Having an interesting discussion with some friends, would love to have OB weigh in. Especially if you have experience or expertise in the field (though opinions are appreciated as well)

What effect does a drought have upon antler growth- specifically in whitetails, mule deer, and elk?

1) logic would say less groceries available would result in a down year overall.

2) several claim droughts "can" produce larger than average antlers (in whitetaila... not sure if the idea is transitive to elk/muleys). Basically- deer are forced to eat more browse, rather than predominately grasses. The browse (supposedly) is more nutrient condensed, especially with proteins. This results in possibly lower animal weight but larger antlers.

What say you?

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cupofjoe04 said:

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Having an interesting discussion with some friends, would love to have OB weigh in. Especially if you have experience or expertise in the field (though opinions are appreciated as well)

What effect does a drought have upon antler growth- specifically in whitetails, mule deer, and elk?

1) logic would say less groceries available would result in a down year overall.

2) several claim droughts "can" produce larger than average antlers (in whitetaila... not sure if the idea is transitive to elk/muleys). Basically- deer are forced to eat more browse, rather than predominately grasses. The browse (supposedly) is more nutrient condensed, especially with proteins. This results in possibly lower animal weight but larger antlers.

What say you?

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I say BS. Drought reduces nourishment, period.

What likely happens is some place gets a fairly wet spring and nutrients are good during prime antler growing periods and then a drought sets in......come hunting season the hunter only remembers the 6+ months of drought and when he bags a buck with a good rack he makes assumptions that are untrue.

I have very limited experience, but the largest antlers on deer shot on my former lease were shot in a drought year.

ironmanag said:

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I have very limited experience, but the largest antlers on deer shot on my former lease were shot in a drought year.

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Same thing my father and grandpa always said of their lease in Webb Co. My experience at my lease in Dimmit Co was that it definitely did not improve antler quality or sightings of large deer but did not really hurt them either. I am interested to see how things go at our ranch in Duval Co this year, we had some decent rains but they just seemed to be at the wrong times.

All things being equal, I have a hard time believing this. I have watched Bucks regress or not grow when they're immature (2.5-3.5) and/or mature (4.5-6.5) and should be growing.

In years with good rains in March - May, our body weights and average deer score tend to be higher. They're are always exceptions to this but I don't think there is a strong enough correlation.

Might be wrong though and would be happy to hang up and listen to someone much smarter than me on the subject.

Its funny- you guys are reflecting a lot fo what I'm experiencing. Logic lends me to call BS as well - but many of the data points I'm seeing or have personally experienced go the other way.

Another thing I would take into consideration upon further thought... the more stressed the environment, the more likely they will have to make decisions to access food that put them at risk than in good years.

I have had ghost deer that will never show up at a feeder after October but will in January. If things are bad enough, he will go to a feeder and the likelihood of him being shot is obviously much higher. Contrast that to good year where a feeder isn't as neccessary... a big buck might not take that risk at all and no one would shoot him.

I would think the same can be said about Elk/Muleys... they can stay away from hunters better when the years are good. When the resources are limited, you can pinpoint them easier.

So is it really that the deer are bigger or that the bigger deer are shot in drought years?

I think this is the more correct answer, they are searching for food more and cannot be as nocturnal or have to take greater risks to get the feeder when it is available (usually around daylight and 4:30 pm). However, some say that it due to eating things they would not normally eat during drought years that have different mineral concentrations. I

Southern LaSallle County. It is an old ranchers saying that in dry years, the mesquite bean crop is great. In wet years, not so much. in my experience, this holds very close to true. This year had a bumper crop of mesquite beans...the deer I have seen are pretty darn good. IOW, deer eat the heck out of mesquite beans and it seems to mitigate the effects of drought...at least in the brush country.

My dad always said we had the best horns during the drought of the 50s...no scientific facts to back it up, just years of observation.

I like this logic. I would think this is definitely a factor.

I've had the same experience hunting in Sterling City years ago.

I'm guessing different regions are affected differently by drought. Also, certain regions are better set up to tolerate droughts, because they are on average more arid. A wet environment would probably feel the effects more.

One thing I have noticed during a drought is that the fawn crop seems to suffer somewhat. May be more of a predator/ prey issue.

Brush Country Ag said:

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One thing I have noticed during a drought is that the fawn crop seems to suffer somewhat. May be more of a predator/ prey issue.

