RANCHING Wildlife
Texas White-Tailed Deer – 2015 Hunting Season Forecast
By Alan Cain, white-tailed deer program leader, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
T
HE 2015 TEXAS DEER SEASON SHOULD SHAPE UP TO BE AN exceptional year, possibly one of the best on record.
Habitat conditions have never looked better as a
result of the ubiquitous spring precipitation that blan- keted the state from the Red River to the Rio Grande. A bird’s-eye view would likely reveal a lush, verdant Texas landscape with a diverse buffet of deer foods, where vegetation growth can be measured in feet rather than inches this year. Meeting the nutritional demands of antler growth,
rearing fawns and building up body reserves for the rigors of rut and the winter should be an easy venture for a deer this year. Deer will not be searching far to fi nd a highly nutritious diet of native weeds and browse plants. Deer are selective foragers, preferring native for-
ages high in protein and easily digestible energy. The forbs — a biologist’s term for a weed — fi t that bill and there are plenty of them this year. For a wildlife biologist, spring rains as well as total
annual rainfall are critical factors in predictions for the upcoming season. When above average winter and spring rains occur hunters should expect a great hunt- ing season and 2015 fi ts the criteria. In fact, if you have not found a place to hunt, I would be making plans to do so in short order. With the potential for such a great hunting season, I would hate to be left without a place to hunt this year! For those of you who might not have time to do the
research to fi nd a deer hunting lease, consider putting in for one of the drawn deer hunts conducted on Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Wildlife Man- agement Areas (WMAs) and State Parks. Some good bucks are bagged each year on our WMAs, and many hunters go home with an ice chest full of venison from
86 The Cattleman September 2015
antlerless and spike hunts. You can fi nd out about the drawn hunts on the TPWD website at
tpwd.texas.gov by typing “drawn hunts” in the search box. The only downside to the exceptional growth of na-
tive vegetation is that deer do not have to move far to fi nd something to eat. This could make hunting tough early in the season if these conditions persist.
Highest statewide deer population in almost a decade What can hunters expect in regards to deer num-
bers and quality? For starters, the 2014 statewide deer population estimate was 3.95 million deer, the highest estimated population since 2005. Statewide population trends indicate a slow but steady growth in the deer population over the last 10 years. The population estimate of 3.95 million deer works
out to about 40.51 deer per 1,000 acres. Although these numbers are from 2014, I would predict the deer popula- tion to be about the same, if not break the 4-million-deer mark for 2015. Hunters should experience a quarry-rich hunting environment this year. Statewide fawn crop estimates would suggest a
relatively higher number of bucks in the 2.5-, 3.5-, 5.5-, and 8.5-year-old age classes compared to other age classes, since the fawn crop for these cohorts was
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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