Response: Cottonseed can be used as a supplemental protein source for whitetail, but my experience with it is it is labor intensive unless your are setup to handle it. Feeding cottonseed is very demanding during high heat and humidity. You will need a covered shed to store it under, tractor with front end loader to move it around or load onto trailer/truck to move around ranch to put in feeders.

To get cottonseed, you will have to book it from cotton gins in advance and take everything that you order. It can be very hard to get deer to learn to eat it on some places, but this varies from ranch to ranch. It also has a chemical compound called gossypol that can impact deer breeding. Gossypol has caused sterility in bulls on feed, and literature says it can do the same to deer if fed at the wrong time. That would hurt the whitetail hunting, not improve it!

The bad thing about cottonseed is that during a drought it is hard to find. The use of cottonseed by those involved in deer management programs has increase the price in recent years, but it is high in protein (20 percent plus), high in fat and also in fiber and is as close to a complete feed as one can get but lacks key minerals. A lot of ranches use it and deer will come to love it. Many properties feed it from February through September and have zero problems during the rut.

All livestock love cottonseed. I have seen feral hogs try to eat it, but research has found that if they eat too much is will kill hogs. Cottonseed is weather resistant due to the natural oils in it, but if it does rain it will sprout. Deer will also eat the cotton plant. You can make a cottonseed feeder using 2 inch by 4 inch welded wire that is about 4 to 5 feet tall and creating a round circular column (about 24 to 30 inches in diameter). All you have to do is dump the cottonseed in and the deer will eat it right through the wire.

Do not provide free-choice cottonseed during the whitetail hunting season or it will decrease daylight deer sightings. It could also impact the sterility of your bucks. Remove all cottonseed from the field at least 60 days prior to the rut.

We are now talking September 4, pretty nice size antlers, and the buck is still with the doe and current year’s fawn. They are feeding happily in the morning and afternoon on our property and seem to enjoy the habitat. They all seem to get along fine. Can someone tell us what is going on here? As far as I know the bucks are supposed to be at boot camp gearing up for the big mating game, but not this one.”

Response: When it comes to nature, nothing is a given. Although whitetail deer movement can vary from year to year, and so can family groups, it is not uncommon to see the previous year’s fawns still hanging out with their mom prior to and even after fawning the following year. Although it is more common for does to hang out, especially into September, this is not always the case.

Sometimes, buck fawns will still be running around with his mom the following year. This is not as common, but is far from unusual. Typically, young bucks are forced to disperse away from the areas where they were raised. This does not necessarily occur because of the doe, but because of an older buck or multiple bucks that occupy the area. In these instances, the young buck may move from one to five miles before it finally finds a place to call home.

I suspect the buck in your case did not get pushed out, probably because there are a low number of whitetail bucks in your area. This may not be the case, but I am willing to put money on it. Whitetail deer movement, especially in bucks, can vary a lot. Herd composition can impact these movements, but so can family group dynamics. Although yearling bucks (1.5 year old deer) do not always hang out with mom, it is not uncommon either.

The lease is mostly heavily brushed with mesquite and huisache. There are cleared shooting lanes. I do have a water well and access to tanks to provide the deer with water. In addition, I plan on feeding corn year-round and supplying “all they can eat” protein until the end of September. What else can I do?”

Answer: There are a number of things you can do to improve the quality of deer and the whitetail deer hunting on your South Texas lease. First and foremost, allow the bucks found on your property to mature. This is the single easiest way to produce good quality deer. It’s also the easiest. I would cull some inferior deer, but don’t get carried away unless your place is covered up with animals.

If you do have an overabundance of deer, then the next most important thing you can do is implement deer population control. Individual deer must be healthy for the deer herd to be healthy. Bucks will grow bigger antlers and does will produce better fawn crops if they are well fed. Deer can not be well fed if the deer density is too high, unless you are ready to foot an really expensive protein bill.

Speaking of protein, do provide supplemental foods. Since you are in South Texas, food plots will not be reliable. Protein pellets are great for your situation. For the hot, dry environment found there I would suggest a pellet with 16% protein. You can feed more, but you could also have issues during the summer. If you want to provide additional protein, look at feeding a 20% protein pellet in January and February, then switch to 16% through September.

