Deer University
recording a Deer University podcast
Deer University podcasts are all about deer biology and management. Drs. Bronson Strickland and Steve Demarais are both deer hunters, deer biologists, professors of wildlife management, and co-directors of the Mississippi State University Deer Lab. Steve and Bronson are so crazy about deer biology and management that they made it their career!
Our goal is to explain how you can use deer research to improve your hunting and management experiences. Don’t take for granted what your buddy says or what you read in a hunting magazine – we’ll train you to think like a deer biologist. As national leaders in deer research, we’ll keep you up to date on the latest and best information, and deliver episodes that cover every deer management topic you can imagine, and then add some that will surprise you.
If you are interested in deer hunting and management, this is your podcast! Every shot you take this fall is either a step forward or backward in your management program, so use our knowledge to make every shot count!
Hosts of Deer University:
Dr. Bronson Strickland, Professor of Wildlife Management, Mississippi State University Extension Service
Dr. Steve Demarais, Professor of Wildlife Management, Mississippi State University Forest and Wildlife Research Center
Listen
Supplemental feeding of deer has become a common practice throughout most of the white-tailed deer’s range. Deer biologists often warn of the potential risks of supplemental feeding related to transfer of disease among deer, other wildlife, and people. In this episode we interview Miranda Huang, a graduate student in the MSU Deer Lab, about her research where she quantified disease risk from parasites and aflatoxins. The results were surprising!
William McKinley is a deer biologist and coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, & Parks and has been assisting hunters, managers, and landowners with deer management strategies for 20 years. William has seen a lot of mistakes, but also has many success stories. Join us for a fun and informative conversation with William.
John Gruchy is a Private Lands Biologist for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, & Parks and has been assisting landowners with habitat management for deer and other wildlife for over a decade. During that time, John has compiled a list of habitat management mistakes he sees over and over again. Join us as we review these mistakes with John and discuss how you can avoid these pitfalls.
Dr. Mick Hellickson joins Deer University again to compare deer management in South Texas and the Midwest. Mick was born and raised in Iowa and grew up hunting in that agricultural environment, but then moved to South Texas for graduate school and now works there managing deer herds. Mick will review the most important limitations he faces managing deer in these very different environments.
We get asked all the time “what’s the best food plot forage to plant for deer?” Well, as hunters and managers, we were interested in that question too. Bronson, Steve, and Marcus discuss a food plot forage selection project conducted by former graduate student, Jacob Dykes. Cereal grains, clovers, and brassicas all have different growth rates and maturation dates, making their quality and nutrient profile change over the hunting season. What’s more, the availability of certain nutrients in the naturally occurring plants affect which food plot forages deer may favor, or avoid, and this depends on the time of year, and from place to place. So, what may be the most selected forage on your property, may be different a on property a few miles away. Just like there's no magic bullet, there's no magic food plot forage either.
And, check out this short video about the research.