Texas Hunting Forum

Another MLD Survey Question

Posted By: Jgraider

Another MLD Survey Question - 07/07/18 10:28 PM

I have had our mule deer ranch enrolled in the MLD program for the past 2 years. This past year we got a new biologist assigned to us, as the other one moved on to greener pastures.

Question: How many deer surveys (census) am I required to do in order to get tags issued for 2018-19? I know what the new biologist is telling me, but I suspect he is wrong. I'm curious as to what you guys in a similar situation are doing, as per your biologist requests. Thanks in advance.
Posted By: therancher

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/07/18 10:38 PM

If you helicopter survey it’s always been just one.
Posted By: Jgraider

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/07/18 10:40 PM

Thenk you sir. What if you do spotlight surveys?
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/07/18 11:20 PM

For WT, IIRC it took 3 minimum. I always did 3-4 so that if one was way different due to lack of deer movement I could leave it out. Not sure about MD.
Posted By: Jimbo

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/08/18 12:44 PM

I've hunted on a ranch that did spotlight surveys, and from my own experience they have not been very accurate.
As mentioned above it depends solely on deer movement, and without that taken into consideration how can they be accurate?
multiple surveys are going to be more accurate if taken at the right time, not haphazardly.
Posted By: therancher

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/08/18 01:14 PM

All surveys are inaccurate. Quit doing spotlight surveys years ago because they are the most inaccurate (at least for whitetail) and the most time consuming.

They allow you to survey by game cam if you don’t want to fly it.
Posted By: Jgraider

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/08/18 01:37 PM

Thanks for the help. I realize spotlight surveys are relatively inaccurate, but flying a 65000 acre place can get expensive in a hurry so that may not be an option every year. It turns out, as was the basis for my question, that the new biologist is correct in that he told me he needed 3 spotlight surveys in order to issue tags.
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/08/18 01:37 PM

I participated in the Hill Country once on test of 3 different survey methods in 90's. The helicopter was done first, then spotlight survey and then on the day of the field day we lined up two lines of people 50-70' apart and walked the ranch counting deer. The helicopter survey was the most inaccurate, then the spotlight and the most accurate was the last. But it also took the most people to do. IIRC the helicopter was in the 20% to 30% range for numbers compared to the walking line. The spotlight was in the 30% to 40% range. Ranch was HF and around 600 acres. The feed consumption records fit the spotlight numbers but did not fit the actual numbers for hill country habitat. They had been harvesting by TPWD guidelines and never took over 16% of the bucks based off of the spotlight counts. They had way more deer than what they thought. The field was put together to see what survey, if any was the most accurate with terrain and cover being the key.
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/08/18 01:41 PM

Originally Posted By: Jgraider
Thanks for the help. I realize spotlight surveys are relatively inaccurate, but flying a 65000 acre place can get expensive in a hurry so that may not be an option every year. It turns out, as was the basis for my question, that the new biologist is correct in that he told me he needed 3 spotlight surveys in order to issue tags.

I have a friend that is biologist on an almost 70,000 acre ranch in South Texas and he did not fly the whole ranch but large sections of it for his MLD survey. He would grid the ranch and flew one set of large grids one year and the other grids the next year. Sort of looked like a checker board. Not sure how that would work with mule deer since they can move large distance to crops or where it rains on a ranch or in that area.
Posted By: SapperTitan

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/08/18 09:39 PM

I have been doing my own surveys just because I want to and I use my thermal. Ive found many surprising things so far like deer bedding down in areas I had no clue they would want to bed down like middle of big open fields far from thick cover, ive found big groups of deer like 10-15 at a time when I rarely get more than 2-4 at a feeder at a time, ive counted many fawns already this year. I think the most ive counted in a night so far is around 40 and most were no where close to our feeders but bedded down on the north side of cover blocking the wind from the south. Its fun to get out and scout these deer at night when they have no clue anyone is there, thermal is a great tool.
Posted By: redchevy

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/09/18 04:56 PM

A buddy has their HF place flown every year. The first year they shot as many does as the survey said they had total by the end of the season and still had plenty left.
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/09/18 05:10 PM