To help the hunting on your place, keep the property quiet and the shooting to a minimum. This will make deer want to stay on the place more. In addition, set aside sanctuary areas, such as parts of the ranch with thick cover you do not go into. Place protein feeders near these areas, preferably around the core of your deer lease. This will help hold animals on the place, especially if you keep in quiet and supplied with food and water.

A 430 acre place is a good amount of land, but you will not be able to keep bucks only on your land. You must understand that they will roam off of your place, or will at least be able to. That said, bucks will also come from neighboring leases. But bucks are smart, especially older ones. If possible contact these neighboring places and set up some common deer management goals. This will get the best results, although implementing the above recommendations will definitely help your whitetail hunting and the quality of animals on your leased property.

I grabbed my binoculars and looked and the doe’s tongue was huge, hanging out at least 6 inches! She looked bad, so I got my gun and put her down. I was still thinking that it was a shot deer so I got a tag and walked outside. I got up to her and she had no marks or entry wounds on her what so ever. The doe was very skinny and the tongue was huge. Do you think this is blue tongue?”

Answer: Yes, in my opinion it sounds exactly like blue tongue or Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD). These diseases have very similar symptoms and even blood samples from infected deer test out about the same. Since these diseases are so similar, most deer that die with the symptoms you have described get reported as deaths caused by blue tongue. However, I should note that most deer that die from blue tongue do not actually get a blue tongue… it’s only found in a small percentage.

White-tailed deer develop signs of illness about 7 days after getting bitten by an infected midge fly. Deer initially lose their appetite and fear of man, grow progressively weaker, often salivate excessively, develop a rapid pulse and respiration rate, and fever. Affected deer commonly visit ponds and creeks in an effort to reduce their body temperature. Hemorrhage and lack of oxygen in the blood results in a blue appearance of the oral mucosa, hence the name “blue tongue.”

Within eight to 36 hours following the onset of observable signs, deer pass into a shock-like state, become prostrate and die from both blue tongue and EHD. Since the deer you shot was both skinny, as in starving, and had a huge tongue, I would put money on the deer having either blue tongue or EHD. I would not feel bad about putting the deer down. It was going to die shortly, put probably in a lot more pain.

We have good habitat, but it’s in poor condition. We have three protein feeders and the deer are eating about 2,400 pounds a month. We’ve also kept all of out corn feeders going to try and help the deer out. The spring food plots we planted never came up, and it does not look like they will even if we do get some rain. No food plots until fall I guess, when we shall try again. We are interested in determining how many deer are on our property. Do you think a couple spotlight surveys would work? We always have trail cameras out in the field, and we keep track of the deer we see every time we are on the property. Any suggestions appreciated. Thank you. M.J.”

Response: It sounds like you are in the same boat as every other deer hunter in Texas this year. Drought conditions across the state are shaping up to be the worst in many, many decades. Habitat is looking lackluster and there are hungry fawns on the ground right now. This makes it tough for lactating does, so feeding protein to deer right now makes a ton of sense. This management practice, though expensive, will probably save your fawn crop this year. Of course, the bucks on your property will also be in much better shape and sport larger antlers, too.

There are many ways to survey white-tailed deer. For your location, it sounds like spotlight surveys would work great for you. Spotlight surveys take into account not only the number of deer observed, but also the amount of area surveyed. With spotlight surveys, it is just as important to accurately estimate the amount of visible land surveyed as it is to count deer. To find out more about how to conduct spotlight surveys for deer, check out that.

Motion-activated game cameras can also be used to collect useful population data. Properly used trail cameras can collect the same information as the daylight surveys you conduct. Read this about game camera surveys for deer before you start. Cameras must be placed away from food sources, typically along trails, roadways or the edges of fields—basically anywhere that deer travel. Cameras placed on protein feeders are biased towards bucks, meaning you will see more bucks. This is because bucks tend to “dominate” high quality food sources. Game cameras also work on food plots (which you don’t have) since it’s hard for an individual animal to prevent others from accessing an entire field of food.

