What do deer eat in south texas - what do deer eat in south texas

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What do deer eat in south texas - what do deer eat in south texas. What do Deer Eat? Deer Diets Explained

 

Deer will opportunistically eat from any available food source they see during their daily activities. Browse from small shrubs and trees is the most reliable year round food source for White-Tailed Deer. Forbs and mast on the other hand are only available seasonally and in some years mast may not be available at all. White-tailed Deer are ruminants but unlike other ruminants Cattle, Sheep, and Goats they are not efficient at digesting grass.

This is why you will often hear of landowners planting rygrass, oats, wheat, and barley in food plots. These grasses are also common in the famous food plot mixes.

Deer are opportunistic and will take on additional nutrition wherever they can find it. This includes gardens, crops, and orchards. Many larger ranches will provide supplemental protein for their deer heard from broadcast and free choice feeders.

Deer use protein for reproduction, lactation, maintaining a normal metabolism, and to produce those beautiful antlers. The University of Missouri has done extensive studies on this and has published the findings below. Read the full article right where these findings are published HERE. The take away from this research in my opinion is that protein requirements for deer to thrive are double the amount required for them to maintain weight AND these requirements need to be met essentially year round.

Since protein is such an important part of their physiological needs, bucks will prioritize protein for metabolism and body maintenance if overall protein intake is not enough to fuel both body maintenance AND antler growth. This is the minimum threshold for a deer to maintain weight but it will not suffice for breeding purposes or lactation. Dry forage weight is the amount all of the consumed forage consumed would weigh if it was completely dried out.

A deer that is not consuming this amount of nutrition will not achieve its optimal growth or reproduction. For more information on this subject check our article written by Dr. At times may be necessary to provide a supplement to what the natural habitat provides. Periods of prolonged drought can have dire consequences on white-tailed populations which can be seen in poor body weights and a low fawn recruitment. Food plots should be planted in the spring and provide a nutritional supplement for deer during the hot and dry summer months as well as in the fall to provide extra nutrition during the winter months.

I typically recommend planting more than one species in a plot at a time. In some areas food plots may not be possible or feasible. For example, in west Texas food plots are almost impossible to grow without irrigation. In these cases it may be better to offer supplemental nutrition via protein pellets. The Texas Hill Country boasts some of the highest populations of White-tailed deer in the country.

According to Texas Parks and Wildlife , counties such as Mason, Gillespie, and Llano deer populations can be as dense as 1 deer for every acres. This is the highest density of White-Tailed Deer in the nation. For a more comprehensive look at White-tailed deer populations in Texas, check out this article How many deer in Texas? Forbs, in general, were most selected during March-May, making up 50 percent of the deer diet during spring.

Mesquite beans were highly preferred by deer during June-September. A second study in Hidalgo County was conducted by Everitt and Gonzalez during They examined the rumens of 94 hunter-killed deer to determine deer diet preferences during fall.

They also examined hunter-killed deer from Kenedy and Willacy counties in eastern south Texas. In Hidalgo County, these researchers again found that prickly pear made up the largest percentage of the deer diet 61 percent by volume and 55 percent by occurrence.

Browse 16 percent was second in volume, followed by forbs 12 percent , and grasses 3 percent. These researchers felt prickly pear was most selected because few forbs were available at the Hidalgo County site. They reported that lime pricklyash, bluewood, cenizo, twisted acacia, granjeno, ebony, and Mexican persimmon were all highly preferred plant species. Eastern South Texas Everitt and Gonzalez, examining fall hunter-killed deer in Kenedy and Willacy counties, found that forbs 38 percent made up the highest percentage volume of deer rumens.

Second was browse 27 percent , followed by grasses 25 percent , and prickly pear 4 percent. In eastern south Texas, annual rainfall totals are higher, allowing increased forb production. When more forbs were available, deer selected forbs over all other plant types. Both browse and grasses were also more selected in eastern south Texas, while prickly pear dropped to last.

These researchers concluded that the most important forb species were burhead, water clover, frog-fruit, and longtom. The most important browse species were lime pricklyash, bluewood, cenizo, twisted acacia, granjeno, ebony, and Mexican persimmon. They found that the annual deer diet was primarily made up of forbs 87 percent , followed by grasses 10 percent , and browse 3 percent. Forbs were the primary diet component during all months, reaching highest percentage consumption during spring.

Grass consumption was highest during winter and early spring. The most important forb species were malvostrum, western ragweed, prairie coneflower, orange zexmania, and bladderpod.

Most important grass species were Texas wintergrass and rescuegrass. Grasses were most eaten during periods of rapid growth when they were more easily digested. During , Chamrad and Box examined the rumen contents of 60 deer collected during winter and spring on the Welder Wildlife Refuge. They found different plant species in the rumens, including different forb plants, 30 different grasses, and 23 different species of browse. They reported that forbs and grasses made up over 90 percent of the deer diet during January-May.

During this period, forbs made up 68 percent of the diet, grasses made up 22 percent, and browse made up 5 percent. Forbs were most preferred during April, while peak browse use was during January and May.

He found that diet selection varied according to soil type and that forbs made up 53 to 70 percent of the diet, browse made up 22 to 45 percent, and grasses made up 2 to 8 percent of the diet. He also reported that prickly pear fruit was very important as a source of mast for deer during August. Brush control methods, such as chaining, roller chopping, or root plowing, should also be used to open dense stands of brush to increase forb growth because forb production is especially important in meeting deer nutritional needs.

Tune in next week as we explore the antler shedding process. Deer Food Plot.