Food Plot and Natural Vegetation Layout and Design Strategies To Increase Harvest Success Mark W. Thomas Certified Forester, Certified Wildlife Biologist Member QDMA National Board of Directors

Enhancing “Huntability”

Food Habits of the White-tailed Deer Preferred Foods Moderate Preference Japanese honeysuckle Greenbrier Alabama supplejack American beautyberry Smooth Sumac Emergency Foods American hornbeam Eastern redbud

Common Deer Foods in the Southeast Forbs Shrubs Vines Am. beautyberry Chinese privet Wild rose Ragweed Pokeweed Desmodium Honeysuckle Kudzu Greenbrier

Seasonally Important Native Foods for Deer in the Southeast Spring Summer Fall Winter Am. beautyberry Grasses Blackberry Greenbrier Honeysuckle Wild grape Yaupon Supplejack Blueberry Hawthorn fruit Plum fruit Beautyberry fruit Fringetree fruit Grape fruit Acorns Forbs Beechnuts Pecan nuts Dogwood fruit Persimmon fruit Tupelo fruit Acorns Beechnuts Holly Assorted fruits Yaupon

Interspersion Enhancement Interspersion – intermixing of habitat components Ecotone – transition between two adjacent habitats

Results of Native Plant Enhancement Before Treatment After Treatment

QVM = A Native Smorgasbord for Wildlife QVN QVM = A Native Smorgasbord for Wildlife

Shooting / Viewing Lanes Wildlife Habitat Corridors Feeding Lanes Travel Lanes Escape paths Stalking Lanes Sanctuary Lanes Archery Lanes Blind Corner / Herring Bone

Stalking Lanes

Wildlife Stand Improvement “Hack & Squirt” Technique

Agroforestry

Deer Management Strategies Traditional Deer Management Quality Deer Management Trophy Deer Management

Traditional Management is… The approach under which any legal buck, regardless of age or antler quality, is harvested and antlerless deer harvest is restricted.

Traditional Deer Management Harvests

Quality Management is… The approach under which young bucks are protected from harvest combined with an adequate harvest of female deer to produce healthy deer herds in balance with existing habitat conditions.

Quality Deer Management Harvests Middle-aged to Mature Bucks Adult Does

Four Cornerstones of QDM

Herd Management The most important half-inch in deer management Summarize first two Bullets: Governo and Shea, using dental impressions from 2 different captive herds, found that by measuring the total length of erupted dentition, date of birth could be determined with relative accuaracy. Their model predicted from 50-75% of test mandibles to within 7 days of actual age.. This technique worked well for deer between the ages of 14 months and 20 months. However, for deer younger than 14 months and for deer older than 20 months, the reliability of this technique was greatly diminished. We used their technique to analyze 677 jawbones from yearling bucks harvested on Alabama WMAs. Based on TLED measurements, we placed deer into birth months ranging from 4 (april) through 11 (november).