Also, it sounds like you are very interested in deer management. Texas actually has a state-administered program called the Managed Lands Deer Permit Program. Under the program, a biologist is assigned to work with you to achieve your management goals. Landowners that conduct habitat management practices on their property get issued MLD Permits based on deer survey data. I would recommend looking into it since you are already doing the work and it appears to fall in line with your management objectives.

So far, the deer on the ranch have been receptive to the whole cottonseed. We have placed it in cottonseed feeders at 12 locations on the property. It is easy to feed compared to protein because we do not have to use feeders. Each cottonseed cage holds about 400 to 500 pounds of seed. Some of the seed is right next to feeders while some is located where we intend to place feeders in the future. Some are fenced in while others are out in the open.

To date we have not seen any feral hogs eating the cottonseed. The cotton gin said hogs would eat it though, but others have told me different. I guess we will see. The bobwhite quail seem to like it though. Those little rascals will sit on the feed and not leave!

As for whitetail deer use of the cottonseed, some feeders are being hit very hard while others have not been touched at all. To start them feeding on the cottonseed, we added corn to about 5 cages and they have been hit the hardest. In fact, deer continue to hammer these sites even after all the corn is gone. Currently, it seems the deer prefer feeding on cottonseed over the protein pellets. Of course, the protein feeders are timed feeders on our property.

Feeding cottonseed to deer seems to be working, but the major concerns I have are about the feed getting wet. I worry about mildew and mold as well as waste since the deer seem to spread the feed out on the ground. As things move forward I will let you know if we see a difference in the horns on our bucks this coming year of whitetail hunting. I have been a little nervous about trying cottonseed, but so far so good.

Response: It sounds like you are taking a fair look at cottonseed, and I don’t think you will be disappointed. I know that cotonseed will put weight back on deer during late winter, so your bucks and does will be in oustanding shape for spring. Let’s just hope it rains a little, too!

Cottonseed is good, but it’s not a wonder food for deer. I would be hesitant to recommend that a ranch feed only cottonseed as a supplement because it does lack some of the micro- and macronutrients that deer require. However, you are also feeding protein so I don’t think you should have anything to worry about.

Deer also get nutrients from their habitat when they consume browse, forbs and mast, so although cottonseed could be feed stand-alone, I feel better about it since you are feeding both cottonseed and protein. I think it will keep your body weights high and your deer healthy, meaning not only better whitetail hunting for bucks, but better fawn production and recruitment.

Question: There always seems to be a big debate in the whitetail hunting community over shooting deer on a high fenced ranch. I don’t understand why some hunters get so bent out of shape that other hunters pay to shoot deer on high fence ranches. Big deal. There are many Texas hunting ranches that operate this way, but many others that do not. Besides, some hunters pay to shoot deer on low fenced ranches.

I don’t have a problem with hunting deer within a high fence. It’s not like the hunters who harvest them are filling the record books with them. I would rather shoot a truly wild buck, but what do you think is best?

Answer: You pose a really good deer hunting question that has no obvious correct answer. I have deer hunted for almost 30 years and have shot only one deer behind a high fence. It was a doe. That being said, I have been on many high fenced ranches and they vary quite a bit. Some places are so big you would be hard-pressed not to consider it “free range.” Others are so small that you know that something is just not right.

The reason a landowner would construct a high fence around a property is so that they can implement increased whitetail deer management. They want to keep the deer in so that they can manage the herd’s age, genetics, and nutrition. But it’s not so much about keeping the deer on their property, it’s more about bucks not getting shot at an early age on a neighboring property.

The owners of high fenced ranches do not intend to chase “their” deer into a corner to shoot them. That is not any kind of whitetail hunting that a real hunter would be involved with. The fact is, deer living within high fenced ranches are less likely to be shot. Every whitetail hunter knows that a major factor in growing big deer is controlling age.

With deer hunting purist, deer harvested off low fences is the only way to go. In fact, I would suggest that most hunters would prefer to harvest deer off low fenced ranches, but with the price of land it would be difficult for most landowners to have enough property that the bulk of the deer do not also use neighboring ranches. Because landowners want highly managed deer herds, the result is high fences.

