The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles: Quality Deer Management

Showing posts with label Quality Deer Management. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Reasons to Take Whitetail Does

Good Reasons to use that Doe Tag.

When considering if and when to take a doe give these reasons some thought.

1: Your deer herd has a limited amount of land to thrive in. Even on public lands, thinning the number of does has a positive effect on the herd overall. On private land, keep the population and sex ratio in balance by taking does whenever your analysis indicates you should. Remember a doe affects the population numbers much more than a buck does.

Image Credit: Kathleen

2. Letting young bucks mature obviously impacts your chances of a larger, mature deer the following year."Most bucks will not maximize their potential until they reach 4 to 5 years of age, and their ultimate size won't peak until 6 ½ years!. The age of the buck is the determining factor of the size of the buck's rack. By purposely avoiding shooting any young deer most property managers can see an increase in the number of older, larger bucks on their properties." QDM in Florida

3. As the number of bucks increase, and the age cohort also advances, the number of truly mature and dominant bucks will also increase. This leads to less competition for does, as the harems are smaller and the mature bucks compete more effectively with the younger bucks. As capacity is kept below the maximum, the bucks stay stronger and healthier. . The result is a healthier, stronger, more productive herd.

PhotoCredit: Jeffrodsj

4. Likewise, as the number of does decreases, they tend to be younger and fitter. This leads to more successful breeding. The does also maintain better condition and the fawns are likely to be stronger, in better condition, and more fit. Fawns will likely be earlier in the season than later, so they will be better prepared for the coming winter. Young does lactate more freely and produce more milk than older does, again benefiting the year's fawns.

5. Overall, good deer management practices including maintaining does at a limit, benefits all other game and non-game animals. There is more browse for small game, and cover for birds.

Image Credit: Davern

6. In addition, does tend to be tastier. I mean face it. It really is true.

Hunting is the primary game management tool at your disposal. It is effective and imposed by those most likely to see the benefits of the program. Coupled with care of the land, sound supplemental strategies, possible plantings, and love for the sport, you will see the results of your efforts in a few short seasons.

Though he spends most of his time writing and keeping the world safe for democracy, Albert is actually a biologist. Really. But after a lemur was hired to replace the other lab tech because the capuchins were considered too smart for lab work, he never returned to the field. Rather he became a bartender. As he once said, "Hell, I was feeding mice all sorts of concoctions. At the club I did the same thing; except I got paid a lot better, and the rats where bigger." He has followed the science of QDM for many years, and fancies himself an aficionado. If you have any questions, or just want to get more information reach him via TheRaschOutdoorChronicles(at)MSN(dot)com

Albert A Rasch
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...

Monday, October 5, 2009

Gut Piles and Deer: Every Stomach Tells a Story

What can you learn from poking around guts?

I got to thinking about guts and viscera about a week or so ago after a comment on NorCal's blog post, Pear Jack. I studied biology, and I am a bit of a student of Quality Deer Management. That led to the post on QDM in Florida, which now leads to this one! It's amazing how things work out.

An animal's viscera should be studied with the same scrutiny that you give to the antlers. Many things become apparent, not the least of which is a good understanding of a deer's anatomy.

So, what can you learn from poking around in a whitetail deer's gut pile?

Well, as it turns out, lots.

Deer are ruminants. That is to say the eat their forage, hold it in their stomachs, and regurgitate it at leisure to chew it up some more. Then they swallow that and burp up another partially digested mouthful and grind that down. So a whole lot of food goes down in mouthfuls, to be chewed up later. With that in mind you can see how the remains of what a deer has been eating will tell you a lot about where it's been. Now that I've pointed that out it's a no brainer, but how many of you actually go through the trouble of actually looking?

Next time you bag a deer, after you have gutted it and hung it, take a moment and separate the paunch (stomach) from the rest of the viscera. Take a sharp knife and slit it open. If you're a little squeamish, (Really?) put on some gloves. Then just reach right in there and pull out a handful or two of partially digested plant material for inspection. It might smell a little by the way...

