We get asked all the time "what's the best food plot forage to plant for deer?" Well, as hunters and managers, we were interested in that question too. Bronson, Steve, and Marcus discuss a food plot forage selection project conducted by former graduate student, Jacob Dykes. Cereal grains, clovers, and brassicas all have different growth rates and maturation dates, making their quality and nutrient profile change over the hunting season. What's more, the availability of certain nutrients in the naturally occurring plants affect which food plot forages deer may favor, or avoid, and this depends on the time of year, and from place to place. So, what may be the most selected forage on your property, may be different a on property a few miles away. Just like there's no magic bullet, there's no magic food plot forage either.

And, check out this short video about the research: https://youtu.be/WUKEAtW6pqs

Most hunters and managers are aware of the benefits of prescribed fire on deer habitat. Fire can be used to set back plant succession (reduce the woody vegetation) and stimulate the growth of forbs (increase the herbaceous vegetation). In the Southeastern US, deer nutrition is often limited during the summer when bucks are growing antlers and does are producing fawns and lactating. Often limitations in summer nutrition is addressed with warm-season food plots, but what about addressing this need with prescribed fire? Today we visit with former MSU Deer Lab graduate student, Rainer Nichols, and discuss his project where he compared plant quality and biomass response to dormant-season and growing season prescribed fire. Rainer examined the impacts of prescribed fire timing and mechanical stump sprouting have on summer nutritional carrying capacity for deer. Diversifying the timing of prescribed fire between the dormant and growing seasons led to increased summer nutrient availability at the landscape level, and mechanically creating stump sprouts from woody plants led to increased available nutrition on a localized level. Combining these two management actions to target summer nutritional limitations can better help deer meet nutritional demands and reach their full potential.

Some hunters think Chronic Wasting Disease is no big deal, some hunters even think CWD is good for a state wildlife agency because the disease will bring with it an abundance of federal funding. Our interview with Jason Sumners of the Missouri Department of Conservation, and Cory Gray of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will fully explain the issues this disease brings to wildlife management agencies.

Want to hear more science-based information regarding natural resources? We have you covered. We are introducing the Natural Resources University Podcast Network which is much like the Deer University podcast, but we have expanded to cover other critical natural resource management topics. Habitat, Prescribed Fire, and Pond management are all covered. Just search for Natural Resources University in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcatcher service. We hope you enjoy!

Just when are deer most attracted to acorns? You might think – all the time! And hey, you may be right. In this episode with former MSU Deer Lab graduate student Moriah Boggess we review his research where he monitored deer acorn use throughout the year and see that deer can be attracted to acorns much later in the year than you might expect. This can have important implications when hunting during the post rut.

Where do bucks go during hunting season? Does hunting pressure change where bucks spend time? In this episode Bronson, Steve, and former MSU Deer Lab graduate student Colby Henderson, review research findings from a 2-year study where about 50 bucks were marked with GPS-enabled collars and we monitored their movements throughout a hunted landscape over the hunting season. First, what is habitat "selection"? Selection is a measure of how much time an animal spends in a particular vegetation type relative to how much of that vegetation type exists on the landscape. For example, if hardwood forest is only 5% of a property and deer spend 50% of their time there, then selection for hardwood forest would be very high – deer are differentially selecting for hardwood forest relative to the amount available to them on the landscape. We compared not only what vegetation types bucks selected, but also what hunters selected, and how that changed over the hunting season.

Bronson and Steve have a conversation with Donnie Draeger to discuss the topic of culling. Two concepts are discussed in our conversation 1) culling to improve genetics, and 2) culling to manage the buck population to maintain a proper density and conserve food. In free-ranging deer herds, culling to improve genetics simply does not work for several reasons explained in the podcast. However, if you are in an area where deer density must be controlled, and high-quality foods are limited, you should harvest does and consider strategically harvesting some middle-aged bucks with below average antlers. For more information on culling, consider checking out the book "Strategic Harvest System: How to Break Through the Buck Management Glass Ceiling" that can be found at the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/Strategic-Harvest-System-Through-Management/dp/1973235609/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1DJ2JTUML7P9Q&dchild=1&keywords=strategic+harvest+system&qid=1590544060&sprefix=strategic+harv%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-1

What are the most common habitat management mistakes? In this episode we visit with Deer Habitat guru, Dr. Craig Harper, of the University of Tennessee. Over his 20+ year career, Craig has worked all over the US helping hunters and managers create habitat for deer in forests and old fields. He is also the author of several books on food plots for deer and other wildlife. Craig will share his insight into the most common mistakes he encounters, as well as strategies for success. Enjoy!

Bryan Richards and Paul Shelton have been studying and managing Chronic Wasting Disease for almost 20 years. Bryan provides information on CWD in his home state of Wisconsin, and Paul describes how the Illinois DNR has managed the disease. These two biologists are a wealth of information and they describe the disparity in how their states are managing CWD.

Steve, Marcus, and Bronson discuss the importance of summer nutrition for deer. We review some research on seasonal fluctuations in plant quality, nutritional requirements of bucks and does, and some of the most common warm-season food plot forages. Also, Marcus has an announcement to make.