Reader Questions

Antler Growth

By: Team Realtree

Question: I am a hunter in western Virginia and I hunt on a piece of private land that contains two rather large fields, a swamp, and some woods between the two fields. We usually catch most of the deer in the woods going from field to field but I want some of the swamp bucks to have the massive racks that I know they are capable of. I would like to know whether or not I should try to plant corn near the swamp in one of the fields. I really haven't seen a monster buck on this property for a while, but we do have a lot of middle aged bucks. I really want to get the antler growth that you see on television and I would like to know what you would plant in this kind of situation.

Answer: The two main factors that you can manipulate to increase antler growth are age and nutrition. Keep passing those yearling and middle-age bucks so they reach maturity, and keep thinking about things you can do to improve nutrition. Corn can certainly increase deer nutrition, but the role it can play is only one part of antler growth. Corn is available in fall or early winter if you leave it standing until then and if other critters like raccoons don't get it all first. Bucks (and does) feeding on corn get the benefit of energy in the form of carbohydrates that can help build fat stores for winter. As you know, bucks will lose a lot of weight during the rut, but if they can rebuild fat stores with food sources like corn, then they will enter spring in better health. However, spring and summer nutrition are just as critical to antler growth as fall and winter nutrition, if not more. In fact, this is the time when antlers are growing! And in the South where you are located, late summer and early fall can be nutritional stress periods just like winter. If warm-season food plots, agricultural crops, or natural forages are not abundant where you hunt, then you need to fill this nutrition gap as well. Cool-season perennials like white clover and chicory will be productive during early spring (as well as in fall), and warm-season annuals like cowpeas, soybeans, lablab, grain sorghum, and buckwheat are perfect for late spring and summer. Combined with any steps you can take to increase natural browse species (such as prescribed fire, timber thinning or old-field management), a food plot plan that incorporates species like these to cover every season would certainly provide the year-round nutrition bucks need to reach their antler-growth potential. Unfortunately, there is no single food plot crop that can fill a buck's year-round nutritional needs. If you need more guidance, I encourage you to get a copy of QDMA's book, "Quality Food Plots," which helps you understand the complete picture of deer nutrition as well as plan and implement a successful food plot program. We have been getting questions like yours for years, and we designed this book to answer all of them!

Good hunting! Kip Adams, wildlife biologist with the Quality Deer Management Association

Please visit our sponsor.