Hello. Together with 5 other fellas, I have an approximately 4,000 acre lease in west-central Oklahoma which includes a rather lengthy frontage to the Canadian river. This area has experienced a rather significant drought this year. Serious enough that our landowner has elected to not even drill wheat this summer. All of our ponds are dry and the river is mostly stagnant. I know that our land has a couple seepages that I know run even in the dry years but I am not counting on them this year. We have one lake that will con't to hold water. A couple of our boys run a lot of trail cameras. They are saying that that the deer have left the area as they are not getting pics like they have in years past. These are team players and are not the type to lie about such things. I am not a believer that the deer will up and move three counties over because, really, the whole state is dry. I figure they have some secret spots that continue to percolate water and will continue to drink from the river.

I suppose that my question is whether anyone here has experience with a significant drought in a typically arid region and the deer's reaction to the lack of water. Again, I do not think that they have moved to the east half of the state, but am curious how this is going to play out. Figure I may be "antelope" hunting during this years deer season as I figure that these arid-region deer can adapt as the antelope do. Certainly, I will be hunting along the river and other residual water sources. I am also concerned that our large hog population may bully the deer from water/wallow sources.

Thank you for your thoughts.

MM

We had radio-collared whitetails who had well-established home ranges of 250-400 acres that shifted their home ranges to include windmills 3-4 miles away when the ponds that they were using dried up and the windmill that was their "back-up" went down. This was in south Texas. I have no doubt that they would have moved even farther, if needed. Still, it's hard to imagine a 4,000-acre block of land that doesn't have alternate water sources, especially along the Canadian. I think that you are seeing the results of several years of low birth rates, low fawn survival and even lower recruitment into the adult population.

When drought persists longer than a year or two, whitetails have to make major alterations in their daily routines. It's not just with respect to water, but includes where they find both free water and the nutrition that they need within a reasonable distance of bedding, security and escape cover. It takes a lot of preseason scouting to figure out where they be hanging out. Think about where they can find food, water and cover, all within a radius of one-three miles. Look for game trails that show signs of recent use and put some of your game cams out there. Unfortunately, those places may not be on your 4,000-acre lease.

I wish you the best of luck and good hunting!

Thank you for the insightful reply, Mudhen. I, too, think that there are more seepages than I know of. I will spend a few days out there soon to see what I can't find.

I am worried that you are correct regarding the population itself. Things have been dry for a couple of years (just not this dry) and the hog and coyote populations are high despite our efforts.

Again, thank you for your reply.

MM