The best way to increase and improve whitetail hunting opportunity to to manage for deer and the things they eat. Habitat for any wildlife species always consists of food, cover, water and space. Landowners can learn a lot about whitetail deer, wild turkey and other native animals simply by contacting their local state wildlife agency. Most of these folks are biologists that can tell you exactly what you will need to do to improve deer habitat and whitetail hunting on your property.
Case in point:
Deer Hunter and Landowner: “I traveled up to my property this week and met with a wildlife biologist on our place. This guy shared a lot of good information and he also liked some of the habitat management practices I already planned for the property. He said that although we want to plant some other attractive food items, the whitetail deer have more than enough forage growing on the property to keep them around. The biologist pointed out food sources like greenbriar, honeysuckle, dewberry, muskadine grapes, American beautyberry and all sorts of browse and forb plants.
There are also lot of mast trees like water oaks, chestnut oaks, southern red oaks, blackjack oak, hickories and even persimmon for whitetail deer. After the meeting, my wife and I planted the shumard oaks as well the blueberry bushes in an area along the creek. After scouting the place for whitetail hunting I realized that there are already oak and pine sapling shooting up all over the place. We also tilled up a good sized food plot and planted peanuts and spread a plot mix across the planting area.
As for herbaceous plants, we have quite a bit of native bluestem but the biologist is going to come up with a management plan to get rid of the invasive stuff that we have and improve the landscape and encourage the bluestem even more. The biologist said that most people do not really need to plant anything when it comes to wildlife and deer management. Many times the best management is just not destroying what you have.
The plants that are the most well adapted to an area are native plants. He showed me that we have a lot of good stuff for whitetail deer. We just need to protect and promote it. In addition, my neighbor to the east is interested in forming a wildlife management co-op to manage the habitat and whitetail deer hunting. Things are really looking up for the place and I look forward to enhancing and promoting native plants on the property.”