“Are you seeing antlers?” This time of year that question almost always means seeing bucks that have started growing a new set of antlers. However, that’s not the case this year. Due to the record warm winter and significantly lower than normal stress levels on deer, many bucks throughout the whitetails’ range are still holding antlers from the 2011-12 season.

Buck with Last Years Antlers at a Trophy Rock on 3-30-2012

Buck with New Antler Growth at a Trophy Rock on 4-10-2012

At The Proving Grounds we got Reconyx images last week of bucks still holding antlers from last season and bucks that have shed and are starting to grow new antlers. I’ve even had a report of an image from Iowa of a buck that still has his antlers from last year and is starting to grow new antlers off to the side. That has happened before – but it is very odd.

I don’t know (and I doubt anyone does) what all this means as far as antler growth this summer. I strongly suspect the growing conditions this summer will be more of an influence on antler production more than the odd shedding pattern that is occurring. I’m very eager to see how antlers develop this summer! I would appreciate seeing trail camera images of bucks that haven’t shed as of today (April 13th). I’d also really appreciate any trail camera images of bucks that are growing their new antlers while still holding antlers from last year. (You can upload the images directly to my Facebook page.)

Odd years produce odd results. I’m eager to see how the average antler production during 2012 turns out!

Growing Deer (and learning) together,

Grant

I’ve been driving/riding across South Dakota, Nebraska, and Missouri since before daylight. Adam and I have probably seen 50 gobblers strutting during this drive. We’ve crossed 100’s of miles in latitude, driven through row crop, pasture, national forest, and river bottom habitat types. We’ve seen fallow fields, planted fields, and farmers planting  fields. The one constant has been that temperatures are much warmer than normal for this time of year and it appears that turkeys are about a month ahead of their normal mating season schedule.

Last weekend was youth season in Missouri. I took both Raleigh and Rae hunting with high expectations of a double harvest during the weekend. During the past few years, adult gobblers have readily responded to my calling and a jake decoy. Those hunts resulted with turkey in the deep fryer after Raleigh and Rae tagged their toms. Many state agencies schedule youth season early during the turkey mating season as during this time gobblers usually readily respond since most hens are not receptive to toms at this time.

That scenario wasn’t the case last weekend. Both mornings my daughters and I heard toms gobbling on the roost, and both mornings toms ended up responding to my calls. However, on both mornings the toms took a very long time to respond. They cautiously approached our decoys, but remained out of range, took a look and veered off. Their behavior was very odd for this time of year – but not the conditions…

The temperatures and development of vegetation are both approximately a month ahead of normal. Fellow hunters and biologists have recently shared with me they’ve seen turkey poults already this year in multiple states. It’s very early to see or hear reports of turkey poults. Heck, regular turkey season hasn’t opened yet in Missouri!

Missouri University reports that the winter of 2011-12 was the fifth warmest winter since they’ve been keeping records. No doubt the timing of mating, development of vegetation, etc., will be different than normal. The good news is that 2011-12 was only the fifth warmest winter on record. There have been warmer winters, many years ago, and turkeys, deer, and vegetation survived well.

Even with these conditions, I look forward to opening day. I’ll be evaluating the gobblers’ behavior and adjusting my hunting strategies accordingly. That’s a great thing about hunting – every year is different and every day in the woods offers an opportunity to learn and improve our hunting skills.

I’ll share what I learn and hope you join the GrowingDeer.tv Team and share back with us so we can all learn together.

Growing Deer (and learning) together,

Grant

Youth turkey season begins tomorrow in my home state of Missouri! I plan on taking my oldest daughter, Raleigh – 13, tomorrow morning and my younger daughter, Rae – 10, tomorrow afternoon. It’s legal to hunt turkeys from sunrise until sunset in Missouri during youth season, and only until 1pm during the regular season (starting in two weeks).

Two gobblers strutting and two hens

I’ve been using my Reconyx cameras in an effort to pattern turkeys. I’ve placed the cameras overlooking food plots that I know from past experience are areas where gobblers like to strut.

