Lets Help Our Herds!
With the ongoing drought, and due to the accounts of many people on TBH, it is apparent that many different parts of the state are suffering.
Lots of hunters are seeing less deer, both on trail cam and in person. Many believe the drought has finally started to catch up on our deer herds.
What can we do?
Water
Im sure I am preaching to the choir, but water is extremely valuable. I know on one of our places we have been without water for over a year now and we have seen a drastic decrease in the amount of deer we see, but with the recent rains we are slowly starting to get a little standing in the ponds.
Building a water supply system is fairly easy to do, and relatively inexpensive. If you can take the time and have the funds to do so, it would not be a bad idea to go ahead and build a few. There are many designs in This thread. We are in the process of putting one on one place, and four on another. They are a very good investment, and will provide water to the wildlife. If you can provide water in an area where it is scarce, you will see more, healthier, deer.
Feed
Another thing you can do is to keep feeding. I know that some people cannot afford to feed year round, but for those who can it is very helpful. Deer are coming out of the rut, there is little water, and in most areas food is scarce. I know that a lot of people tend to turn off their feeders after deer season is over, but this year consider trying to feed year round. If you can afford to feed protein do so, but if not even corn can help provide our deer with supplemental food that they need.
Predator Control
Low fawn crops last year will hurt many places in the coming years. While you cant prevent all fawn deaths, thinning out predators can help.
On my lease in Gordon there was intensive predator control occurring over the spring and summer. We saw many healthy fawns survive, and they are now doing well. This is a place that used to have high fawn mortality due to predators, but now we are seeing good fawn crops. Trap, shoot, or snare, but do whatever you can to try to make it easier for our fawns to survive.
This is obviously nothing new, but hopefully it will encourage someone to help out our herds. They need it!
Lots of hunters are seeing less deer, both on trail cam and in person. Many believe the drought has finally started to catch up on our deer herds.
What can we do?
Water
Im sure I am preaching to the choir, but water is extremely valuable. I know on one of our places we have been without water for over a year now and we have seen a drastic decrease in the amount of deer we see, but with the recent rains we are slowly starting to get a little standing in the ponds.
Building a water supply system is fairly easy to do, and relatively inexpensive. If you can take the time and have the funds to do so, it would not be a bad idea to go ahead and build a few. There are many designs in This thread. We are in the process of putting one on one place, and four on another. They are a very good investment, and will provide water to the wildlife. If you can provide water in an area where it is scarce, you will see more, healthier, deer.
Feed
Another thing you can do is to keep feeding. I know that some people cannot afford to feed year round, but for those who can it is very helpful. Deer are coming out of the rut, there is little water, and in most areas food is scarce. I know that a lot of people tend to turn off their feeders after deer season is over, but this year consider trying to feed year round. If you can afford to feed protein do so, but if not even corn can help provide our deer with supplemental food that they need.
Predator Control
Low fawn crops last year will hurt many places in the coming years. While you cant prevent all fawn deaths, thinning out predators can help.
On my lease in Gordon there was intensive predator control occurring over the spring and summer. We saw many healthy fawns survive, and they are now doing well. This is a place that used to have high fawn mortality due to predators, but now we are seeing good fawn crops. Trap, shoot, or snare, but do whatever you can to try to make it easier for our fawns to survive.
This is obviously nothing new, but hopefully it will encourage someone to help out our herds. They need it!
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