Deer and Land Management can not only improve your hunting but can also be darn right fun and enjoyable too. For some interesting Land Management reading and ideas to improve your whitetail herd, look at the articles here.
The deer management techniques that we use on our property have changed a lot over the past thirty years in relation with the changing deer herd. Whitetail deer numbers in the entire state of West Virginia have grown considerably and our land has been no exception.
Many a season went by without a single sighting of even a spike or a button buck but so was the days of shoot first ask questions later deer management that was so popular in my area. I learned many things about this style of hunting and I think that it had a lot to do with my outlook on deer management today.
We live in a world of record keeping. We monitor our weight, stock prices, cholesterol, blood pressure, and our bank statements. Why should our hunting be any different?
For both the deer and the deer manager, March is a time when things are in transition. Winter is giving way to spring, and the deer are loosing weight because many of the food sources are depleted.
By early April the deer should be on their spring home ranges, looking for new green growth to gain back the fat they lost during the winter. This is when bucks begin growing their antlers, so if there is not enough forage for the deer to eat, you may want to provide supplemental feed and minerals to help the bucks grow larger racks.
Whitetail bucks and does should be on their summer home ranges by June, and the does should be done fawning this month. It's time to start working on habitat improvement: fertilizing, mowing, spraying, and clearing trails and paths.
Any type of deer management should take into account several different factors; herd size, buck to doe ratio, age structure of the herd, fawning rates, type of habitat, available food sources, seasonal use of the habitat; and hunting success by age, and sex.
By late December most of the breeding is done and the bucks may return to their core areas to rest up after the rut, and feed to put on the weight they lost during the rut, so they can make it through the winter.
