The Managed Lands Deer Program and Families Who Hunt in Texas

The Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute hosts The Land Steward Podcast each month with specialists in the field with diverse backgrounds to have relatable conversations about land and wildlife stewardship. In Episode 7, BW, our podcast host was able to bring the show on the road to her family’s ranch in the Hill Country to share candid interactions and discussions about managing deer populations as a family and how that experience has shifted the mindset on the ranch. 

Before hoping in the truck from the studio, BW provides some background on Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Managed Lands Deer Program, which was created to “foster and support sound management and stewardship of native wildlife and wildlife habitats on private lands in Texas.” The program is entirely voluntary for landowners and offers both a Harvest and Conservation option. Working in collaboration with your local TPWD wildlife biologist, they will consider the conditions of your property, your wildlife management goals, the data from population surveys and other ecological factors that make up the larger picture of your land to determine a healthy white-tailed deer population carrying capacity and the number of tags that could be filled in each season.  

BW’s mic changes a bit (much like her tone in her natural setting) as the scene lands off the back porch of her multi-generational family ranch in the Hill Country. In the middle of a rare September rain shower, you can hear a few voices raise over the rain drops as they chat about their recent deer surveys and, occasionally, you hear the familiar—thwack—of an arrow released out on their practice target behind them.  

They began collecting data on deer populations in 2020, when their TPWD biologist, Joyce Moore, began teaching them about deer populations, hunting, surveys, and more. During their first year within the program, the buck-doe ratio on their property was gravely out of balance, creating a cascade of other challenges like low fawn survival, overgrazed browse lines and overall low weights on deer. Moore allocated 67 doe tags that year to launch their management plan, bringing their free-range herd back to a healthier capacity. Their biologist completed a vegetation survey on the property, taught them to identify which plant species deer prefer, and showed them how maintaining levels of deer and cattle so high over the land’s carrying capacity was creating bare, unhealthy ground. Although they remember the first year being hard work with a steep learning curve, ultimately, the sobering process helped the family learn how to restore ecosystem balance to the land.  

As her dad volunteers to retrieve an overzealous arrow stuck in a target, BW shares some about his personal experience of growing up on the land, leaving to pursue a career elsewhere, and once again finding a passion for land stewardship as an adult. The process became personal for him, like many other land stewards, when he began to see how land stewardship benefited his family and loved ones. Protecting the land not only for self-interest but conserving it for future generations to use and enjoy. His renewed passion has brought new life to the ranch and his willingness to gain knowledge has been a major contributor to improving their land health.  

At that point, BW’s grandfather, who dozed off for a rainy-day porch nap under the live oaks (as one does), sheepishly grinned at the scene of his family enjoying the afternoon. BW asked what the experience has been like for him to watch the family come together over the fun, chaotic task of deer surveys. 

Grandpa: “It’s been encouraging. We really had no idea before we started doing surveys what our deer population was. We knew it was probably too many, but Joyce helped us tremendously in getting a handle on this and realizing the need to reduce the herd. And of course, after we reduced the herd, we got hit with a drought and a horrible cold spell, which probably killed a few more deer than we expected. But now we've got plenty for them to eat, even in a relatively droughty situation. And the deer herd is certainly recovering significantly, so that's encouraging.” 

BW: “Yeah, it's been good to be able to have a jumping off point to bring everybody in toward this conservation-minded stewardship where everybody has a role in the wildlife surveys. It may be a late night but having everybody pile into the truck, know what their jobs are, and that we're all getting a little bit better each time spotlighting and then IDing . . . at the end of the day, it makes us better hunters, better stewards, and it helps us be more aware of what's going on around at the ranch.” 

BW’s audio shifts again, and her voice changes to a whisper before you realize she’s taken you into the blind on an early morning hunt. BW brings us with her to give non-hunters an authentic experience of the pre-dawn hike to a deer blind and the silence of the morning broken only by bird songs and podcasters. She goes into a little bit more detail about the MLD program and how, in her experience, it was a helpful solution that took a lot of the guesswork out of deer management. The program gave her family partnership the tools they needed to create healthy deer populations and harvests while also focusing on habitat management and conservation. 

On a landowner’s first year in the program, they will always start with the Harvest Option to see if it is the right fit for their property—this is a sort of do-it-yourself option for MLD participation and provides landowners with more deer harvest recommendations, tag issuance, and general guidance about wildlife and habitat management. Participation in this option does not require habitat management practices, deer population data, or technical assistance from TPWD. This option can be considered the lowest barrier to entry to figure out if the program is a good fit for your property. 

The Conservation Option, which BW’s family is now operated under, offers the opportunity to work directly with a TPWD biologist to get ranch-specific habitat and deer harvest recommendations tailored to the individual landowner and their operation. This option does not require much more than the Harvest Option, but landowners are required to report certain types of deer data and specific habitat management practices each year. TPWD has seven different categories of wildlife habitat management practices that qualify, that you are also likely already doing under regular property management.  

BW and her family have found it helpful to maintain records of their activities from a land management perspective to see shifts and trends over time. Through documentation of biological data, they have been able to see changes in live weight, dress weight, antler growth, lactation on does, and several other datapoints that provide crucial insight into the health of a population.  

The decision to shift their mindset to a conservation-minded perspective resulted in increased deer weight, nutrition on the ground, and diverse forage options through tougher summer and winter months. Willingness to create a new mindset, learn what was best for their property, and have open conversations allowed this family of land stewards to create a healthier ecosystem for native plants and wildlife and a healthier land management operation.  

You can listen in on this episode of The Land Steward Podcast anytime on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.