Sorry. I just saw your question. Deer will seek out the higher quality natural foods on any given piece of property. Obviously the time of year and rain dictates what natural high quality food is available. Some of the different plants I can remember off the top of my head that our wildlife biologist pointed out were lespedeza, partridge peas, several clovers, bundleflower, and mesquite beans. All of these are 20% or higher in protein. He recommended we plant additional partridge peas, bundleflower and clovers since we have the fields to do so.

Deer prefer forbs and the forbs that deer seek out are going to be high in protein. Typically, it becomes drier in the summer and that is when the better quality natural forage is not available. In a dry summer, you would want to bump up your protein to a 20%. Last year, that was not necessary. With the wet year we had last year, we did not feed more than 16% protein.

Perfect example of this. We killed a buck last week that scored 158 4/8. He was at least 8 1/2 years old. I can't eyeball tooth wear beyond that.

The deer was 130's last year and was on the hit list as a cull. One guy saw him and let him walk last season and we never saw him again. He showed up this past Saturday morning and his days were over. I really think the deer was older than 8 1/2, but can't be sure.

That said, we feed 20% protein free-choice except during hunting season. Last year we fed about 60 tons when that mature deer was in the 130's. This year we fed 7 tons. Why? Timely rainfall throughout the year produced tons and tons of natural forage (forbs and healthy shrubs). Very little supplemental feed (protein) was needed by the animals.

The 158 4/8 jumped at least 20 inches this year. Why?

https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0183.pdf

Ours eat all of the above in Table 1.