Food plots are the most powerful tool in the white-tailed deer management toolbox. Some outdoorsmen, biologists, and outdoor writers downplay the significance of food plot implementation in wildlife management by discrediting the idea that food plots are a cure-all or a quick fix for achieving one’s wildlife management goals.  I must agree that food plots are certainly not a quick fix or a cure-all, but I do take issue with those who do not recognize food plots as a crucial ingredient of most complete wildlife management plans. The nutritional benefits a deer herd receives from a quality food plot program cannot be duplicated with supplemental feed or any other practice. For most outdoorsmen this is not news. We know that most natural forage, under optimal conditions, produces 10%-12% protein when deer need 16% protein in their diet to produce healthy fawns and solid antler growth. We also know that food plots produce high quality forage that contains up to 35% protein and up to 10,000 lbs more forage per acre than native rangeland. It is also universally accepted that if deer are provided enough nutrition to maintain a healthy body weight year round they will grow bigger racks and produce healthier fawns. These and other nutritional facts supporting food plot implementation make it hard to dispute the nutritional value of food plot programs. However, the food plot debate rages from those who doubt the practicality of food plot installation and have been made wary of the claims made by food plot seed manufacturers. While I disagree with the skeptics, it is hard to blame them for their opinion. Who wouldn’t find suspicion in a bag of seed that promises to magically turn into a 200-class white-tailed buck as soon as its contents are scattered on the ground. While there is no such thing as a magic bean, food plots remain the most powerful deer management tool in the box, not solely because of their nutritional value but also because of the various ways in which they can be applied to other wildlife management techniques.

When considering the costs and benefits of food plot implementation, few consider how food plots can be used to help a manager monitor his deer herd even though it is important to estimate population parameters such as sex ratio, age structure, and population size before implementing management practices and particularly harvest plans. As a professor of mine used to say, “You have to know what you have before you can know what you need.” Unfortunately, on most game ranches I have worked on current deer herd demographics are largely unknown, particularly when members of a deer lease are in charge of management. Hunters often establish harvest quotas without a clue of their herd’s current age structure, sex ratio, or how their herd’s population size compares to the area’s recommended carrying capacity.

A hunter in the Texas hill country once asked me why these numbers were so important and my answer involved the description of a disastrous scenario in which deer population levels far exceeded the area’s recommended carrying capacity. Here is another example that involves a buck:doe ratio that is out of whack from over harvesting bucks. In the case of a lopsided sex ratio it is crucial for a deer manager to recognize and correct this situation before it leads to the detriment of his deer herd. When an area holds significantly more does than it does bucks, it takes longer for does to be breed, resulting in a longer rut and fawns that are born later in the year. An abnormally long rut causes above average stress on bucks by extending the period in which bucks compete to sire females. This results in bucks with depleted nutrient reserves that may be necessary for winter survival and normal antler growth next year. Late bred does obviously result in fawns that are born later in the year. Research shows late born fawns seldom ever match the earlier born members of their age class in terms of antler production if they survive. Fawns born during the summer stress period have a decreased chance of survival because there is less of the forage available that does need to produce highly nutritious milk. As a result of a poor sex ratio this deer herd is left with bucks that must use excess nutrition to rebuild their tattered bodies leaving little nutrition to invest in antler growth, and a poor fawn crop resulting in poor age structure creating even further adversity for this already struggling herd. To avoid this and other potentially devastating situations it is important to monitor deer herd demographics and adjust harvest plans accordingly.

Properly designed food plots can aid in a manager’s herd monitoring efforts by drawing deer out into a central location for easy observation. By closely studying individual deer as they forage in a food plot and keeping detailed records of observations managers can learn a great deal about their deer herd. An experienced observer can make estimates concerning the general trend of a deer herd’s age structure, sex ratio, and even population size from observations made from a deer blind located on the edge of a productive food plot.

By John Schwarzlose of Texas Wildlife Unlimited

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