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The Tale of a QDM Club by Dave Edwards
Own Your Own by Virgil Peritts
What Is TSI? by Matt Ross, QDMA
Native vs. Non-Native by Gabriel Karns, M. Colter Chitwood, Chris Moorman, and Dr. Chris DePerno
Oaks For Bucks by Chris Moorman
Go For Broke by Tony Hansen, Realtree Whitetail Team
Deer Season: A Time For Kids by Stephanie Mallory
The Need For Minerals by Brian Murphy, QDMA
Perlitz Ranch Hosts Youth Camp by Kelly Haydel
Timing the Rut With Fawns by Gabriel Karns, M. Colter Chitwood
How to add cover for deer by Realtree Whitetail Team
What percentage of a buck's antler development potential comes from the doe's genes? by Realtree Whitetail Team
Where were the bucks? by Team Realtree
Growths on Deer? by Team Realtree
How Many Teats? by Team Realtree
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Of Habitat and Antlers
A basic principle of wildlife management is: Better soils produce better wildlife. It's also true that deer develop bigger antlers where the soil is more productive. But, for a given soil productivity, does the type and distribution of vegetation on the landscape affect antler size?
This question was addressed recently by researchers from Mississippi State University. They designed a study to see if the percentage and spatial distribution of different habitats in Mississippi affected antler size. Data came from about 200 management units where hunting clubs participated in Mississippi’s deer management assistance program. In each management unit they compared antler size with the amount and arrangement of habitats. They identified 17 habitat types and used a measure of habitat interspersion to describe the distribution of these habitats on the landscape.
What were the results? Not too surprisingly, habitat types that promoted growth of ground cover plant communities produced deer with larger antlers than did densely forested habitats where understory growth was limited by canopy shade. Agricultural areas and pasture tended to be positively-correlated with antler size. In contrast, areas with pine forests tended to be negatively-correlated with antler size.
To quote the authors: “Within general physiographic regions of similar soil nutrient quality, variation in deer population antler size was explained by the composition of land-use types that either promote (e.g., agriculture and pasture) or suppress (e.g., pine forest) growth of early successional herbaceous forage.” Early successional vegetation is the weeds, grasses, and sprouting woody plants that invade a site after disturbance by fire, storms, land clearing and abandonment, insects, timber harvest, etc.
This is not to say that pine forests cannot produce good forage for deer. Thinning pine stands to open the canopy and using frequent prescribed burns in the understory will produce high quality browse for deer.
Surprisingly, the researchers did not detect any relationship between habitat interspersion and antler size. But this doesn’t mean that habitat diversity is not important to deer – it certainly is. For example, many studies have concluded that home ranges are smaller where habitats providing food and cover are well interspersed. Smaller ranges translate to lower energy expenditure and less exposure to predation, hunters, and vehicle collisions.
What’s the bottom line? First, better soils produce better deer. Second, for a given soil type, habitat management to produce more early successional forage interspersed with agriculture will improve antler size. Finally, all this must be considered in the context of proper deer population management – maintain the population below carrying capacity by harvesting does and restrict buck harvest to allow bucks to mature. With proper population management and good habitat quality, deer antler size will improve.
About the author: Richard A. Lancia is a professor of Wildlife Science at North Carolina State University.