Back in the day, we would bag the sample for analysis. You can do the same if you carry some ziplock bags with you. Just secure a couple of cups of stomach contents in a ziplock bag, rinse the outside of the bag off, and take it home or camp for inspection. It would be a really bad idea to forget it in a the car. Heat and fermentation will jointly conspire to ruin your life.

Get a small pail, and dump the contents of your new science experiment in. Best you do this outside; the Mrs will not appreciate your sudden interest in biology. Gently pour water into the gooey mess until the bits and pieces separate, sloshing it around occasionally with your hand. There will be particles of all sizes, and what you want to do is separate the larger pieces from the smaller.

You can use a piece of quarter inch screen as a colander, or carefully pour off the smaller, ground up bits and pieces.

Now it's time to carefully inspect the remains.

What are you finding? Are there chunks of acorns, or is it all greens? What kind of greens are there? Pine needles, tree leaves, shrub leaves or is it grass? Maybe it contains mushrooms or tubers and roots. Give it a through going over, and really try to identify what it is that you are going through.

Now it's time to correlate what you have found, with what you know, or think you know about the land you are hunting on.

If you've been on a stand and the deer you take has a belly full of acorns, try to find out where these came from. You might have thought that no oaks were in your immediate area, but the deers stomach contents tell you otherwise. If everything has been burned by the cold, and you find green material in your examination, you need to go and look for the spots that are still green. It could be a hardy plant stand, or near a thermal mass like a swamp, or sheltered but sun filled area. Look around and really take stock of what you have and is available to the deer.

If you keep records, (You do, don't you?) and you're writing this information down, you will see patterns develop that you can use to your advantage. As the seasons unfold, you will learn to anticipate what the deer are going to forage on next, and prepare accordingly.

Checking the stomach contents of your harvested game can be very illuminating, especially if you do it on a long term basis. Patterns will emerge and make you a better hunter by anticipating which seasonal food sources deer use.

Related Posts:
Quality Deer Management in Florida

Regards,
Albert A Rasch
Member: Hunting Sportsmen of the United States HSUS (Let 'em sue me.)
The Hunt Continues...

Though he spends most of his time writing and keeping the world safe for democracy, Albert is actually a biologist. Really. But after a stint as a lab tech performing repetitious and mind-numbing processes that a trained capuchin monkey could do, he never returned to the field. Rather he became a bartender. As he once said, "Hell, I was feeding mice all sorts of concoctions. At the club I did the same thing; except I got paid a lot better, and the rats where bigger." He has followed the science of QDM for many years, and fancies himself an aficionado. If you have any questions, or just want to get more information reach him via TheRaschOutdoorChronicles(at)MSN(dot)com

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Quality Deer Management in Florida

QDM in Florida
Bigger Bucks, Better Herds

The history of trophy whitetails is pretty short in the Sunshine State. I believe that there are only two in the Boone and Crockett book, the 1941 Clark Durrance buck from Wakulla County, which scored 201 3/8 points in the all-time record book. The second is the Henry Brinson buck from 1959 out of Jackson County, and that deer scored 186 1/8. Now as it turns out, both of these are non-typical racks and as of right now, there are no typical racks in the B&C books that I am aware of.

The Pope and Young books are a little more populated than the B&C books, but still slim none -the-less. 13 bucks have made it into the archery only books from Florida. The Largest Florida buck in the books is Robert Ballard's, taken in Columbia County in 1980. It scored 153 4/8 points.

Image Credit: Kathleen

There have been several more deer that haven't been recorded but are either well known like the Green Swamp buck, or just haven't been registered by their owners. Even taking that into consideration, they do not amount to more than a few dozen, and most of those in the low range of 120 to 130 points.