In the end, the height of a ranch’s fence should not matter. Although most high fences are constructed to better manage both the deer herd and habitat, I’ve seen some that have gone the other direction — too many deer! And the habitat suffers as a result. Of course, I’ve seen poor habitat on low fenced ranches as well because of either deer or livestock or both. In Texas, landowners can work with the state wildlife department and use MLDP permits to improve their deer herd, but habitat management practices must be implemented.

Better whitetail hunting can be had through proper deer population and habitat management. So I would say, regardless of the height of one’s fence, if they are working to improve habitat and grow better whitetail deer, then hunting is 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.

The number of MLD permits issued is the different between the number of estimated deer on your property and the number the property can support. For example, if they say your property can support 100 animals, but your surveys estimate 125 animals, then you will receive 100 MLD permits.

Permits are issued from survey data that attempts to estimate the deer population that exists on a property. MLD permits are only issued under the premise that a landowner wants to manage both the habitat and deer herd found on their property. Property size has little to do with permit issuance, but more importantly the relationship between the number of deer and the amount of available habitat. As a rule of thumb, however, smaller properties usually receive fewer permits than larger properties.

There are 3 levels to the program. Level 1 permits are issued for does only. Level 2 MLDP allows the harvest of does and spikes during archery season using any whitetail hunting method and up until the end of February. Under Level 2, any buck can be shot during the start of the general season until the end of February. Level 3 MLDP allows the harvest of any deer, buck or doe, from the beginning of archery season until the end of February using any whitetail hunting method. Level 3 offers the most flexibility for deer management, but you must work your way up. You can move up one level each year.

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.

It is true that soybeans are better than corn, but I don’t suggest you use either. I do not recommend any type of feeding, even protein pellets, in suburban settings, primarily because deer can exceed the carrying capacity of the habitat through the addition of supplemental foods.

I have seen and read about plant communities in housing developments and greenbelts destroyed by over-abundant deer herds time and time again. In almost every case it’s because of the addition of supplemental feed.

In nature, everything is about balance. Animal populations only grow when there is food to consume. However, any time food is artificially added to wildlife populations, particularly in the absence of active management, then problems can and will arise.

Deer populations are naturally limited by food availability. A whitetail population will continue to grow until it reaches the carrying capacity of the area, at which point it will reproduction will go to 0 because of a lack of nutrition. Population die-off will occur.

The addition of foods, even low quality foods such as corn, can cause deer populations to grow way beyond the ability of the natural environment to support them. As the population of deer grows so must the volume of supplemental food to support the increased number of animals. It turns into a nasty cycle and everyone, including the deer, suffer.

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.

You face a common question: Which bucks do I shoot and which ones do I let go? Most hunters make that decision based on antler size (as in the biggest), but this is typically a bad decision. Using this technique, the best bucks tend to get shot first, leaving the inferior bucks to sire the rest of the herd. WRONG.

A buck can not be considered mature until is is at least is 4 1/2 years old. It is at this age that a deer manager can really see the kind of antlers and body size he is capable of producing. Getting bucks to this age is not always easy because they are much easier to kill when they are a year younger and right on the verge of becoming great trophies. This is the age (3 1/2) when most hunters simply can’t pass up a “trophy” buck. Little do they know that the buck they just shot would have been a real monster a couple of years down the road.

When a hunter starts making management decisions based on age rather than antler size, you get a good idea of what bucks look like. When a lot of hunters head out hunting, they see a buck and shoot it—never really studying the deer they see. Instead of learning of the buck’s body characteristics that help them to age the deer, the simply shoot it. DONE.

Next time you shoot a buck, look at it before you pull the trigger. Study the jawline, the neck, and the relationship of the front shoulders to the belly to the hindquarters. Then, once the animal is harvested, remove the jaw and age the deer deer using the teeth. This will give you a better understanding of the relationship between the physical characteristics that you see and the actual age of the deer when you’re out whitetail hunting.

Once you begin to manage and harvest bucks by age, you will become very proficient and aging deer on the hoof. This ability, of course, is critical for managing bucks by age. In closing, to keep a good age structure of bucks on your property, I would recommend that you and your fellow hunters harvest no more than 20% of the bucks off the property in any single year. This includes culls at all age classes as well as trophy bucks. NOW YOU”RE TALKING!