Preventing nutritional stress by consistently meeting nutrient requirements can support optimal antler production, health and ultimately profitability. Deer, for example, have a high metabolic rate in the late spring to fall and a low metabolic rate in the winter.Ī supplemental feeding program, that utilizes a high quality feed that provides all the nutrient classes in proper amounts, can help ensure a deer’s nutrient needs are being met year-round. While this difference in dry matter intake is caused by several things, a key factor is a shift in the metabolic rate. Daily dry matter intakes range from 1.5% of body weight in the mid-winter to over 3.0% in the summer and autumn.
Nutritional stress periods occur in wild populations of deer and elk when the quality or quantity of native forage is lacking, especially during times of physiological stress such as antler growth in males and gestation and lactation in females.Ī buck's or bull's antler growth is directly related to his nutritional status.
Supplemental feeding is often used as part of a management plan to assure that both bucks and does are better able to achieve their genetic potential, especially during times of nutritional stress. In wild populations habitat needs to be the primary source of nutrients for the resident animals.įrom a management perspective, improving nutrients available from the habitat is one of the most important things that a wildlife manager can do. Although there is not much difference in the texture between elk and deer meat, the nutritional values point to elk being more healthy and less fatty than deer. Wildlife management is both art and science.
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