Episode #31 - Special Guest Dr. Bronson Strickland - Fetal Programming, Deer Dispersal, Minerals, and CWD

Published: 2020-09-27
Episode page
Duration: 82 min

In this episode

biography

• Terry asks Bronson to give a quick summary of his education and research background. 3:18

book-announcement

• Terry announces Strickland’s book, ‘Strategic Harvest System: How to Break Through the Buck Management Glass Ceiling,’ is available on Amazon. 64:24

breeding-value

• Strickland reports that a South Texas culling study found a buck’s ‘breeding value’ is not correlated with his own antler size. 57:54

captive-deer

• Don shares that he raised captive deer and ran a small research herd on his farm for about 25 years before ending the operation. 74:29

culling

• Don describes culling the smallest-antlered bucks in each age class, such as 3.5-year-olds, on his farm while letting the larger-antlered ones mature to four, five, and six. 59:51
• Don asks whether selectively culling the smallest-antlered bucks in each age class on a single property can meaningfully improve its buck quality. 60:07

cwd

• Don asks Bronson whether CWD’s danger is overblown or truly the serious threat some organizations and state agencies portray. 67:20
• Don asks whether Bronson knows about deer breeders selecting breeder bucks for a gene believed to confer CWD resistance. 74:47

deer-university

• Strickland announces plans to expand the Deer University podcast into related shows like Habitat, Fire, and Fish University featuring other wildlife specialists. 80:31

dispersal

• A University of Georgia study by Carl Miller and Larry Marchington found that when a doe is harvested, her yearling buck fawn often stays in her home range instead of dispersing. 37:27
• Terry asks Bronson to explain, for newer listeners, what he means by yearling buck dispersal and his cited 75% statistic. 34:56

dnr

• Strickland credits state DNRs and wildlife agencies for the historic restocking efforts that successfully reestablished whitetail deer populations across the landscape. 26:14

doe-harvest

• Don recommends harvesting does that have twin buck fawns, citing dispersal research to argue it encourages those young bucks to remain on the property. 38:06

fetal-programming

• Strickland reports that fawns from does native to Mississippi’s nutrient-poor Lower Coastal Plain gained only about one pound more than wild deer despite unlimited captive feeding. 13:30
• Strickland reports that after two generations of well-nourished mothers, Lower Coastal Plain buck antlers nearly matched the size of bucks from the fertile Delta region. 16:26
• Don asks Bronson to explain the Mississippi State study on pregnant does and what it revealed about prenatal nutrition’s importance for fawns. 8:10

genetics

• Strickland says a genetics simulation showed restocking enough large-antlered bucks to meaningfully shift a county’s population-level antler genetics would be logistically and financially unattainable. 56:44
• Terry asks whether the research discredits DNR practices of relocating ‘good genetics’ bucks, since a stressed pregnant doe would still limit fawn expression. 24:17
• Don asks whether specific genetics could be better in one small, isolated ‘hot pocket’ location, referencing a spot that produced trophy bucks two years running. 29:36

guest-introduction

• Don introduces Dr. Bronson Strickland of the Mississippi State Deer Lab as the special guest for this episode. 2:46

habitat-management

• Don reports that after 30 years of diverse plantings on his property, the size of his biggest annual buck has grown by about 20 inches. 53:06
• Strickland says that improving cover in food-rich but cover-poor landscapes reliably and immediately increases the number of deer and bucks a property holds. 34:12

listener-questions

• Terry explains that the podcast collects listener-submitted questions weekly and plans to file away questions sparked by this episode for a possible follow-up with Strickland. 78:42

minerals

• Don asks whether it’s accurate that worse soil conditions mean a good mineral supplementation program can have more impact on deer. 40:26

scrapie

• Don recalls that the sheep industry developed a genetic solution to scrapie, though he notes he isn’t an expert on sheep. 77:52

soil

• Strickland finds poor and rich soils produce chemically similar forage, but rich soils grow roughly ten times more forage biomass, which he says drives most body-weight differences in deer. 48:51

website

• Strickland directs listeners to the MSU Deer Lab website as the best resource for learning more about his and Steve Demarais’s whitetail research. 79:26