I flew a ranch a few years back that was over 5000 acres. I saw 254 deer from the air that morning. IIRC 109 were does and 77 bucks and 48 were fawns the rest were unidentified deer that just caught a glimpse of. We then caught 40 does to put in 2 DMP pens with 2 bucks caught off the ranch. So that left 69 does and 75 bucks. That season shot 100 does and 75 bucks off that year to pull numbers down. The next year I flew and saw 45 bucks and 23 does(not counting any tagged does let out of DMP). We put 40 does back in DMP with 2 bucks. We shot 100 more does and 85 bucks that year. Based off of feed consumption and TC pics of bucks with incidental counts on deer that we only saw 40% of the deer the first year it was flown. I am sure that in more open country of West Texas the helicopter counts could be more accurate but in South Texas and Hill Country they are not very accurate IME. You just hope to see trends in the year to year counts.
Posted By: Jimbo

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/10/18 02:28 PM

Do any of the ranches that have these surveys done have any sort of predator control, (coyotes, hogs, and lions) or do they not factor in very much?
Reason I'm asking is a place I hunt on puts a lot of emphasis on deer surveys and quota's, but ignores the elephant in the room.
Posted By: redchevy

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/10/18 03:11 PM

I believe you are suppose to incorporate a recruitment estimate into your survey process, or how many fawns make it. Not saying predators only eat fawns either, but think its the majority they do eat.
Posted By: Texan Til I Die

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/10/18 07:43 PM

One biologist I worked with had us calculate 25% - 30% fawn mortality from all causes, with the majority being from predation. This was on the west side of the Rolling Plains and we had a huge number of yotes and bobcats.
Posted By: DLALLDER

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/10/18 08:31 PM

If spotlight surveys are inaccurate, they are on the low side. You are only seeing a fraction of what are truly there. I helped on a 5000 acre low fence ranch for 10 years and we thought we were getting true counts. The biologist will see a pattern based on number of years information has been sent in. We did 3 surveys every year and every year we would always have a night with high numbers, one with low numbers and one with in the middle numbers. The main problem was the 2 ranch managers that were there during the 10 years were anti-doe killers. Did not want to kill does for any reason, biologist finally figured it out and gave orders for a set numbers of does to be taken in the first month and if he did not get the results, he was going to pull the MLD, we shot a lot of does and several spikes the month of Oct that year.
Posted By: Jgraider

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/10/18 09:06 PM

I just do the surveys, counting the number of does, bucks, and fawns. I turn those in to our biologist and he runs the numbers. I don't factor in anything as far as predators go.

I'll tell you what's amazing about this whole process. I started hunting mule deer 46 years ago when my dad first took me at age 11. I've been hooked ever since and haven't missed a season since then. The regular season runs the week of Thanksgiving in this county. We've been hunting this place for almost 15 years now, and would usually hunt 6 or 7 of the 9 days, taking a break for Thanksgiving holiday. During that week we would usually average seeing a buck a day and several does, sometimes a little bit more but this was the norm. When the first survey was done to enroll this ranch in the MLD program 3 years ago the biologist was the only guy aboard the helicopter not counting the pilot. He had a grid of the ranch mapped out, and flew about 30% of the place and then extrapolated the numbers.

I called him a day later and asked him how the survey went. He was very happy with it, saying they saw 36 does, 35 bucks, and 30 fawns. I was utterly shocked at those numbers. The many spotlight surveys since them seem to verify that they are at least in the ballpark.

Moral to the story.....those "dumb old mule deer" we've heard about aren't very dumb at all. If they don't want to be seen, they won't be.
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/10/18 11:11 PM

