If you decide food plot establishment is to risky of an investment given the conditions of your region you can guarantee that a local deer herd has abundant protein available for consumption by feeding pelleted rations, but this practice is very costly. Conservatively, the expense of feeding 100 deer protein pellets for 210 days is about $17,000 assuming no equipment purchases are necessary. Most Texas hunters feed corn during the winter. To transition deer from corn to high protein feed begin feeding a mixture of 1/3 protein feed and 2/3 corn in February. Then one should bump the mixture to half and half by late February, 2/3 protein feed in March and be feeding straight protein feed by mid March. Often managers switch from corn to protein feed abruptly, which may turn deer off the supplemental feed all together. Try to locate a protein feeder in the center of every 160 acres, using free choice feeders instead of timed spin cast feeders so deer may consume as much quality nutrition as they want. It is best to let the deer decide when they have had enough. While expensive, directly providing supplemental rations may be the only option a deer manager has in some regions.

To make high amounts of phosphorous and calcium available managers should place mineral supplements in the general vicinity of every food plot or feeder site. These products can be found at most outfitter shops and feed stores. Commercial mineral supplements often include other minerals such as magnesium, manganese, cobalt, and salt which are important in a deer’s diet, but are seldom needed in excess of natural abundance by deer to prevent a growth inhibiting deficiency. Be sure to select a supplement that is high in phosphorous and calcium content. Mineral products come in several forms that require various methods of application. Some mineral supplements are simply scattered on the ground, poured on stumps, buried in fields, or setout in s. Honestly I believe it makes little difference how one makes these minerals available to deer as long as the instructions on the package are followed. If given a choice I prefer to utilize covered troughs that are 2 ½ - 3 ft above the ground to exclude as many non deer animals as possible, making sure to leave enough space between the trough and the cover for bucks to freely move their heads and antlers. The cover serves to keep the mineral feed dry, but some mineral products are designed to be scattered and then are activated by rainfall, so be sure to check the manufacturer’s recommendations.

If at all possible one should make high protein food plots the focal point of warm season nutrition programs, but to utilize high protein feed and mineral products to supplement the nutrition provided from food plots. Food plots are a more efficient method of making an abundant protein source available to a deer herd, but are undependable in certain situations. Installing protein feeders at food plot sites allows managers to supplement a food plot with high protein feed in years of low rainfall that result in low crop production or extend the period of protein availability after deer have over grazed a food plot. Weather one chooses to provide deer with abundant protein via food plots, high protein feed, or a combination of the two, combining protein supplementation with mineral supplementation will promote maximum growth and development throughout a deer herd. This step while often overlooked, is necessary to ensure deer receive proper amounts of phosphorous and calcium when they need it most.

Deer grow antlers and produce fawns during the warm season. Given the goals of most hunters and deer managers, this is a critical time to provide proper nutrition to white-tailed deer. Warm season nutrition certainly is not a cure-all for every deer management situation. The effects of overpopulation or poor habitat diversity may trump the effects of nutritional improvements. However, producing habitat rich in the nutrients deer need but seldom receive from unmanaged range sites is a huge piece of the deer management puzzle. It is also a huge part of creating habitat on your property that abundantly provides for all the needs of white-tailed deer, and draws them to your place over neighboring properties. Without superior spring nutrition a manger will not produce superior deer populations, and certainly has not created habitat that is worthy of the title, PWH.

For the Texas Hunting and Fishing Network this is John Schwarzlose, wishing you safety and success in all your outdoor adventures.

John Schwarzlose
Biologist- Texas Wildlife Unlimited                                                       john@texashuntfish.com