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I agree. From the few pasture drives I've done this year, I have yet to see a fawn. Been a rough summer here in San Saba. But the horns don't look too bad. Although the body's do.

AnScAggie said:

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ironmanag said:

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I have very limited experience, but the largest antlers on deer shot on my former lease were shot in a drought year.

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Same thing my father and grandpa always said of their lease in Webb Co. My experience at my lease in Dimmit Co was that it definitely did not improve antler quality or sightings of large deer but did not really hurt them either. I am interested to see how things go at our ranch in Duval Co this year, we had some decent rains but they just seemed to be at the wrong times.

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We are in Webb county and see "new deer" during droughts that have previously only been seen at night on game cams or not at all. I think having to search more for food causes big deer to come out rather than grows big deer.

Drought makes more mesquite beans etc...beans make big horns . Historically big bucks were harvested in the drought. Probably helps that they were easier to find in droughts too.

It would depend on when the drought starts as to how bad it effects antler growth. Most whitetails will drop horns as early as late December through end of February with the exception varying both ways. New growth will start right away and go until end of August-September before hard horns. If the late winter is dry and spring is dry then the browse and forbs will not grow and that is what whitetails eat. Grass is of know value to a whitetail.
Drought will also effect fawn crop as does will sometimes kick off one or both fawns if she cant make enough milk for them. Natures way is for her to survive first.
In the Hill Country if you have a lasting drought through winter - summer of that year the fawn crop and antler growth will suffer greatly. Their are some places around the hill country that have very little rains since Christmas of 2017 and have experienced no rain and high for that period of time. All of the ranches in that area, unless they have supplemented heavily with protein are seeing much smaller antler grow and low numbers of buck/fawn ratios.
I have little experience managing brush country or south Texas properties but we have lots of mesquite in our area of the hill country and have seen little mesquite beans this year and coming evidence of a poor acorn crop unless we get some early fall rains quickly and substantial. This year reminds a lot of us of 2011 when even cedars died of heat and lack of rain.

Sorry to hear about the lack of rain. We got more than enough during the last set of rains and it turned green in a hurry. Deer are healthy and water everywhere.

We had very few fawns last year but I am seeing them all over the place this year. I am going to credit good cover during June for the fawns to hide and a reduced predator population.

I hope we don't have the acorn crop like last year .... slow, long hunts ahead if so.

I agre with the drought causing older deer to take more chances. Same thing with freezes in south Texas. You want to hunt January hard if you get an early freeze.

Look at something else though.

Look back five years. An old rancher used to say hunt 5 years after a good wet year. On a wet year you have a high fawn survival rate. 5 years later you have a larger population of bucks that make it to maturity.

https://www.noble.org/news/publications/ag-news-and-views/2011/october/white-tailed-deer-management-during-drought/

Thanks for sharing! Was waiting for your input.

Quote:

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If vegetation is significantly reduced during late summer or early fall due to drought, August/September spotlight, camera and/or daylight cruise surveys may reflect higher deer densities compared to previous years. Most likely, this is not because deer densities increased; rather, there was better visibility during surveys or better response to bait during camera surveys than in past years. Survey results can be deceiving, so remember that surveys are only estimates.

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Thanks for the article! Great read- concise and direct.

I especially appreciated the correlation beteeen drought and doe management. Never thought about that increased opportunity before.

There was a study many years ago that looked at rainfall and the Texas Big Game Awards scores by region. Good rain in the spring was associated with higher score average.

I heard one radio talk show host on an early morning hunting show, say that, the bucks can build on energy from the year before. So the best harvest of larger antlered deer is after "a couple" of years of good rain.

I think there is at least some merit to that thought, even if it is only true that maybe only one
previous year affects antler growth a little bit. Thinking of it in terms of when did the land go into a drought, and what was amount the rain the year before that?

Here in Brazos I have noticed the antlers being good quality, and good fawn crop. Bodies are not as heavy though. I think here we had rain at the right time in spring for good antler development. Generally, where I am here, antler growth has pretty much done all it can by first week of August. At least this year. I would think that a very dry spring the antlers would be smaller. Would have to look at some old game cams to see. I agree with that if you have a bad drought and small fawn crop you will be missing a lot of mature deer 5 years down road. Would have to manage accordingly. If you have sheep/goats on your property just removing them I have seen antler size increase. Since they generally eat the same thing. Going to the hills this weekend and will see what it looks like there.

Sooooo, probably one of the most researched deer topics in Texas.