TX Drought Makes 2011 Deer Season "Worst In Recent Memory" [View all]

[hatrack]

SAN ANGELO, Texas — The West Texas deer season wrapped up in January and, as expected, it was the worst season in recent memory. The drought of 2011 had a devastating impact on the deer herd and forced hunters, guides and taxidermists to scramble to make the best of a bad situation.

Deer numbers were way down and fawns didn't survive. Antler growth was stunted in bucks. The business of deer hunting was bad as the cost of deer feed went up while the quality of the herd went down.

"This drought took us to a place none of us have ever been before, that's for sure," said Jim Roche of Magnum Guide Service in Eldorado. He estimates about a 30 percent fawn crop survival on low-fence ranches without supplemental feed.

"Two factors doomed the fawns," Roche said. "Fawns died because the does were in such poor shape due to a lack of nutrition, and also because of the heat — 100-plus days of 100-plus temperatures killed a lot of the fawns. They just couldn't take the heat.

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http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2012/feb/11/dangerous-drought/