Using this technique, I have located two plots that turkeys are frequenting somewhat regularly. I enjoy cut and run turkey hunting, but not for taking my daughters, especially Rae. Patterning turkeys and using a ground blind is an outstanding technique and allows much more father/daughter time and conversations!

I think I’ve crossed another hurdle this year. Last year, a large gobbler hung up on Rae and I about 150 yards out (GDTV 73). That turkey stayed on the ridge for more than an hour! That’s a long time for any hunter to hold a shotgun – but close to impossible for a 9 year old. This isn’t as large of a feat if the hunter is sitting on the ground with his back to a tree. He can rest the gun on his knee and find a time to move it slightly as the tom approaches.

However, taking a gun from leaning in the corner of a blind to sticking out the window (about 2”) for a 9 year old can be tricky – especially after watching a strutter for more than an hour! This year I have a Caldwell DeadShot FieldPod. Simply stated, it’s a very light, tri-pod (stable) that holds both the front and back of the shotgun. I actually got if for me for long range predator hunting, but tried it yesterday with Rae’s 20 gauge and decided it was perfect for a youth hunt in a turkey blind.

I’ll share the results of using the Reconyx to pattern gobblers and hopefully how Raleigh and Rae liked the DeadShot FieldPod next week.

No matter what happens, I’m sure the time in the blind will be a trophy for my book!

Growing Deer (and children) together,

Grant

Part 10: Putting it all Together

I wrote this series to address several questions recently posted on my Facebook page. The questions were timely as there is a huge interest in hunting mature bucks. Folks are realizing that to hunt mature bucks, mature bucks must exist. For example, hunting mature bucks on properties where a majority of the yearling bucks are harvested annually is very frustrating.

There must be mature bucks present to be harvested.

Therefore it’s very important to have realistic objectives based on a property’s recent buck harvest. For example, if there have been an average of three bucks harvested per square mile on the property and/or neighborhood where you are hunting, there won’t likely be many bucks reaching maturity on that property.  The bottom line is there must be mature bucks present to be harvested. Obviously, the more mature bucks in the area the better the odds of having an encounter with one. A higher percentage of the total buck harvest is usually composed of mature bucks in states with a more restrictive bag limit for bucks. Kentucky and Kansas are good examples of states with a restrictive buck bag limit and a trend of producing great mature bucks annually.

This is simply a trend. I’m aware of individual properties in most states that produce great mature bucks. These landowners or deer management cooperatives usually establish more favorable deer harvest guidelines than imposed by the state’s regulations. This is to say that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence (or border).

Simply allowing bucks to reach maturity doesn’t mean they will express their full antler growth potential. Bucks need an excellent source of nutrition throughout their life to express their full antler growth potential – in addition to living to maturity. Even further, the better health (good food, limited stress) the buck’s dam was in has an impact on the buck’s health.

This means that simply significantly increasing the quality of a buck’s diet for a year or two won’t necessarily allow him to express his full potential. The overall health of a buck (or other critter) is substantially impacted by their development years. When Tracy and I purchased The Proving Grounds, it was a horribly overgrazed cattle ranch. We’ve now owned it nine+ years and spent a lot of time and resources improving the habitat. However, the five year old bucks that are currently on our property were most likely from does that were raised in very stressful conditions. To determine the true potential of bucks at The Proving Grounds will require maintaining quality habitat long enough for does to be born from does that were raised with access to quality food and limited stress. Those does will need to have fawns, and then allow those male fawns to reach maturity. Let’s consider this three generations of deer – or 12+ years.

This process can be short cut if the property is in an area where quality nutrition has never been a limited factor, and the only missing piece of the deer management puzzle is allowing bucks to reach maturity. In other words, the lower the quality of habitat, the longer it will take to allow the herd to express its full potential. However, such land usually costs much less than row crop land where good nutrition has been available year round for many years.

