Nutrition unlocking potential

[Griffman]

Have a farm in mountains of Virginia, soil is pretty rocky and not the best quality. Consequently the racks and body size are a bit smaller. Any thoughts on good quality forage and forest management unlocking potential in the herd

 

[Pony Soldier]

You have to fight genetics too. The western montana bulls are heavier but don't score high from short tines. Sw montana bulls have time length but not the mass.

Better food isn't a guarrantee of better bucks.

 

[Btaylor]

It all starts with the soil. Your 3 best tools will be a soil test, a chainsaw and a drip torch. Would encourage understanding the principles behind the growing deer tv release system for building your plot soil. But, imo, putting equal or more focus on building native habitat diversity is more important than pretty food plots.

 

[WCB]

I honestly do not believe you will notice a difference in body size and rack size by you individually feeding or supplementing the herd. Best route is to look at total habitat management and providing feed in the winter months when quality feed is low. In general it will help the herd and yes I guess keep them healthy but again I don't think you are going to go from say 130" to 160" deer because of it.

But search YouTube for whitetail habitat management and you will find a TON of information on it.

 

[Honyock]

Establish some mineral stations. I've had good results with Deer Cane and Whitetail Institue 30-06. They hit it hard on my place to the point that they have dug holes a foot deep getting it out of the soil. Deer Cane seems to draw them quicker, so I use it first and then once they find it I switch over to 30-06. The does hit it about as hard as the bucks and we are seeing more twins than we used to. This buck is a frequent flyer at the mineral station.

 

[Griffman]

Thanks for the input fellas. I think I am going to focus on planting native Forbes and grasses.I tried some mineral blocks, which seem to help a bit and some specific deer plots. The plots seem to get wiped out before they really get going. It seems the tonnage the herd will need will come from rehab of the previously grazed pastures. The trick in this area is figuring out what wants to grow. Honyock, that’s a real nice buck. Good luck this season everyone.

 

[Honyock]

Take a look at the Whitetails Unlimited website. Under the "conservation" tab click on "Food Plot Doctor". He gives some pretty good ideas. We had the same problem with small food plots, they get mowed down quick. We went to bigger size food plots and gravity feeders feeding protein (I realize that "baiting" is not an option in Virgina). I have also had success with what I call micro food plots/kill plots in the timber. About two weeks before I hunt a stand in early bow season, I clear out a small area (6'x6' to 8'x8') in the timber with a garden rake. I try to put it fairly close to an active trail in the timber in an area that gets 4 or 5 hours of sunlight. Once I get the soil cleaned up, I'll plant Biologic Hotspot which is no till so you can do it by hand. You want to hunt that stand as soon as it comes up good (2-3 weeks) because it's gone as soon as they find it. Good luck and don't be afraid to try different things. Some work and some don't.

 

[Long Cut]

Your biggest ROI will be:

Timber Stand Improvement (getting sunlight to the soil)
Prescribed Fire
Removing Invasive Species/Sweet Gums
Herd Density Management (1:1 buck doe ratio)
3-10% of the land in food plots

Once all the above is done, then supplemental feeding will fill that void. Feeding December through April is crucial. Summer if you got the extra $$$

We can’t control wild herd genetics so don’t even worry about them.

Focus on killing 4-6YO bucks and you’ll be alright.

 

[Honyock]

What Long Cut said ^^^. Let the little ones grow up and you may find that you have better genetics than what you think. That scrawny buck may have just been a late fawn and could turn into a trophy given time. Most of the guys that claim bad genetics are the same guys that shoot the first buck that shows up. If you shoot small bucks, you won't shoot big bucks.

I do believe that nutrition has a big impact on the herd. If you put beef cows on a place that a goat would starve to death on, you're not going to have slick cows. We watched antler size decrease in mass and a lot of broken tines when we were in drought conditions. Through mineral supplements and food plots the same deer now have "good genetics".