Dry Conditions for Trophy Deer
“It is sad,” said my friend as we entered his ranch. “I have never seen it this dry and we have been here over twenty years.” He was showing me his ranch located about an hour east of San Antonio. The ground was so dry that a huge cloud of dust followed behind the trash and then engulfed us as we came to a stop.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw what was left of one of the best fishing stock tanks I had ever seen. Rather than seeing catfish boil the surface waiting for a hand out, buzzards flew from the dry hole. The carcasses of hundreds of fish lie baking in the hot sun. Cracks in the ground over two inches wide are a grim reminder of just how serious the current drought is in parts of Texas.
“We have had only five inches of rain since the end of August and I don’t think folks in the city understand just how bad the drought is,” he said. The ranch is well known for its’ trophy deer and I wanted to know what his hunters could expect this fall.
For more than eight years the ranch has provided supplemental feed to the deer herd. Combined with the improved nutrition the rancher has been very aggressive culling off inferior genetics and allowing some bucks to mature. His efforts have paid off well as his hunter’s return year after year taking trophy bucks. He told me that supplemental feeding has never been as important to the deer herd as it is today. “There is hardly anything natural for the deer to eat now and I have been forced to change my feed,” he told me. Rather than feeding his standard 16% protein ration, he has now switched to a 20% Record Rack feed because it has more fiber.
We drove by over a half dozen supplemental feeders. The ground was heavily worn with nothing growing for more than fifty feet in all directions. The deer traffic was so heavy that nothing could grow. We did see over 30 bucks that were lying near feed areas. Their antlers were beginning to grow and I was impressed at their size, given the drought conditions.
It is so dry that he has had to sell how cows and run thousands of feet of water line so the deer have something to drink. In years past, I had always seen turkeys on the ranch but not this time. “The turkeys are even gone,” he said.
So what should deer hunters expect this fall? According to him it will be another record year for trophy bucks being taken on his place, thanks to the supplemental feed. But for those ranches that are in similar drought conditions and not supplemental feeding deer, it is going to be tough. Look for reduced antler size, body weights and smaller fawn crops. “Six years from now most places down here will have a lot fewer mature bucks because those bucks will die as fawns soon after they are born this year,” he said.
If you have ever thought about feeding your deer a good supplemental feed, this is the year to start. You may want to also look for a feed like the Record Rack, which has increased fiber.