Deer activity

• unnamed buck (harvest) 29:14
• unnamed buck (harvest) 29:18
• unnamed buck (harvest) 52:50

Listener questions

Question: Terry asks Bronson to give a quick summary of his education and research background. 3:18 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Strickland says he earned an undergraduate wildlife biology degree at the University of Georgia before pursuing graduate deer-management research that became his career. 3:46

Question: Don asks Bronson to explain the Mississippi State study on pregnant does and what it revealed about prenatal nutrition’s importance for fawns. 8:10 — asked by Don

• Answer: Strickland says the multi-generational study revealed the mother doe’s own nutritional condition, not just genetics, largely determines how much of a buck’s body-size and antler potential gets expressed. 16:56

Question: Terry asks whether the research discredits DNR practices of relocating ‘good genetics’ bucks, since a stressed pregnant doe would still limit fawn expression. 24:17 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Strickland agrees: environment caps expressed phenotype for survival, so a 350-pound Illinois buck released in South Florida would gain no advantage and couldn’t thrive there. 24:44

Question: Don asks whether specific genetics could be better in one small, isolated ‘hot pocket’ location, referencing a spot that produced trophy bucks two years running. 29:36 — asked by Don

• Answer: Strickland says isolated genetic hotspots are possible but unlikely; more probably the spot’s landscape and cover act as a magnet drawing mature bucks rather than growing bigger genetics. 30:00

Question: Terry asks Bronson to explain, for newer listeners, what he means by yearling buck dispersal and his cited 75% statistic. 34:56 — asked by Terry

• Answer: Strickland explains mother does typically drive off yearling buck fawns before the next breeding season to reduce inbreeding risk, a pattern called yearling buck dispersal. 36:37

Question: Don asks whether it’s accurate that worse soil conditions mean a good mineral supplementation program can have more impact on deer. 40:26 — asked by Don

• Answer: Strickland says the logic holds in theory, but no rigorous study has isolated minerals from confounding soil and forage factors enough to prove the effect. 43:25

Question: Don asks whether selectively culling the smallest-antlered bucks in each age class on a single property can meaningfully improve its buck quality. 60:07 — asked by Don

• Answer: Strickland strongly agrees, noting he and Steve Demarais wrote a book on this ‘strategic harvest system’ endorsing culling below-average bucks old enough to predict they won’t become trophies. 60:23

Question: Don asks Bronson whether CWD’s danger is overblown or truly the serious threat some organizations and state agencies portray. 67:20 — asked by Don

• Answer: Strickland says CWD is a serious long-term threat: infection is 100% fatal, and though other causes often kill infected deer first, CWD accelerates that mortality and shrinks deer populations. 70:41

Question: Don asks whether Bronson knows about deer breeders selecting breeder bucks for a gene believed to confer CWD resistance. 74:47 — asked by Don

• Answer: Strickland says a CWD-resistance gene is being studied but unproven, and warns that relying on a rare mutation risks total extirpation if the gene turns out too scarce. 76:58

Sponsors this episode

• BuyAFarm.com
• Real World Wildlife Products
• Lone Wolf Treestands
• Vortex Optics
• 360 Hunting Blinds
• Mathews Archery

Don welcomed Dr. Bronson Strickland of the Mississippi State Deer Lab to discuss deer nutrition and buck management. Strickland explained that a Mississippi State multi-generational study found a mother doe’s own nutritional condition, not just genetics, largely determines a buck’s body-size and antler expression, and that rich soils grow far more forage biomass than poor soils, driving most body-weight differences. He said this undercuts relocating ‘good genetics’ bucks, since environment caps expressed potential, and that a genetics simulation showed restocking enough big-antlered bucks to shift a county’s genetics was impractical. He also cited a South Texas study finding no link between a buck’s own antler size and breeding value, endorsed culling below-average bucks as outlined in his book with Steve Demarais, and warned CWD is a serious, ultimately fatal threat. Don described his own practice of culling small-antlered bucks and harvesting does with twin buck fawns to keep young bucks on his land, citing dispersal research and decades of personal results.

Unofficial fan project. AI-synthesized from public episodes; may contain errors.