Food. All animals crave it, ingest it and seek out certain varieties with special characteristics to fulfill their physical needs. Wildlife species choose palatable items containing a mixture of carbohydrates, fats, minerals, vitamins, and the key ingredient, protein.Scientists and wildlife biologists continue to issue recommendations promoting natural and planted food sources to provide wildlife with palatable and digestible foods full of protein — and for good reason.
Proteins are made up of amino acids responsible for muscle and organ development, antibody production, hormone development and creating specific blood chemicals for carrying oxygen to blood cells. All animals require protein at some level to survive, but lactating does, nursing fawns and antler-growing bucks require a surge of protein-rich foods during the spring and summer.
Every year, does seek out abandoned pastures or brushy areas near abundant food sources to give birth to their fawns. Protein-rich foods are critically-important for nursing does and their fawns during the first few weeks after birth and throughout the rest of the summer. Nursing newborn fawns will grow six to seven times their size from their 5-pound birth weight over the summer. Breast milk itself will contain 30- to 40-percent protein as well as other critical nutrients for healthy living. Nursing does must eat large quantities of protein-rich foods for lactation and for their own nutritional requirements.
Protein is the key ingredient for bucks to grow the massive bodies and huge antlers all hunters desire. In fact, antlers contain nearly half of their mass as pure protein and the remaining half as calcium and phosphorus. As antler development begins in May, bucks crave foods high in protein and will continue to fill their bellies as protein-rich sources become available.
Back before food plots and
commercial agriculture, deer and other wildlife sustained themselves quite well without the help of the farmer or the wildlife manager promoting habitat. Riverbottoms, pine and hardwood forests, brushland and other native natural communities provided protein-laden foods available for deer and other wildlife throughout the year. But these natural communities only provide enough food for a limited population of animals and will only provide foods with 7- to 10-percent protein, even on the best sites. Deer can survive on 10-percent protein, but they will respond with low fawn weights and small antler mass. During late spring and summer, deer need diets made up of 15- to 20-percent digestible protein to produce healthy fawns, large bodies and massive antlers.
Across the southeast, very few habitats in their natural form contain natural foods with high levels of protein required by deer. Natural food sources can be encouraged through mechanical and chemical site improvements to invigorate forage and seed production. Fertilization, removing or replacing undesirable or unpalatable forage species, prescribed fire and other silvicultural practices are common methods that benefit habitat manipulation and help produce quality foods for deer and other wildlife. All of these methods are always encouraged on every property. This type of habitat manipulation will improve the volume of available foods and may even increase the level of protein consumption during a critical time in need.
While improving natural habitat is beneficial, food plots and palatable agriculture crops packed with 20- to 30-percent protein are a real plus when exceptional traits are targeted. Often, these high-protein food sources end up as dessert or just a small part of their daily nutritional intake. Deer need to consume these high-protein food sources as their staple food source, making up the overwhelming majority of their daily intake, especially during the crucial spring and summer months. The bottom line is, protein is the answer to developing strong, healthy animals with big bodies and heavy antlers.
Many deer enthusiasts spend too much time developing cool-season plots, when their efforts on warm-season plots will have more impact for developing quality animals. Cool-season plots play an important role in the overall nutritional budget for deer, providing ample nutrition during the breeding season and wintertime. Every property manager with the ability to provide rich food plots should take advantage of the opportunity to provide a high-protein program year-round, with a special emphasis on protein-rich warm-season plots.
All warm-blooded animals require adequate nutrition to complete their daily requirements, and protein is among the most important nutrient for all warm-blooded animals. A mixture of natural and planted sources of high in protein will improve the herd.
Plant large plots
The old saying, “you are what you eat” holds true in almost every circumstance. Whitetail deer require abundant, high-protein food sources to develop those desirable traits — a huge body and big rack.
With habitat dwindling from suburbia and deer becoming more concentrated, prime food sources become less and less available. All existing food plots should be maintained and expanded to the maximum acreage the grower can effectively manage. Several large food plots will provide more beneficial effects to deer than a slough of small plots. Small plots are effective, but deer in highly populated areas will over-browse them quickly, destroying the plots’ ability to recover.
One of the best ways to have large, productive food plots is to work with the farmers and encourage soybean and peanut production in the larger fields. Often, soybean and peanut rotations serve as farmers’ methods of putting nitrogen back in the soil while also benefiting from a valuable end crop.
While deer will find these agriculture fields soon after seeds germinate, large fields will serve as a staple food source, and deer will only have a small impact on their final end crop unless the deer population is out of control. While not too popular with the farmers, the deer herd will benefit from a consistent flow of protein-rich nutrition during a critical time of need.
Plant warm-season plots now
Spring is here, with soil temperatures ideal for germinating seeds for the much needed warm-season plots in the Carolinas. Deer need high-protein sources throughout the year, with the spring and summer months the most crucial. They will instinctively been drawn to these protein-rich sources during this time of need for fueling antler production, lactation and nurturing developing newborn fawns.
Land managers should choose palatable plot seeds with super-high protein levels in the 18- to 35-percent range. Most warm-season food-plot mixes have components of legumes such as soybeans, lab-lab, joint vetch, peas and peanuts that are loaded with highly digestible protein from 15 to 35 percent. Soybean plots are the “super food” for whitetail deer, with nearly 40-percent digestible protein in their seed and leaves, but heavy grazing will destroy these plots in a short time, leaving only a speckled field full of sprigs.
Clover is among the best continuous producers of a palatable and high-protein food source throughout the year, and clovers should be included in every food-plot program, but the prime planting season for many common clover species is during the fall. However, alyce-clover and ladino clovers can be planted during May and June.
Alyce-clover is a warm-season clover providing 18 percent protein throughout the summer and into early fall; it is very resistant to heavy grazing. While normally planted in the fall, ladino clover will flourish in the summer but may struggle with seasonal weeds. However, it also provides deer with 20- to 24-percent protein, optimal for fulfilling summer requirements.
Even though clover plots are highly desirable, various food-plot mixes or stagger plantings are encouraged to provide deer and other wildlife with a variety of foods that may develop at various intervals. Mixing the seed varieties and broadcasting or planting several rows of individual seeds will offer deer a variety of protein-rich foods from June through August.
Before planting any plots, soil acidity should be tested, lime added where needed and weeds killed to allow seeds to grow vigorously. For all clovers and many other food-plot seeds, the seed batches should be inoculated. Finally, read the manufacturer’s recommendations for planting depth, rate and specific rates of fertilization.
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