How To Manage Whitetails on Private Land: Part 1

In the 1980s at the Institute for White-tailed Deer Management & Research at Stephen F. Austin State University, my colleagues and I began working with landowners over the entire range of the species. We soon discovered there was one common trend among deer hunters. As they matured, they became more interested in doing something good for nature and the land, rather than just killing bigger bucks.

Most hunters want to leave a legacy, a hunting heritage for their family on land they hope will remain in the bloodline for many generations. Not surprisingly, this was anticipated by Aldo Leopold, the acknowledged father of wildlife management in America, who felt the future of wildlife in America resides as much with the private landowner as publicly managed land. In 1934, he noted: “Conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.”

This is not to say that wildlife should be privatized, rather Leopold meant the future of hunting lies with a unique partnership between public and private land stewards. Afterall, 74 percent of the land in the U.S. is privately-owned, and two-thirds of all rare, endangered species and other wildlife in the country reside on private lands.

Thus, today I spend a lot of time consulting hunters on best management plans for their properties. This year, my column in North American Whitetail will focus on land management consulting, exclusively. My goal is to make each month’s installment feel like a consultation meeting between myself and the client (presumably you, the reader). So, let’s begin part one of this seven-part series!

ARE YOU MANAGING DEER ON YOUR LAND?

I have lost count of the number of times I have heard someone declare: “We are managing our deer!” Sure, this sounds good; but what does it mean?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of manage is: “…to handle or direct with a degree of skill: such as to exercise executive, administrative, and supervisory direction of.” Another definition by the Oxford Dictionary is, “…succeed in surviving or in attaining one’s aims.” So, when we really examine what you are doing on your land, are you really managing deer? In order to answer yes, you’ve got to have clear goals and a plan.

IT STARTS WITH A GOAL, THEN A PLAN

My team has managed thousands of acres of land from Mexico to Canada. We learned long ago, the old adage is true: “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail!” So, it all starts with a solid management plan; and the plan always begins with a goal.

Often when asked, a landowner will say the goal is to grow bigger deer, or to have more trophy deer. However, that is NOT a goal; it’s an expectation! A goal must be simply stated, and there must be a rock-solid way of determining success. A properly stated goal would be something like: “We want to harvest X-number of mature bucks from this property each year.” Or: “We want to have a deer herd in balance with the productive capacity of our land.” These are quantifiable goals that can be tested with time-proven metrics for success.

Once you have a reasonable goal, the next step is to develop a series of objectives to reach your goal. Before you can develop these objectives, you must learn as much as you can about your property and deer herd. This will help identify the limiting factors to achieving your goal.

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THE THREE-LEGGED STOOL

I have likened deer management to a three-legged stool. I chose a three-legged stool, because if you take one leg away you are going to have a nasty fall! One leg of this stool is deer population management, another habitat management, and the last is people management.

Unless you critically analyze each of these, you will fail. For example, too many professional biologists fail to consider people management as a critical element to success. As a professor, I often had students come to my office for career counseling. “I want to be a wildlife biologist,” he or she would proclaim. When asked why, the answer often would be: “Because I don’t really like people!”

I would then patiently explain that, without people, there would be no wildlife management. To be successful in your deer management program, you will need information about each of the three legs from your land. Let’s take a general look at each, as preparation for what we will be discussing in this seven-part series.

LEG ONE: POPULATION MANAGEMENT

Let’s begin with the population management leg of the stool. First, what is a population? It generally is defined as all the inhabitants of a particular area of a specific species. In other words, how many deer do you have? This is usually presented as “deer density” — either in acres per deer on private lands or deer per square mile on public lands.

Well, that is a tough one, since deer move around the landscape and do not remain on your land (at least for the average sized property). The deer density question has plagued biologists since the beginning of wildlife management, and the truth is you never will really know.

However, you will need to know something about the demographics of your deer herd. Demographics are the characteristics and makeup of your herd. In other words, you need to know something about the percentages of your herd that are does, bucks and fawns. You also will need to have some measurements of the age structure of your herd. More and more, I am seeing average folks learn to estimate the ages of bucks with reasonable accuracy.

Population measurements also involve identifying causes of mortality in your herd, and identifying which are having the greatest impacts. In some areas, this could be predation, including predation by coyotes, bobcats, bears and now wolves.

In other areas, there may be significant mortality caused by diseases, such as Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD). One area we manage in Texas regularly loses 90 percent or more of the herd to Anthrax. Parasites seldom are a significant issue in most whitetail herds. Knowing when most of the mortality occurs is important, as well.

LEG TWO: HABITAT MANAGEMENT

Now, let’s talk about habitat. Deer must have the following habitat elements: summer thermal cover, winter thermal cover, escape cover, natural foods (browse, weeds, some grasses, mushrooms, fruits and nuts), and water. I will discuss providing supplements as part of the final management plan. Knowing how much of these occur on YOUR property is very important to developing your management plan.

We learned long ago that the home range of most deer is elliptical in shape, due to the fact one or more critical habitat elements either are not on the property or are too far apart. Everything a deer needs, 365 days a year, should be in a reasonable travel distance to your deer.

LEG THREE: PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

People will be managing your deer, whether it be just you, your family, friends, employees or contractors. To be successful, everyone will have to be committed to the management program, and in solid agreement as to what the goal is, and the steps needed to get there.

That is why a management plan is a written document, not some general concept. One of the pitfalls to successful deer management is the tendency of folks to practice what I call “Management Du Jour!” Here is the way it goes. Everyone has agreed on a concrete approach to deer management; yet, someone in the group sees something new on the Internet that’s guaranteed to grow bigger deer.

Although you all have committed to the plan, one person talks the others into switching to the new approach. Well, virtually every time this happens, it ends in disaster. Deer herds are not managed overnight, and changing the approach constantly leads to failure.

A good deer management program must involve a “continuing education program.” Sharing of information is a great way to keep everyone on the same page. My friend and colleague Dr. David Guynn is the acknowledged “father” of the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP), now so commonly used in several states. The “genius” of DMAP lies in involving hunters and landowners in the data collection process. It is difficult to question decisions made on data collected by everyone in the group. The second genius of DMAP lies in timely reporting of results to all involved. I hate to say it, but wildlife biologists are the world’s worst about sharing information! They seem to want to maintain control on the flow of information. Each person involved in the management program should have access to the same information about the management program.

The last category of information you need for a sound management plan revolves around the potential physical and economic limitations to the program. For instance, I learned the hard way that it is one thing to recommend prescribed burning; yet, quite another to see the landowner actually pull off a burn!

Further, what are the equipment limitations to your management program? Do you even own a tractor? How much will management practices cost, and do you have the funds to support them? I always told my students: “Landowners often ask two embarrassing questions: 1. How much will it cost? 2. What will I get back for it?” Yes, it may be best to use a “low till” seed drill to plant food plots, but do you have the $20,000 to obtain one, and the tractor to pull it?

PUT YOUR OBJECTIVES IN MOTION

I realize I only listed these “legs of the stool” above. But as this series continues, I’ll do a deep-dive on each topic, and I’ll provide my advice and assistance for understanding each pillar of whitetail management. I encourage you to stay tuned for each month’s installment and take notes along the way! Hopefully, you’ll develop a clear list of objectives for your property.