Deer should be in good shape, natural foods plentiful

Published 1:11 am Saturday, October 20, 2018

You better be careful when you ask for a sure-enough Texas drought to be broken. Much of the state, especially the central portion and a good part of East Texas, has gone from bone dry to record wet since the beginning of September.

For deer hunters getting ready for the statewide Nov. 3 opening, the non-stop rains mean not only are deer going to be feeding on acorns in the coming week, but there is also so much native vegetation sprouting they do not have to move at all to eat.

“Texas’ white-tailed deer population is doing quite well. In fact, statewide population estimates are around 4.6 million deer, which is about 5.4 deer for every deer hunter,” said Alan Cain, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s deer program leader. “Overall the deer season is expected to be average, but there’s always some properties around the state in every eco-region that do an excellent job of managing the deer herd residing on their property as well as the native habitat, so they’ll likely have a good year at those locales.”

The rains came too late this year to benefit antler development, but should improve deer health. Ironically, it could also go a long way toward helping antler growth for 2019.

“Much of Texas looks like a giant green food plot. Deer won’t have to move far to find quality food and will be able to add fat and body mass over the next month or so prior to rut and stresses of winter,” Cain said.

He added that the amount of moisture in the ground should also promote winter weed growth that should help deer through the winter.

“As such, bucks and does should go through the winter in good shape and be set for a good start in the spring for fawn production and antler growth. The downside to all the rain is that hunters may find it a bit tough to see deer during archery season and into general season,” Cain said.

Last season it was strong acorn crop in the Hill Country and eastern Texas that slowed the harvest much of the season. However, Cain said those acorns and other mast production are vital to helping deer coming out of summer stress periods and over winter helping overall deer condition going into the spring when does begin nursing fawns and bucks restart antler growth.

While the heart of the summer was hot and dry (it is Texas after all), Cain said early spring forage conditions were good enough to get antler development off to a good start. That began to change in June as the weather pattern changed. Even then it was not as dire as it could have been.

“As a result, forbs were less available for deer, but those woody plants that are the most stable portion of the habitat in terms of response to hot dry weather remained green and provided deer with plenty of good quality forage,” Cain explained.

Statewide deer numbers and antler quality are expected to be about average, with areas that did get mid-summer rain better than others.

In eastern Texas, deer numbers should be similar to what they have been in recent years. A lack of fawn production has limited herd growth, according to TPWD surveys.

In the last five years, the East Texas deer population has held at 220,000 to 284,000, resulting in a deer density of about 15.5 per 1,000 acres. On individual tracts, density runs from two to 22 deer per 1,000 acres.

That compares to the Edwards Plateau that has an estimated overall population of 2.6 million deer and densities ranging from 42 to 285 per 1,000 acres.

Statewide, Texas has an estimated 41 deer per 1,000 acres.

“Long-term trends indicate the state’s deer population has seen an estimated 27 percent increase from 2005 to 2017, although those increases are not uniform across all 44 Deer Management Units, the scale at which TPWD monitors white-tailed populations,” Cain noted.

He added fawn production statewide has been fairly consistent since 2014. That means hunters should see a similar number of bucks in each age class from 1.5 to 4.5. There should also be a good number of 5.5 year olds because of an above-average fawn crop in 2013.

“More interests in deer management and antler restriction regulations in 117 counties have helped to improve the buck age structure and is reflected in recent harvest trends,” Cain said.

According to department surveys, the last five years as much as 17 percent of the harvest have been 5.5-year-old bucks. The majority of the harvest, about 44 percent, has been 3.5 and 4.5 year olds.

Last year’s harvest was estimated at 918,000, down 3.7 percent from 2016. Fifty-three percent of last year’s harvest was bucks.

Because the Parks and Wildlife Commission catered to a few quail hunters and did not extend the season, the North Zone will remain open only until Jan. 6. In South Texas, where the two have long co-existed, the season runs through Jan. 20.