Fall Whitetail whitetail deer Management

Fall is the time when the deer hunter’s thoughts start moving to upcoming adventures in the deer woods.  It’s also the time to intensify your deer management efforts.  As in anything else there are right ways and wrong ways to go about it.  Here are some basic deer management tips which you may find useful.

The Transition Phase and Pre Primary Breeding/Scraping Phase
From early to mid October the whitetail buck groups should be breaking up. Rubs and scrapes may diminish in some areas as the whitetail bucks disperse and move to fall home ranges and establish dominance and breeding ranges. By mid October the whitetail deer usually shift from summer home ranges to fall home ranges. Scout frequently to find out where the whitetail bucks have gone, and where the whitetail deer are feeding.

From mid October to early November the whitetail bucks will begin peak scraping near nighttime food sources, and in travel corridors. Some of the does may come into estrus at this time, especially in the southern states. Scout to locate whitetail buck rub routes and feeding areas, then back track rub routes to locate whitetail buck core areas and bedding sites so you can choose stand sites This is one of the best times of the year to pattern and hunt a whitetail buck, because they are following their rub routes making rubs and scrapes on a semi-regular basis. Scout to locate doe core areas and feeding sites, so you know where to find the does, and the whitetail bucks, during the rut.  Choose stand sites for hunting the rut.

Whitetail Deer Genetics

For a number of years whitetail deer experts believed that spike yearling whitetail bucks possessed inferior genetics and would never produce respectable, or trophy racks. Because of this belief game managers and hunters alike promoted the idea of culling the spikes from the herd to improve overall genetics. The feeling now is that many spikes may be late born fawns that just don’t have time to produce larger racks their first year. A whitetail buck’s rack doesn’t keep growing until it reaches a certain size and then stop;  it grows until lengthening daylight hours increase hormone levels causing the rack to stop growing and harden. Because the rise in hormone level stops the growth of the rack at about the same time in most whitetail bucks, those that were born a month or so later have less rack growth their first year. During their second year late born whitetail bucks have the same growing time as other whitetail bucks, and may produce normal sized racks.
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In one scientific study, when whitetail bucks were given supplemental feed and proper minerals, most of the whitetail bucks produced four to ten point racks their first year. There was also one whitetail buck in the study with a spike rack. With continued supplemental feeding and mineral all the whitetail bucks produced bigger racks each year, including the spike. In fact, during the fourth year, the spike produced the largest rack of all. This suggests that the only way to find out what kind of a rack the whitetail buck will produce, is to let it grow until it is 4-7 years old.

I recently had a talk with a whitetail deer breeder who is producing Boone and Crockett antlers on 2-3 year old whitetail bucks. He informs me this is possible because they carefully select fast growing whitetail bucks with good antler genetics, and breed them to does with good antler genetics. The animals are provided with minerals and receive supplemental feed throughout the year. He says that producing whitetail bucks of this quality is difficult with wild whitetail deer because they don’t receive the same nutrition, and it’s hard to keep track of genetics.

I also asked the breeder whether he thought the high wide 8 point whitetail bucks on my property would ever grow 10 point racks. I had suspected for years that these older 8 point whitetail bucks would never grow a 10 point rack. He confirmed my suspicions and said that, in his experience, older 8 point whitetail bucks rarely produce 10 point racks. I also asked whitetail deer biologist Dr. Ben Koerth the same question, because he has extensively studied antler genetics. He told me that he has seen two and a half year old 8 point whitetail bucks grow 10 point racks during their third year. But, he added that if a whitetail buck doesn’t grow a 10 point rack by the time it is three years old, it most likely never will.

As a result of these conversations I have decided to take out all the four and a half year old and older whitetail bucks on my property that don’t grow 10 point or better and bigger racks, in an effort to increase trophy deer quality. I know that not all areas produce 10 point or better racks, but, if you want the whitetail deer in your area to produce large racks, and you see older whitetail bucks with racks smaller than the average in your area, you may want to remove them, so they don’t add to or adversely affect the genetic pool.

Whitetail Doe Harvest

An easier way to improve deer genetics is to harvest older class does. The faster the turnover of females, the faster genetics can improve. A whitetail buck gets half it’s genetics from it’s mother, so if older does are continuing to produce fawns, the same genetics (which may be inferior) are passed on. In a herd with the right age structure,  50 to 60 percent of the does taken each year should be 2 1/2 or younger. This will produce a doe herd with an average age of 2 1/2 to 3/12 years, which will cause the entire doe herd, and the genetics, to turnover in about 3 1/2 years. When you turnover the doe herd, and protect the better whitetail bucks, whitetail genetics will change quickly.

Deer hunting in a tradition in many parts of the country and this heritage should be handed down to future generations.  Responsibility, ethics and safety should always be our primary concern.  Respect for the game we seek is always important.

This article was written by T.R. Michels, who is a nationally known game researcher and wildlife behavior specialist, outdoor writer and seminar speaker.