I really enjoy the process of managing and hunting for mature bucks. I like going on suitcase hunts – hunting properties that I show up for a week or so a year and my only management activity is deciding to pass or pull the trigger. However, my passion is growing and hunting mature bucks. If you share my passion, we’ll keep learning together.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

In this latest installment of Petersen’s Bowhunting Radio, Whitetail management guru Dr. Grant Woods offers his advice for a successful food plot program. To listen to the podcast, please click HERE

I don’t know about you, but I am excited about this early spring weather, and I can’t wait to get started with my 2012 food plot program. When it comes to property management and food plots, I can’t think of a better person to get advice from than Dr. Grant Woods. Grant owns a 1,500-acre property in Missouri known as “The Proving Grounds,” which serves as a non-step test lab for best practices in wildlife habitat management.

In the latest episode of Petersen’s Bowhunting Radio, I talk to Grant about what needs to happen to prepare, plant, grow and hunt over successful food plots. If you are thinking about doing some habitat work on your hunting grounds this year, the information contained in this episode can help put you in a photograph like this! Click here to listen to the Interview.. . 

Part 9: Predator Induced Stress

Last week I shared with you a summary of Dr. John Kilgo’s long-term research about the amount of fawn mortality primarily caused by coyotes to deer in South Carolina. The results were that 70% of the fawns were killed by predators before the first hunting season after they were born. At that rate of mortality, even without any harvest by hunters, deer populations will decrease. This problem is not everywhere yet. However the number of coyotes, bobcats, black bears, cougars/mountain lions, etc., is increasing rapidly in many areas.

Several of my fellow researchers besides Dr. Kilgo have reported similar findings of predator caused mortality on young deer and even adult deer. Predators are a significant factor on deer populations in many areas!

Whitetail deer are prey for predators

However, direct mortality is only part of the picture. Even healthy adult deer that are not as susceptible to being killed by predators still can suffer because of high predator populations. Great research on elk in Yellowstone National Park has shown that elk that haven’t been killed by wolves are averaging fewer calves per cow, lower body weights, and the males have smaller antlers on average than before wolves were reintroduced. How can this be? Fewer mouths competing for the same or more food should result in more calves per cow, heavier body weights, and larger antler for each age class.

The answer was found by comparing the levels of specific hormones in elk before they were exposed to wolves and then again five years after wolves had been released into Yellowstone. These hormones are produced and released in critters that are stressed. The levels of these hormones were several times higher in the elk after being exposed to wolves!

This is not surprising. The medical news is full of studies reporting how damaging stress is to human health. Dairy, beef, and even poultry farmers attempt to reduce stress in their stock so they will be more productive. The same is true with game animals. Being chased or even living where they need to be constantly vigilant to avoid predators results in increased stress.

Increases in the number of predator populations (increasing coyote, bobcat, bear, hog, etc.) certainly results in increased stress for several species of game animals.

In addition to reduced health caused by predator induced stress, there is another negative to allowing the predator population to increase significantly.

Deer and turkeys that are constantly vigilant against four-legged predators are also constantly vigilant against two-legged predators. It will likely be more difficult to observe game species on properties that have an abundance of coyotes and other predators. I’ve worked on a few properties that had an abundance of predators. We called and trapped to reduce the number of predators and the observation rate of mature whitetail bucks increased within weeks! These bucks didn’t mature into the population. It is doubtful they moved into the population. They simply became less vigilant.

To have more mature bucks to hunt, there must be more fawns recruited into the population. It’s noticeably easier to have encounters with mature bucks when they are less vigilant. Significantly reducing the number of predators will likely have a positive impact on deer herds. Due to increasing predator populations and decreasing numbers of trappers, predator management is rapidly becoming a significant part of deer and turkey management.

Growing Deer together,

Grant

Part 8: Predators

The past seven entries for this blog have been on the subject of managing for and killing mature bucks. However, in recent years just following the play book for passing bucks and providing quality food, cover, and water may not yield the results you desire. Something has changed across much of the landscape.

