|
Many of us this time of year have been sitting in our recliners and checking out the newest deer magazines in anticipation of deer season ’05. At least I am. We look at the photographs and marvel at the racks that have been harvested and we wish that we could have the honor to just be able to take a shot at one of those monsters from the Midwest or Montana. We then start to dream of the possibility of saving our pennies and taking a trip out west to harvest one of those monsters for our wall.
In reality, those monster bucks can be found in Alabama. They might not be out there walking right now, but with the right management, you can have them where you hunt. We talk about deer nutrition non-stop and still we just don’t seem to be at the point where they are on the Milk River in Montana. We talk about selective harvest but we can never seem to get the type of deer they have in Pike County, Illinois.
One factor that we cannot forget is that our soils in Alabama are lower coaster plain soils. Even if we can get our deer herd on the exact same plan of nutrition as the “Big Buck” producing areas and, through selective harvest of antlerless deer, get our buck to doe ratio where it should be and then maintain the carrying capacity of the land, we still will fall short of the amount of antler we can produce on our mature bucks. What then is the limiting factor?
In ancient times, much of our land in Alabama was underwater which was constantly having minerals leached or turned into bedrock, out of reach of plants and animals to use. The calcium turned to limestone and then possibly to marble which renders the calcium totally un-useable by plants and animals. Much of the land in the West and Midwest was not covered with the ocean and the minerals were not leached as much. Their soils were made from rock. These rocks contained phosphorus, calcium and many other minerals. The whitetail dear in that area evolved to take advantage of the minerals just as our southern deer evolved to deal with the mineral differences and the heat.
As we said, if we are going to get everything where it needs to be, we cannot forget about the minerals deer need to thrive. Remember that the same nutrition that grows big antlers grows fawns and produces milk. The mineral picture is about the same.
We do not have the same mineral base in our soils that is found out West, so we need to be sure to add them to the nutritional program of our deer herd.
Obviously, hard antler contains vast amounts of calcium and phosphorus and most hunters tend to rely on good old dicalcium phosphate. The general belief is that if you give them plenty of calcium, phosphorus and salt the big horns will grow.
This is not necessarily the case. While many hunters have had good luck with this mix, they are not doing justice to their deer herd. Deer, like all other animals, have specific mineral needs. Each species of animal has requirements or various trace and major minerals that must be present in the proper amounts in order to benefit the animal.
Let’s use copper in domestic animals as an example. In cattle, horses and goats, copper levels in either feed or mineral pre-mixes is generally of no concern. But when these feeds or minerals that are formulated with little or no regard to the copper levels they contain are fed to sheep, the results can be disastrous. Sheep are very sensitive to copper. I almost killed an entire pen full of lambs that I had raised and was fattening because I was feeding them a foal feed that had normal copper levels for horses. The amount of copper in their diet was too high and we nearly lost an entire lamb crop because of it. I found out what the problem was and this made me very aware of mineral levels in both feeds and mineral pre-mixes for my sheep.
We need to understand that sometimes certain trace minerals in the wrong amounts in any animal’s diet can disrupt the function or even absorption in the animal’s system and can turn what was merely a deficiency into an acute problem.
There are so many variables in these mineral functions that it is best to leave the research and development to the people who do it for a living. The best idea is to use a mineral package that is formulated for whitetail deer, just as you would use a free choice cattle mineral for cattle, mineral blocks for horses and sheep mineral for sheep. There are many companies who have developed mineral programs based-on their research on whitetails.
The trick now is to establish mineral sites for the deer to find the minerals and to consume them.
Biologic suggests that you establish mineral licks in the soil as opposed to placing minerals in troughs or pans. A deer’s instinct is to go to the soil for minerals. Placing the minerals directly on the ground is the best way to get deer to consume them.
Basically, you will need to establish mineral licks for the deer. Deer can find them on their own, but it helps consumption to make it easier for them to find. Establish mineral licks near highly traveled trails near food plots. The deer will wander off of the trail as they approach the plot and they will find the lick. Once the deer have found the lick they will begin to dig. You will be amazed at the size of the hole deer will paw to get the minerals. You will also be amazed at how mineral starved your deer herd is.
Take advantage of the money spent by the wildlife companies for research and development on these whitetail mineral programs.
I know of several properties in the Southeast that have deer just as big as Montana bucks and they leave the guessing to someone else and all they worry about is pulling the trigger.
Ralph Ricks is the manager of Quality Cooperative, Inc. in Greenville. |
