Only a few short years ago most avid whitetail hunters turned to other avenues to fill their outdoor needs as soon as the October/November deer season was over. Winter bird hunting, spring turkey hunting and spring fishing fit the bill in many cases. Now, as we blast forward into the 21st century, times have certainly changed. The several-month-a-year deer-hunting hobby has definitely turned into a year-round obsession. These days, if you’re an avid trophy-whitetail hunter, there aren’t enough hours in the day, or days in the week, to accomplish all of the “extra-curricular” activities associated with staying at the top of your game.

>> Planing Ahead: Now that the 2007 deer season is over in most parts of the country, it’s time to start looking ahead. If you’re like countless other fanatical whitetail hunters around the country, you probably own or lease anywhere from a few acres to several hundred acres of land managed for quality deer. What can you do to prepare for the upcoming season?

Depending on what kind of land you own or lease, you may want to do some supplemental feeding (where legal) during the harsh winter months when many natural food sources are scarce.

January, February and March are the toughest months of the year for deer in many places. Yet good nutrition is crucial at this time of year because does are carrying developing fawns and bucks are trying to rebound from several months of rigorous rutting activity. In addition, the bucks will soon be putting nutritional resources into growing new antlers.

In the South, where I live, many important browse plants like honeysuckle become very scarce after a couple of hard freezes. Kudzu, a real favorite of deer, dies back altogether after the first frost. Unless you have some good cold-weather food plots still producing high-energy forage, deer in many places have to subsist on almost a starvation diet at this time of year. There are several good, high-protein pellet products on the market these days, and the deer normally love them. If you have a hard time getting your deer to eat pellets when you start a supplemental program, you can always add in a mixture of about 30 percent corn until they get used to the pellets.

>> Dietary Supplements: The late-winter months are also a great time to put out supplemental minerals. Like high-protein pellets, there are several good mineral products on the market these days. Establishing around two mineral licks per 100 acres is a rule many of my friends use in the South. In some areas, the deer absolutely devour the minerals that land managers/hunters put out. I’ve seen other areas where deer won’t touch them. Deer generally don’t eat things that aren’t good for them, so it stands to reason that if they are eating the mineral supplements you put out on a regular basis, there must be a strong need in their diets for these minerals.

However, I should add here that my good friend Dr. James C. Kroll, one of the foremost authorities on deer nutrition in the country, says that from a nutritional standpoint, none of his research shows any evidence that supplemental minerals actually do much to help the deer. He also points out that there is no evidence to indicate that these minerals hurt the deer either. Most land managers I know take the attitude that if minerals help the deer even a little bit, they’re willing to go to the trouble and expense of putting them out, especially during critical times of the year when normal food sources are scarce.