If you are hunting public land exclusively, historically there are only three counties that you can consider: Alachua County is number one, followed by Brevard and Putnam counties. But if you look at the most recent “Big Bucks,” bucks that score over 120 on the Florida Buck Registry you will find that Hamilton County has 10 bucks in the last three years, Jackson County with nine, Jefferson County has seven, and Alachua County rounds it out with six in the same three years.

Photo Credit: Joe Povenz

All of these counties are in the northern tier, and where the soils are better, the bucks have a better chance of growing bigger. The rest of Florida, with its poor soils and high rainfall produces abundant, but poor-quality vegetation. Better soil means better forage, which means better nutrition, and better growth potential for those deer. The majority of quality bucks come from QDM (Quality Deer Management) managed properties where both soil and plants are managed for maximum nutrition, and the deer are managed to promote healthy populations. In central and southern Florida, the only way to produce a better herd and bigger bucks is by taking a direct role in managing for those results.

Other parts of Florida can ameliorate the lack of nutritional forage by instituting a carefully thought out plan that increases the nutrition available to the deer. A site analysis and inventory should be done in order to understand what the property has available to it, and what it lacks in.

Photo Credit: Blair Nixon

Remember that the quality of forage can vary widely, even within close proximity. Florida soils are also notoriously variable, and in many places there is only a thin veneer of organic matter and vegetation over sand. Proper husbandry of the soil, with the application of appropriate minerals, and the sowing of plants that helps the soil and at the same time provide quality forage, should be an important component of the quality deer management plan. Supplemental feeding of the appropriate feed, and the establishment of food plots that supply year round nutritional forage, can be instrumental in producing exceptional bucks for the area.

Credit: Koubian

But deer don't get big if they die young. Remember that in most of the country, 80 percent of all bucks taken are yearlings less than 1 ½ years old. With uncontrolled taking of these bucks it is unlikely that any potentially exceptional deer will survive.

As a result of this, many properties have instituted strict deer management guidelines that are followed to allow the younger deer to grow. Most bucks will not maximize their potential until they reach 4 to 5 years of age, and their ultimate size won't peak until 6 ½ years!. The age of the buck is the determining factor of the size of the buck's rack. By purposely avoiding shooting any young deer most property managers can see an increase in the number of older, larger bucks on their properties.

PhotoCredit: Jeffrodsj

In addition, it is imperative that the adult sex ratio be kept in line with the management goals. Initially a 2 to 1 doe to buck ratio should be pursued, with the goal of 1 to 1 as the future target. This will require careful observations, trail cameras, observation cards from fellow hunters, and even the use of a wildlife biologist.

Antlerless deer culling is one of the three most important steps that need to be taken. With a deer herd kept in check by best management practices, with a healthy sex ratio, the number of bucks actually increases. This of course requires a change in hunting practices, you will have to take more does, so make sure everyone is on board.

Again, your quality deer management program can be no better than the data collected. Every management program should have a “Check-in Station” where every deer taken must be brought in for the collection of information. It could be as formal as a clubhouse located right on the property, to one of the members garages where everyone stops by and the data is collected accurately and completely. Data from deer killed should include date the deer was taken, deer identification number if available, sex, age (jawbone), weight, lactation and antler measurements. Not commonly known, the dressed weight of fawns and yearlings, is the best indication of overall herd condition rather than the live weight.

Note: Materials needed to stock and equip a check station are available through the Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA; 1-800-209-3337) or Forestry Suppliers, Inc. (1-800-647-5368)

A PDF for the Check-In Station for data collection will be available soon for downloading here at TROC.

PhotoCredit: FDLReporter

Fond du Lac County Buck

Instituting a Quality Deer Management programs for not only high quality deer, but a healthy and productive herd, are well within the reach of Florida land owners, lease managers, and hunting aficionados. The keys are limiting the number of young bucks killed to the very minimum, sound nutrition, and a balanced adult sex ratio. Time is a necessary component, with discipline and patience its counterpart. You need time to see the results of your efforts, along with patience to see it through. Discipline, both in data gathering and trigger control are requisite to getting the results you want.

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