Today’s hunters are more conservation minded than those of yesteryear. We live in a time where phrases such as 'harvest strategy' and 'carrying capacity' are common on game ranches among hunters and managers alike.

The efforts of organizations such as Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to educate the public in the discipline of wildlife management have resulted in increased awareness in the hunting community and wide spread habitat improvement. These days ranches are often subject to thorough wildlife management resulting in pristine habitat. These habitats provide for all the needs of targeted wildlife species in abundance and are capable of supporting population levels that exceed the capabilities of unmanaged native range sites. The phrase I use to describe such habitat is 'Preferred Wildlife Habitat' or PWH. PWH is quite simply habitat that members of a targeted wildlife species will choose to utilize instead of neighboring habitats, because it more adequately provides for their needs: food, water, and cover. Creating PWH on one’s property should be the goal of any deer manager who strives to produce thriving wildlife populations. The components of a habitat management plan that when implemented results in PWH are complex and vary according to the needs of specific eco-regions and exact locations.

However, one universal component of any PWH producing white-tailed deer management plan is the establishment of a superior nutrition source. To understand what a superior nutrition source is in respect to white-tailed deer one must understand how the nutritional needs of white-tailed deer vary seasonally. To simplify things one can divide the year into two seasons warm and cool. During the cool season (fall and winter) the key word is energy. The stresses caused from mating and winter survival create an energy deficit in deer on most unmanaged range sites that a manager can prevent on his property by insuring food sources high in fats and carbohydrates are available throughout the cool season. However, many mangers fail to change their supplemental feeding strategies in the spring when the nutritional needs of white-tailed deer change from those associated with the stresses of winter to fawn production and antler development.

The focus of warm season (spring and summer) supplemental feeding programs should be providing abundant protein, phosphorous, and calcium. These three nutrients are essential to both fawn production and antler growth. Does need high amounts of protein for prenatal fawn development and utilize all three nutrients when producing milk. While native habitats produce sufficient nutrients for the continuation of the species, they do not provide these three essential components of a white-tails spring diet in the abundance necessary for deer to reach their growth potential. Remember the goal is not to create population sustaining habitat, but the type of habitat that allows the local deer population to thrive, the type of habitat that is preferred by deer over neighboring habitats…PWH.

By John Schwarzlose of Texas Wildlife Unlimited

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