I agree on Mule Deer being a much different deer compared to a WT. I hunted the same ranch for 10 yrs in West Texas. We ran trail cams for about a 3 yr period. We would kill bucks we never saw on trail cams. Some of those bucks move great distances in a week or two. Some stay in the same general area for 2-3 yrs then move. One buck was seen on the west side of the ranch the first year and then 7-8 miles east of there on the ranch the next season. Easy to ID him with forked 2's and forked 4's plus what would be a G4 on a WT on his right beam. He was very dark horned and narrow but tall. Never seen him again after that second year. 2 yrs ago I watched a basic 4x4 with a WT looking rack with a group of 9 does/fawns the first morning of the season. Over the next 2 weeks they were gradually working south. Exactly 2 weeks later the whole group was 5.75 miles straight-line due south from where I first saw them. IME with MD you can see 40-50 by 10 in the morning and not see hardly any deer the next day or two. If you started hunting on a day when the were not moving you would swear they were none on the ranch. Hunting that same ranch we knew the deer were still there since it was a very large ranch. We killed very few bucks per year so we knew we had bucks getting very old and probably they died of old age. Weather and time of the year really dicates how or why they are moving IME on that ranch. The lack of good hunting weather for several season in a row our lease in Trans Pecos really showed that. We might get 2 or 3 days of really good weather and then it was back to being hot.
I know the TPWD was or may still be doing research up in the western/central part of the Panhandle. They had radio collared some MD to see how far they were ranging and how rotation of farmed crops would make them move around. I think they were in the second year of it then. I was also told at that time they were thinking about antler restrictions on Mule Deer bucks in all of West Texas. I would really be interested in seeing the results of the research from that study to see how far those deer are moving.
I hunted Mule Deer for the first time in 1994 and was hooked. I hunted for 3 yrs in the late 90's in the SE Panhandle area and they could be found in high numbers one day and next to nothing the next day all in the rougher red canyon areas on the edges of farmland. It was not until 2006 that I finally was able to hunt for them for 11 yrs in a row in Alberta, Kansas and Texas. I can fully agree that once you get hooked on hunting them you will have withdrawals when you are not able to hunt them.
Posted By: scalebuster

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/10/18 11:33 PM

Originally Posted By: stxranchman
I agree on Mule Deer being a much different deer compared to a WT. I hunted the same ranch for 10 yrs in West Texas. We ran trail cams for about a 3 yr period. We would kill bucks we never saw on trail cams. Some of those bucks move great distances in a week or two. Some stay in the same general area for 2-3 yrs then move. One buck was seen on the west side of the ranch the first year and then 7-8 miles east of there on the ranch the next season. Easy to ID him with forked 2's and forked 4's plus what would be a G4 on a WT on his right beam. He was very dark horned and narrow but tall. Never seen him again after that second year. 2 yrs ago I watched a basic 4x4 with a WT looking rack with a group of 9 does/fawns the first morning of the season. Over the next 2 weeks they were gradually working south. Exactly 2 weeks later the whole group was 5.75 miles straight-line due south from where I first saw them. IME with MD you can see 40-50 by 10 in the morning and not see hardly any deer the next day or two. If you started hunting on a day when the were not moving you would swear they were none on the ranch. Hunting that same ranch we knew the deer were still there since it was a very large ranch. We killed very few bucks per year so we knew we had bucks getting very old and probably they died of old age. Weather and time of the year really dicates how or why they are moving IME on that ranch. The lack of good hunting weather for several season in a row our lease in Trans Pecos really showed that. We might get 2 or 3 days of really good weather and then it was back to being hot.
I know the TPWD was or may still be doing research up in the western/central part of the Panhandle. They had radio collared some MD to see how far they were ranging and how rotation of farmed crops would make them move around. I think they were in the second year of it then. I was also told at that time they were thinking about antler restrictions on Mule Deer bucks in all of West Texas. I would really be interested in seeing the results of the research from that study to see how far those deer are moving.
I hunted Mule Deer for the first time in 1994 and was hooked. I hunted for 3 yrs in the late 90's in the SE Panhandle area and they could be found in high numbers one day and next to nothing the next day all in the rougher red canyon areas on the edges of farmland. It was not until 2006 that I finally was able to hunt for them for 11 yrs in a row in Alberta, Kansas and Texas. I can fully agree that once you get hooked on hunting them you will have withdrawals when you are not able to hunt them.