It’s the number of predators. When I was a boy (I was born in 1961), coyotes were shot on sight by farmers (almost every farmer I knew always had a rifle in his truck). Raccoon pelts were bringing $50.00 +/- and anyone I knew that was any kind of hunter or outdoorsmen trapped and/or hunted raccoons as a source of additional income. Chicken hawks (any large hawk was called a chicken hawk) were also shot on sight. These actions didn’t cause any of these predators to go extinct.

I went off to college and was taught to feel sorry for predators. I was taught that predators were almost never an issue with game species. That might have been true then (although I had a hard time buying into the theory). I was also taught in college that all natural systems are very dynamic – always changing (I certainly have experienced and agree with that!). Whatever the theories and realities were, the current impact of predators on deer, turkey, quail and other game species are real and measureable!

This last statement is not simply my observations. I had a graduate student five years ago study the impacts of coyote and bobcats on fawn recruitment (fawns surviving until hunting season) on a private property in northern Alabama. Briefly summarized, the results were stunning! He monitored fawn recruitment during year one, then had a trapper remove many coyotes and bobcats from the 2,000 acre property during the following fawning season. During the second fawning season there was a 150+% increase in fawns at the same property as result of removing 20+ coyotes and 10 bobcats! It appeared the turkey and rabbit population also exploded!

35th Annual Southeast Deer Study Group

When Cory VanGilder (the grad student) presented his resultsat the annual Southeast Deer Study Group Meeting, there wasn’t much excitement among the 100’s of scientists in attendance. Fast forward five years, I just returned from the 35th Southeast Deer Study Group Meeting. Just to give you a hint of the change in attitudes among some of my fellow deer biologists, the theme of the meeting this year was Shifting Paradigms: Are Predators Changing the Dynamics of Managing Deer in the Southeast? Twelve of the 35 presentations were on the subject of coyote predation on deer!

Several of the researchers reported results of fawn mortality documented by the use of vaginal transmitters (VITS). This technology allowed researchers to captures does after they’ve been bred and insert a transmitter in their vagina. The VIT is pushed out of the birth canal when the fawn is born and alerts the researchers by changing the frequency/tone of signal. Researchers can often find the birth site and/or fawn within four hours or less after birth.

Dr. John Kilgo, a talented researcher for the Forest Service, has years of such data. He and his staff have documented that in recent years, 70% of the fawns were killed by predators at their research site (a 300 square mile area in South Carolina) during the first few months after birth! 62% of the total mortality was due to coyotes!! This is not a guess or a theory. At this level of predation, even without any hunting mortality, deer populations will decrease rapidly in number and quality (more on the stress of predation next week).

John and his staff swab the kill site and use advanced techniques with genetic testing to confirm if the killer was a coyote, bobcat, domestic dog, etc. Using this technology, they can tell if it was a male or female predator, and if it was the same predator that killed a fawn ¼ mile or 10 miles way. John’s research is fascinating!

He ended his abstract by saying “I predict that this pressure (coyotes) will require significant changes in how deer populations are managed in the Southeast in the future, because coyotes are here to stay.”

I agree with John, but know from my student’s work and my experience that coyotes can be trapped and their impact on deer populations reduced. Trapping and calling coyotes are fun activities (GDTV 119). However, it requires time and effort. There is no easy method to significantly reduce coyote populations. Some managers will simply let their deer herds be significantly reduced by coyotes. I, and hopefully many others, will not sit by and watch deer populations be reduced significantly by predators. I will actively call and trap coyotes to keep their population in check so deer, turkey, and other game species can maintain a healthy population.

I enjoy hearing a coyote howl. However, I enjoy seeing and interacting with deer and turkeys more. When push comes to shove, I’ll be the deer’s best friend and the coyote’s worst enemy. How about you? Will you sit by and watch America’s favorite game species be reduced to the occasional rare sighting? Or will you join me in protecting the future of hunting?

The damage by coyotes and other predators to deer and other game species is not just direct mortality. Predators also can cause much stress to game species! Next week I’ll share more about this issue.

Growing (and protecting) Deer together,

Grant