Influence of Brush Control on White-Tailed Deer Diets in North-Central Texas

Abstract

Botanical composition of white-tailed deer fecal pellets from untreated and brush-controlled areas of the Texas Rolling Plains was studied by microscopic analysis. Deer showed a marked preference for 11 of 54 plant species selected as food from a total of 250 identified on the study area. The bulk of the diet was comprised of mistletoe on non-brush control areas and of pricklypear on brush-controlled areas. Similarity indices relating habitat across diets as well as diets across a habitat indicated that several habitats had preferred foods removed. These habitats also had low populations of deer. Brush control involving limited removal of noxious species affected dietary selection of deer but did not appear to affect overall deer usage of the habitats studied. Ever-increasing costs and low returns to the ranching industry in Texas has made the noxious brush problem an item of major concern. With more than 50% of Texas rangeland covered with brush too dense for optimal livestock production and an additional 23% moderately infested (Smith and Rechenthin 1964), brush control has become a common practice. This control has been used mainly for increasing grass and livestock production, with little effort expended to document the effects of brush control on wildlife populations. The value of wildlife resources becomes increasingly important to land managers when leased trespass rights for hunting compare favorably with economic returns from livestock production (Ramsey 1965). Since habitat management is of paramount importance for sustained optimal production of game animals, land managers should carefully scrutinize brush control practices that will affect wildlife populations. The objectives ot this researcn were to determine the importance of brush species in the diet of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), to ascertain deer diets in various brush control habitats of north-central Texas, and to compare the similarity of deer diets to available forage in deer habitats.