Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Protein Makes For Big Antlers & Body Size
It should come as no surprise to most bow hunters that three things are required to produce big body size and heavier antler growth. These three items, are what produces big bucks.
Time is a key element in growing a buck with plenty of antler mass. Study DNR records, and most of the bucks killed in this state are roughly 18 months old. If they are taken by hunters at 18 months, it’s impossible for them to attain the age required to produce big antlers.
A buck must be four or five years old before they really begin to develop antler mass. Shooting a year-and-a-half buck with a small basket rack removes any possibility of that animal ever having large antlers. Time to live three, four or five years is the key factor, and it’s one reason why many hunters push for Quality Deer Management.
Even at that, QDM does little to help if the rules call for at least three points to a side. A 1 1/2-year-old buck often has six points, and for that matter, an 8-pointer may meet the criteria and still be 1 1/2 years old.
We often pass up these deer. They may have eight points, and the start of what could be large antlers, but we allow them to walk. We are giving them time to produce quality antlers.
The second thing that leads to larger deer with better antler formation is protein. Few people realize that most of the protein absorbed through food will go to increase body size and condition, and what protein is not used building up the body, will go to antler development.
Many feel that corn is a good solid food for deer, but it ranks down the protein chart from other foods. Quality Imperial Whitetail Clover can produce up to 25-30 percent protein. Legumes such as navy beans can produce similar results, and possibly even higher protein levels.
Deer are browsing animals, and even though they may have a constant source of protein in a bean field or a green field planted to clover, they do feed heavily on shrubs and bushes. Some people plant a mix of crops for deer. I normally have clover fields, corn, winter wheat and rye grass. Rape and sugar beets also provide quality deer foods.
I know a few people who try to build up their soil by liming it every year, and fertilizing it heavily. I’ve talked with a few people who use almost twice the amount of fertilizer as required in hopes of adding more boost to the crops. It’s up in the air whether that produces or not.
One thing that is important is to offer deer a variety of quality foods. A small food plot of beans helps, but it doesn’t last long because deer will hammer the field and eat the beans as they grow. That is why it is most important to have a variety of high nutritional food sources.
Much is made of genetics, and up to a point, good genetics helps build strong and healthy deer with good antler potential providing that hunters give them time to develop with a great food supply.
Many feel a spike buck will always be a spike, but that isn’t true. Give a spike good food, time and a lack of stress that comes from having to compete heavily with other deer for food, and that buck can get turned around and produce a quality rack.
Michigan hunters on open state, federal or private lands, hammer deer hard. Every deer hunter wants to shoot a buck, and for many hunters, anything with bone on its head is fine. Secretly, they would all love to shoot a heavy antlered buck but few are willing to pass on small bucks and shoot an antlerless deer instead.
Much of deer management is not only managing in the best interests of the deer, which usually means reducing antlerless deer numbers, but it also means managing people. If hunters were restricted statewide to shooting bucks with only 8 points or more, fewer bucks would be shot but those bucks that survive, would have another year to grow larger antlers.
The question is: are most deer hunters willing to pass up small bucks and take an antlerless deer for three years? If they were, and if they gave something back to deer in terms of land management and food plots, within three years all deer hunters would be seeing some bigger bucks.
Of course, not every hunter would get a big buck but there would be more such animals running around than there are today. It would take a serious commitment to make this work, but remember this: time, quality food and lots of it, and genetics are key ingredients toward bigger racks. Reduce antlerless deer numbers, and stress levels would be reduced among hungry deer, and that would pave the way to deer hunting like this state has never seen before.
It all starts with the individual. Are you prepared to pass up a small buck, shoot an antlerless deer, and do this for three years? The difference, in most areas, would be astonishing.—The Whitetail Wizard