Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Deer Season '24/'25 Thread

Archery season has opened in many parts of the country, and firearms season should be opening soon!

I just wanted to start a thread for any good deer management observations or sage advice from some of the experts.

Of course, good game camera pictures, as well as pictures from successful hunts are always welcome.

Good luck to everyone this season!

I had to fell some Siberian Elms on our farm that were taking over some of the open spaces. I knocked down a bunch of trees that were 6"-14" in diameter and 20'-40' tall. They still had a few leaves on them, and were pretty "brushy" in their forms. Consequently, when felled, they made nice, irregular "thickets" that were about 5-6' high, and the deer would be able to peer through.

I felled them just before the big rains, and only got back out to the farm yesterday since it had been so soggy.

It turns out that the deer absolutely loved their new cover! The hidden areas between the felled trees are absolutely covered with deer tracks. They have also made two big scrapes on the ground adjacent to the crowns of two of the felled trees. They even have an obvious licking branch in each of those crowns.

I wish I could make cover that immediately popular in my ponds for the fish - now that the water levels are going back up.

Rod, Kudos to you to starting another excellent thread (IMHO)

I find a very common bond between deer and fish habitat. I've been a deer hunter for years and have seen the same results on my farm.

I'm trying to add habitat in my pond while the water is low so very interested in the experts opinions.

I've added BG beds with pea gravel and am attempting to create some artificial dense cover to add beside them to provide habitat for the newly hatched fry. Using artificial habitat has proved to be more challenging than expected.

I'm thinking of using the concept you posted that worked for deer in my pond by thinning out some small/medium trees on my farm. Then using the small/medium branches bundled together beside the BG beds. I would think this would accomplish the goal of making it immediately popular for the new fry this spring and provide the cover they need to grow to be a significant forage source for LMB.

I want to get the most benefit out of my work so thinking hardwoods would be the best. What do you and the experts think? Construction ideas would be appreciated.

No intention of hijacking your deer cover thread for fish info, but you have my wheels spinning

]FishinRod, if you get back into your new thickets check to see if they've been browsing the tops you fell. Dropping tree tops is a common strategy to help deer through the winter (up north where it's harsher). I've done it a few times during particularly cold spells. Deer love freshly dropped trees for both cover and food!


I hunted quite a bit last weekend. Didn't do anything but take shots with my phone, but had lots of great action.

Can anyone tell me how to make pics big, and not just a thumbnail at the bottom of the post?

I think the hardwoods would last longer, and I think osage orange/hedge apple would be your best bet if you need to clear or thin any of those trees.

However, one of the experts on the forum (can't remember who) said to not worry much about your woody cover degrading over time. He said that the fish will use it for different purposes over its "life cycle" in the pond. For example, if it is really brushy next spring, then your small BG and Golden Shiners, etc. will use the dense cover. Later when it degrades to just a few main branches, your bass will use it as ambush cover. Hopefully, by that time, you will have put in some newer cover again for the smaller fish.

I didn't see any obvious browsing when I was checking out the deer action, but probably missed some.

Every fall I do coppice a few elms down to a low stump. It doesn't seem to hurt them, and they explode with new growth the next spring.

I wish I was smart enough to figure out how the deer pick their trees for browsing. Some of those trees look like "chia pets" by the next fall. The deer browse every single new shoot on the tree, so the tree just pushes out more new shoots. Eventually, the tree has hundreds of twiggy little stems. Other elms I cut the exact same way, the deer never touch. Three new leaders grow from the stump and the darn tree is 20' tall again in two years.


P.S. You have some beautiful bucks in your pictures!

Cats....After you upload the photo if you hover over the uploaded file there is a box that shows "embed" file.

1. Make sure you have the cursor on the right spot in the text message or cut and paste the link into where you want it.
2. "Embed into Post"

Interestingly enough if you do the "embed" option and add the file again without the embed it will put the file in both places (in the body and as a thumbnail below)


It will put a string (looks like a hyperlink from a website) in the body of your message and that is where the photo will show up in the body of your message.

Or at least that's how I do it.


Good Luck.

It should look like....

Thanks guys! Now lets see if I can remember how to do it when I finally decide to post a pic again!

I’ve hunted twice and seen nothing. However a young couple, both bow hunters, took a couple of whopper bucks off my place. The bow hunters get an extra month to hunt prior to rifle season.

Hope that the couple also harvested at least 4 does to offeset the two bucks so you are doing your part to maintain the big bucks for you and your neighbors!

Rah, I think our long drought did a pretty good job of that. We had a 4 year extreme drought that hit all the wildlife. I still have acorns rotting on the ground. That used to not happen.

Like DD1 experienced, our drought here was pretty brutal, yet our deer seem to be doing fine. Also, just talked to a buddy that had been pheasant hunting, and his group limited out two days in a row.

I have NEVER seen any starving or obviously infirm deer on my game cameras, or in real life.

Question for the forum:

Why don't we see starving, injured, or just dying of old age deer on our properties?


Is the reason, that once they have a significant problem, nature/predators are so harsh that they quickly succumb? Or have I just not made enough observations of the actual situation for the deer?

Around here, I think we see all the infirm deer lying along side the roads after they've been hit by cars. That's assuming if they aren't 100%, they're more likely to get hit.

Only places I can recall hearing of where you can see a lot of sick deer is where there is CWD.

We have seen some does die of old age around here by finding their bodies and look at their lower jaws and see almost no teeth left. They effectively just starved. This year have seen several does that were just skin and bones that probably have died already. The buzzards can eat one in a few days. Coyotes carry off and devour the remaining

Yep, we have abundant coyotes and turkey vultures in my area.

I have never seen a recent deer corpse at our place that was NOT pulled apart. And certainly the only way I would find one without accidentally stumbling on it would be during the period when the vultures are circling.

I did look through some more of my game camera pictures since my previous post. The fawns look noticeably smaller to me for this time of year (I think)?

Perhaps the lack of easy water and easy rich forage hurt the milk production of the does, and consequently the fawns are a little under-sized? Perhaps that is how an extended drought eventually harms the deer population, since "stunted" deer may not survive the next difficult thing that occurs in their life?

I've wondered about this many times. So many big bucks just disappeare and no one seems to know anything about what happened to them. I speculate that when it's time they go to some remote place and die. I know when I'm sick I just want to be left alone and to crawl into some hole until I feel better. Maybe critters are the same.

Theo, I recently saw 8 dead deer, assume hit by vehicles, on the 60 miles of highway from home to my place.

Maybe the rut

I almost hit a nice 8 point buck and a doe at different points in my short commute last Friday. The rut is definitely on here.

I was walking property with our tenant last night about 5:15pm; his son called - he was checking some cattle on a tract about 15 miles south of us. His son witnessed a mtn lion take down a doe. He was watching a buck mount the doe when the big cat took her down. He said the cat was lightning fast; the buck was dumbfounded. What a site to see. This was in southern Okmulgee County OK

Brutality rising!!!!

No happy ending there!!

I think that must be part of the reason I never see any weak, injured, or frail deer on my game cameras!

That is a handsome boy, Zep!