Derrick | Whitetail Hunting

MLDP – Managed Lands Permits in Texas

Question: I know that Texas has a Managed Lands Deer Permit (MLDP)program that allows hunters to get involved with white-tailed deer management and in some cases shoot over their regular season bag limit? How does this program work and what do I have to get involved? We are interested in managing our deer for better whitetail hunting.

Answer: Good question. The Managed Lands Deer Permit Program is administered by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). The first step is to contact your local TPWD wildlife biologist. They will want to set up a meeting with you on your property and look at the available deer habitat and its condition. The biologist will estimate the number of deer your property can support.

Then, the biologist will help you set up some surveys and instruct you on how to conduct deer surveys so that you can estimate the number of deer on the property. After the surveys are completed you must send in your ranch’s data to your biologist, who will then use the data to estimate the number of whitetail deer that are on your property. Continue reading MLDP – Managed Lands Permits in Texas

Do Goats Effect Whitetail Deer Hunting?

Question: I have just recently received permission to whitetail hunt a piece of property but it has livestock on it, goats in particular. What I was wondering was if goats would affect the whitetail deer hunting a lot or would they be able to co-exist. I am looking to find out if it’s worth my time to look at hunting this ranch property?

Answer: Personally, I would not waste my time deer hunting a property that is stocked with goats, especially a ranch that is heavily stocked. And let’s face it, all ranches with goats are heavily stocked and offer poor deer habitat. If you are looking to put some deer meat in the the freezer then you can probably shoot some deer if you set up a feeder in one corner of the ranch. This will allow you to lure deer from the neighbors, but the neighbors won’t like you. Continue reading Do Goats Effect Whitetail Deer Hunting?

Whitetail Hunting the Solunar Table

Deer hunters have been trying to identify the best times to head out whitetail hunting since there have been deer to hunt. With research and wildlife studies it would seem that technology could be used to give us the ultimate hunting tool. Although there have been some applications developed for computers and mobile devices, they are all based of the Solunar Theory developed by John Knight back in the 1930’s.

Knight was an outdoorsmen and sportswriter who perfected his fish and game activity theory over a period of many years, making observations while whitetail hunting and out fishing. This solunar table pioneer found that all fish and game — including deer, turkey, bass, and trout — are more active during different times of the day and night. Continue reading Whitetail Hunting the Solunar Table

Best Whitetail Deer Hunting Blind?

Question: I am at a lose with regard to what I need to do for a deer hunting blind this deer season. I don’t know if I want to build a ground blind or just buy a pop-up blind. If I decide to go with a pop-up blind, do I need to leave it up or can I put it up the night before I am going to hunt and leave it for the weekend?

I just got on a whitetail deer lease and do not know if I will stay on it, so I do not know if I want to worry about building and setting it up to take it down. Also what are the benefits of a pop up and how far from my feeder should I set it up? I will be rifle hunting for deer and hogs.

Answer: There are a lot of choices when trying to select a hunting blind for whitetail hunting and it can be a little overwhelming. For your situation I would suggest getting yourself a good sturdy pop-up that is big enough to move around in and find a good looking spot and set it up. This will also allow animals in the area to become familiar with your blind.

Hunters can leave a pop up blind up all season if they take the necessary precautions. Those precautions would include making sure you have the pop-up anchored down and tied off to trees or nearby brush. Those blue northers will destroy a blind that is not anchored down and may even blow it into the next county–which happened to me once in North Texas. Continue reading Best Whitetail Deer Hunting Blind?

Is Feeding Suburban Deer Healthy?

Question: I am not a whitetail hunter, but I just love to feed the deer in my greenspace neighborhood. I have a battery operated feeder and have been feeding them deer corn and was told this is not as healthy as soybeans. Is this true and will soybeans work in my feeder?

Answer: First, let me say that the feeding of any wild animal by people should be considered purely supplemental. White-tailed deer should be no different. First, there are many arguments surrounding the feeding of whitetail deer, whether in rural hunting woods or in suburban areas such as the greenbelt around your house.

Whitetail are really neat critters that all sorts of people like for many different reasons. However, deer are fairly simple animals that require food, cover, water, and space. The food part is what we are talking about today. Continue reading Is Feeding Suburban Deer Healthy?

Using Human Urine in Deer Scrapes

Question: I’ve heard a lot about deer scrapes in the past and my hunting buddy swears on urinating in them while whitetail hunting. Will human urine attract bucks to real or mock scrapes? And will it work with mock scrapes?

Answer: In the past hunters would hear a lot about mock scrapes. At one point, it seemed like everyone whitetail hunting on a TV show could teach how to make a mock scrape. However, it seems whitetail bucks are not as picky as we once thought. I know of one mock scrape study in particular where human urine as the only scent placed in some of the mock scrapes.

The researcher’s cameras recorded whitetail bucks using these mock scrapes and always left their own, real urine on the bare earth. This research showed that buck visits to mock scrapes with human urine were used at the same rate as those where buck urine had been used. Continue reading Using Human Urine in Deer Scrapes

What is Good Deer Habitat?

Better Habitat Management for Better Deer!

White-tailed deer are very adaptable animals, but good deer habitat usually includes a mixture of trees, shrubs, vines, forbs, grasses. High quality deer habitat will also contain important foods such as fungi and even sedges. Of course, specific plants within each of these categories benefit deer more than others. If you really looked at a deer’s mouth, you will notice that it’s quite small and relatively pointed. This is because deer are highly selective with regards to their diet.

Palatable plants should be well interspersed throughout an area, so that the whole area functions as deer habitat. Over much of the whitetail’s habitat, adequate woody plants should be present to provide food, shelter and concealment. The enroachment of woody plants into areas that were once dominated by grasses is an important reason for the expansion of the whitetail deer. In addition to browse plants, some sort of water source should be available about every mile for deer watering. Put all these habitat requirements together—food, cover, water, and space—and you’ve got whitetail habitat.

When it comes to deer habitat, plant diversity is an important because deer require a variety of plants to provide their various needs. Many plants are utilized during only one season (when they are growing/available) or a portion of a season. Keep in mind that each plant that is eaten provides only a portion of a deer’s nutritional requirements. However, many plant species are not consumed by deer. These plants are also important, serving as cover and concealment for traveling and loafing animals. Continue reading What is Good Deer Habitat?

How Should We Manage Bucks on Our Lease?

Question: I am on a 2,000 acre property in Eastern Oklahoma with several other guys that we lease for white-tailed deer hunting. We have started doing deer surveys to estimate the number of deer on the land, but we are not sure how we should go about managing the bucks on the property? Any suggestions?

Answer: First, everyone always emphasizes the importance of providing optimum nutrition throughout the year. This is important so that the bucks in your area can reach their genetic potential. However, there is much more to whitetail management than nutrition, and there is more to whitetail hunting than just pulling the triger. It’s true that hunters make a number of important decisions with their trigger fingers, so what you shoot and what you pass up has a big affect on future hunting. Continue reading How Should We Manage Bucks on Our Lease?