We would see a lot more big mule deer killed in Texas if they would start the season after Christmas instead of November, south of I-10.
Posted By: Wilhunt

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/11/18 12:24 AM

What is it that you enjoy about mule deer hunting? I know some who don't hunt WT at all but never miss the mule deer hunt. I have never hunted mule deer, seems there is more than the hunt and scenery. What say you?
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/11/18 01:18 AM

Originally Posted By: scalebuster
Originally Posted By: stxranchman
I agree on Mule Deer being a much different deer compared to a WT. I hunted the same ranch for 10 yrs in West Texas. We ran trail cams for about a 3 yr period. We would kill bucks we never saw on trail cams. Some of those bucks move great distances in a week or two. Some stay in the same general area for 2-3 yrs then move. One buck was seen on the west side of the ranch the first year and then 7-8 miles east of there on the ranch the next season. Easy to ID him with forked 2's and forked 4's plus what would be a G4 on a WT on his right beam. He was very dark horned and narrow but tall. Never seen him again after that second year. 2 yrs ago I watched a basic 4x4 with a WT looking rack with a group of 9 does/fawns the first morning of the season. Over the next 2 weeks they were gradually working south. Exactly 2 weeks later the whole group was 5.75 miles straight-line due south from where I first saw them. IME with MD you can see 40-50 by 10 in the morning and not see hardly any deer the next day or two. If you started hunting on a day when the were not moving you would swear they were none on the ranch. Hunting that same ranch we knew the deer were still there since it was a very large ranch. We killed very few bucks per year so we knew we had bucks getting very old and probably they died of old age. Weather and time of the year really dicates how or why they are moving IME on that ranch. The lack of good hunting weather for several season in a row our lease in Trans Pecos really showed that. We might get 2 or 3 days of really good weather and then it was back to being hot.
I know the TPWD was or may still be doing research up in the western/central part of the Panhandle. They had radio collared some MD to see how far they were ranging and how rotation of farmed crops would make them move around. I think they were in the second year of it then. I was also told at that time they were thinking about antler restrictions on Mule Deer bucks in all of West Texas. I would really be interested in seeing the results of the research from that study to see how far those deer are moving.
I hunted Mule Deer for the first time in 1994 and was hooked. I hunted for 3 yrs in the late 90's in the SE Panhandle area and they could be found in high numbers one day and next to nothing the next day all in the rougher red canyon areas on the edges of farmland. It was not until 2006 that I finally was able to hunt for them for 11 yrs in a row in Alberta, Kansas and Texas. I can fully agree that once you get hooked on hunting them you will have withdrawals when you are not able to hunt them.


We would see a lot more big mule deer killed in Texas if they would start the season after Christmas instead of November, south of I-10.

I agree the rut starts late Dec into Jan. Mule Deer are much more fragile than WT though due to the environment they live and the age needed to reach their full potential IMO. If they ever did open it up the I would be afraid that the numbers of deer taken would be tremendous and really set some areas back on quality over the long run. Lot of ranches have to many hunters on it also. The ranch I hunt on has low hunter numbers for the acreage. I was told that before we leased it, the ranch was leased to an outfitter. He was supposed to take X amount of bucks per year. He took 2X and then each guide took a buck after that. So they were taking 1.5 times more bucks than they were supposed to be taking. They did it for years. Just imagine if the season was later and a ranch like that was able to hunt for the bigger/older bucks and what would happen to the amount of mature deer left to be hunted in future years. Ranches that are MLD are able to hunt those bigger bucks and you can see what kind of quality is being taken now compared to 25 yrs ago. I know some MLD ranch owners will not hunt the rut, so any big mature buck has to be taken before mid-Dec. If they show up after that, they are off limits.
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/11/18 01:23 AM

Originally Posted By: Wilhunt
What is it that you enjoy about mule deer hunting? I know some who don't hunt WT at all but never miss the mule deer hunt. I have never hunted mule deer, seems there is more than the hunt and scenery. What say you?

