could wake up from. Let me illustrate an example that happened to me several years ago which taught me a lesson I hope I will never forget.
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Posted by Ted Jaycox on 04/03 at 04:23 PM
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Monday, April 02, 2012
Who’s Breeding Whom? - Part II
Mississippi State University “Who’s Breeding Whom” Study
Drs. Randy DeYoung and Stephen Demarais examined buck breeding success in three separate deer populations in three different states. All three deer populations were managed differently in order to achieve different goals. Combined, these three deer management philosophies represent nearly the entire spectrum of white-tailed deer management across the U.S.
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Close Encounters: Part 6
In the past five devotions we have been looking at Old Testament close encounters of our Lord and His people. For the next five devotions in this series we will be looking to the New Testament for more of these close encounters with Christ Jesus and His people. We have mentioned this before; Jesus loves to work closely and intimately with His children. Are you a child of God today? If so He wants to work closely and intimately in your lives as well!
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Monday, March 26, 2012
WHO’S BREEDING WHOM? - Part I
How many times have you heard an old timer say, “The biggest bucks do the most breeding”? They usually follow with the statement, “It’s nature’s way to insure the fittest survive.” Although the above may be true for some deer species, it is clearly not true with regard to white-tailed deer!
My article in the last week addressed deer stocking and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TWPD) Trap, Transplant, and Translocate (TTT) program. I highlighted the results of two studies completed at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Kingsville that were designed to answer several crucial questions with regard to the TTT program.
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Why Food Plots?
Food Plots Have Become The Hot Topic In Deer Management, But Do Plots Really Work And How Do Plots Stack Up To Natural Habitat Management And Direct Feeding? Let’s See.
The latest buzz in the deer-hunting world seems to revolve around the impact of nutritional management, particularly using food plots, on the number and size of deer a tract of land can produce. Obviously, that impact will vary by program and management intensity. But here, I want to use a simple comparison to illustrate the relative impact of supplemental (direct) feeding and food plots on the nutritional plane, thus on deer numbers and quality. I do not hold out the following numbers to be absolute; rather, they are intended to illustrate the relative nutritional impact of supplemental feeding over natural habitat and of food plots over supplemental feeding. Because of limited space, I will not try to explain every assumption and the reasoning behind it, but I’ve found these numbers to represent a fairly accurate picture of what goes on under these programs.
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