East Tx vs Hill Country Deer Debate

[lovemylegacy]

Pine forests and hay meadows are not the most nutritious things for deer.

What you see as lush, green and productive can actually be very a very sterile environment.


Lots of natural browse in the hill country

You are right, however it isnt this way on our lease. 15 years and at some point parts of the lease and surrounding properties are thinned or cc which produces tons of browse per acres.

Prime example of deer quality improvement. Newton County public went to straight bowhunting several years back. Buck quality has grown through the roof.
Another example is Hagerman, if you want to call it ETx.
MLD has produced massive buck growth in SETx, amongst hayfields and pine forest

[Man]

We only saw 2-3 deer on our family ranch in calvert,tx growing up my whole childhood. Going back out in that same area recently there was a huntable population. Somethings working.

[Barney1971]

I find that hard to believe, especially for the Hill Country. Please specify what type of plants are there. I have always been curious about how the EP can have so many deer. Tiny deer, which is why I say they dont have much food.

SETx has so much browse, I find it hard to believe, thats all.

STx, I can kinda see maybe as much. I am guessing the limestone leeching has a lot to do with it?

Blackbrush, Guajillo, Mesquite, guayacan, make up most of the south tx browse and are all over 21% protein. Pine thickets are deserts to deer (except for bedding areas) there is plenty to eat in east tx, it just doesnt pack the power.
i still say biggest factor is almost all of south texas is BIG, privately owned ranches that actively manage their herd. Most hunt only 1 man to at least 500 acres and some are at 1000 acres per man, thats why the hunting is really good, but expensive.

[SJP51]

There is next to nothing in pine forest for deer to eat.

[jaime1982]

This is hilarious.

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[Gumbo Man]

These people who are talking crap about east texas would crap if they saw some of your pics!

True Dat !!

[Anvilheadtexas]

I will jump back in here… East Tx is dynamic and changes when ever there is pine tees/plantations involved. Clear cuts and new plantation seem to support more deer, but then those new plantations grow and at sone point, year 10 or so it goes what we call pine desert. Then it’s thinned and it gets better (but not as good as clear cut/new plantation). And then years later it’s clear cut. That being said, not 100% of east Tx is a pine plantation. Although so many guys in here talk like it is.

[GarGuy]

It's just that east tx gas no food and the bucks are skinny

[Barney1971]

I will jump back in here… East Tx is dynamic and changes when ever there is pine tees/plantations involved. Clear cuts and new plantation seem to support more deer, but then those new plantations grow and at sone point, year 10 or so it goes what we call pine desert. Then it’s thinned and it gets better (but not as good as clear cut/new plantation). And then years later it’s clear cut. That being said, not 100% of east Tx is a pine plantation. Although so many guys in here talk like it is.

no, it definitely not 100% pine thicket but, quite a bit of it is...

[GarGuy]

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[Gumbo Man]

Most ET bucks are only spikes. I have one right now that has 13 spikes on his head. Hoping he’ll be better next year.

[Gumbo Man]

.....

Bark and pine needle fed !!

[HogHunter34]

Let’s see some of Pats deer
I don’t believe I’ve seen those

[HogHunter34]

Most of our place is within the post oak savannah region & not Pineywoods so we are not all pine needles. I guess we are considered more of the central area within east Tx

[canny]

I’m born, raised & still live in East Tx. I’ve always wondered how the deer population in the hill country & south Tx is so much more in quantity & buck quality vs East Tx numbers & quality
I know not all counties in the hill country have real big bucks but in general you see more deer & better quality vs East Tx. Don’t get me wrong there are pockets of areas in East Tx that produce nice bucks especially your river bottom areas

My main question is how are there so many more deer in the hill country but less natural food sources to sustain them?

My wife & I stayed in a B&B outside of New Braunfels and there were deer everywhere roaming around like herds of cattle. I saw more in one setting then I will see an entire season here in East Tx
However the terrain there was rocky with cacti & shrubs not many mature trees

Compared to East Tx where we are plentiful in oaks dropping acorns, pastureland & agricultural areas, natural berries, persimmons, etc

What sustains the deer in the areas that looks like a rocky desert?

In for the debate….

South Texas native browse has a higher nutritional value per acre than East Texas, even though it looks like it wouldn’t. Besides nutritional analysis alone you can also look at the features of many plants down there, they have some form of defense mechanism aka spines, thorns. This is often an indicator of a highly palatable plant.

Another big contributor is the average land size. South and West TX have a higher average acre per property overall. That means less fragmentation which is going to help sustain populations.


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