It is hard for me to describe until you have been on one hunt. It is nothing like hunting WT at all since it is 100% spot and stalk for me when I hunt. The numbers are generally way less than WT for the same acreage hunted. You can look at something new every hunt out and hunt it at your own pace. MD will live in wide open country or bury up in the thickest bottom on the ranch. You really have to hunt to find them, then just put that knowledge to work for the rest of the hunt.No feeders or blinds. We hunt about one hunter per 8500 acres. I hunted MD for the first time in 1994 and after that one hunt I knew I was hooked. Fewer hunters and larger acreages make it a much more enjoyable hunt even if you do not take a deer.
Posted By: Jgraider

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/11/18 03:13 AM

stxranchman, you speak the truth on MD movement. We once had a big 190"+ buck that had to be 32" wide pegged the evening before the season opened, at dusk, laying down. We went back to camp and started sharpening up the knives for opening day as we just knew we were going to kill that buck early the next morning, opening day. To make a long story short, we never saw him again. However a few days later the game warden came by camp to check us out and drink a cup of coffee. He always shows us pics of good deer taken (he won't tell us where they were taken though, don't blame him). He had that exact bucks picture taken almost 8 miles north of where we saw him bedded the evening before the opener. He was unmistakable with a small drop time.

During that helicopter survery the biologist got on a really big buck, saying he would probably go 210" at least. He was all by himself, in a small weed patch in a buffalo wallow. He said he watched him for about 15 seconds before the buck finally stood up from his bed, but never ran off. They went on to finish the survey, and after about 15 minutes went back to have another look at that buck. He was in the same place, laying down, and would not stand up again, all the while the helicopter was hovering overhead about 90ft.

Big muley bucks are a completely different animal.
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/11/18 03:27 AM

Originally Posted By: Jgraider
stxranchman, you speak the truth on MD movement. We once had a big 190"+ buck that had to be 32" wide pegged the evening before the season opened, at dusk, laying down. We went back to camp and started sharpening up the knives for opening day as we just knew we were going to kill that buck early the next morning, opening day. To make a long story short, we never saw him again. However a few days later the game warden came by camp to check us out and drink a cup of coffee. He always shows us pics of good deer taken (he won't tell us where they were taken though, don't blame him). He had that exact bucks picture taken almost 8 miles north of where we saw him bedded the evening before the opener. He was unmistakable with a small drop time.

During that helicopter survery the biologist got on a really big buck, saying he would probably go 210" at least. He was all by himself, in a small weed patch in a buffalo wallow. He said he watched him for about 15 seconds before the buck finally stood up from his bed, but never ran off. They went on to finish the survey, and after about 15 minutes went back to have another look at that buck. He was in the same place, laying down, and would not stand up again, all the while the helicopter was hovering overhead about 90ft.

Big muley bucks are a completely different animal.

Those big mature bucks can move a long ways. I have very good friend and his cousin that hunt out west on the same mule deer lease I do. He and his cousin were in a pasture on a small knob hill one weekend morning and found a really good 5x5 mule deer chasing a doe. They passed on him since he had a busted main beam in front of his right front G4. Good browtines and deep forks everywhere else. He felt if he had the mainbeam he was into the 180's easily. In town eating one night at K-Bob's we ran into a mutual friend who was eating in there. He was hunting with an outfitter on a very large ranch to our south. We asked how he had done and he whipped out of picture of his buck. Said he scored 180 gross. Said he had killed him that morning, Friday morning. My buddy looked at the buck and did a double take since the buck was missing the RT MB past the G4.. Asked him what ranch he was on. He asked how far down the highway from roadside park. He laughed and said that is the buck he had seen earlier that weekend. It was over 15 miles south of where they had seen him. He called his cousin over and showed him the pics and his cousin just shook his head and agreed it was the same buck. 5 or 6 days and 15 miles or more south. They can travel a long ways if or when they want to. My buddy has hunted MD and WT for many, many years and knows deer very well.
Posted By: Jgraider

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/11/18 02:28 PM

Wow, that's amazing. No wonder you see some really big bucks just once.......
Posted By: Wilhunt

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/12/18 11:05 PM

Thanks for the explanation stx. I can see what you mean about needing to do it at least once. Just being able to keep moving and looking would keep me interested.
Posted By: stxranchman

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/18/18 09:13 PM

Current large scale research being done on MD in the Panhandle area of West Texas. I was told about this 2 yrs ago. Going to be interesting to see some of the data that comes from this study.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=&utm...p;v=pU4-Hw-l_zY
Posted By: PMK

Re: Another MLD Survey Question - 07/18/18 11:22 PM

COOL!!!

the next video about urban bobcats was interesting as well
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