Scouting Secrets for Hunting Florida Whitetails

Paying attention to where, when and upon what deer are feeding will pay dividends this hunting season.

August 07, 2024 By Tim L. Lewis

Planted food plots and corn and protein feeders undeniably draw deer, thereby offering specific locations where animals can be seen from a stand. However, many hunters, either because of regulations on the land they hunt or because of personal preference, elect to hunt over natural food sources. For such hunters, the questions are: What are these foods? Where are they located?

At times, the answers can be easy. Certain mast products are obvious. When acorns, persimmons, grapes, cabbage palm berries, sweet oranges, mulberries, guavas, and such are raining down, whitetails will gravitate to the spots. Even then, however, things can be more complicated than we might assume. Food preferences are relative to what is available. A type of acorn that drew deer heavily one year might be nearly ignored the next if a more desirable type of oak is producing. Even in the same season, as more nutritious foods become available, a food that drew deer may deteriorate as an attractant.

Most of the year, deer live primarily on forbs and browse. Even when mast products are present, deer still require browse. These species vary with region and season. How then, can we determine whitetail food sources likely to draw deer?

oak tree — Ripe acorns on thigh-high running oak. Watch for empty caps, sign of likely feeding. (Photo by Tim L. Lewis)

Three cardinal ways are observation, inspection, and post-kill evaluation.

Observation simply means watching deer as they feed and noting the plant species consumed. Often this involves binocular study of the vegetation or approaching the site after the deer have left to determine precisely the type of plant. Deer have surprised me at times with the specificity of their appetites. Once, two does that lingered near me fed for over fifteen minutes eating only the flowering yellow heads of tickseed. Also, I’ve seen deer pay exorbitant attention to sea myrtle, charging from shrub to shrub and ignoring other plants. Again, keep in mind that each area is different and expect changes also with the time of the year.

Inspection is noting the plants that have been fed upon by recognizing the signs of feeding. I believe I first read about this 40 or more years ago. Leonard Lee Rue, in one of his articles or books, pointed out that since deer have no upper incisors, they pull the leaves and small stems from the plant leaving rough and broken edges while rabbits bite off what they eat resulting in a clean cut. This information is helpful because rabbits do share much of the habitat that holds whitetails. However, much of Florida’s hunting land is also cattle range. Like deer, cattle tend to tear the plants they eat. True, cattle are primarily grazers and deer browsers, but there is crossover. Regardless, highly preferred species will bear evidence of browsing and paying attention to plants while scouting or afield is worthwhile.

Evaluation of stomach contents accurately displays current food preferences. For many years, I strained and washed the stomach contents of every deer I harvested and most of those taken by my friends using hardware cloth stapled to a rectangular wood frame. The contents were placed in the strainer and water applied to wash away smaller particles. Findings from such a procedure give definite evidence as to exactly what deer are feeding on at the time and in what proportion. While hunters will find variation from year to year and throughout the season, as time goes on and more and more stomachs are checked, the hunter amasses knowledge that can be extrapolated to make intelligent guesses in future years.

The mesh need not be too fine, for usually only the bigger fragments can be identified. Deer chew their cud so much of the contents are ground to the point recognition is difficult. Many plant species will be encountered. Some of them are only rarely consumed so attention should be paid not only to the type of plant material, but also to its prevalence. This technique even allows a hunter to see firsthand the type of acorns being consumed as bits of their shells persists in the contents. The practice is very enlightening. Over several years a hunter will gain a greater understanding of how various natural foods rank in preference.

maple sapling — Young maple stems give proof of repeated browsing by deer. Some already brown, some brown only at tips, others broken off but still green. (Photo by Tim L. Lewis)

Earlier in the article, mast products were touted as consistent draws for deer. For us in Florida, hard masts are composed primarily of acorns. (Cypress balls, pinecones, and hickory nuts are targeted by squirrels and flying squirrels, but rarely by larger game.) Florida is host to numerous acorn-bearing oaks; at least twenty-five species. Almost all are trees and relatively easy to recognize. Because of this fact, most hunters scout with their eyes turned upward to look for developing acorns. Any tree that shows promise is marked or memorized as a potential draw sight for the season. However, scouting along those lines will likely overlook two significant hard mast sources that deserve a bit more discussion.

Running oaks and dwarf live oaks customarily are less than three feet in height and bear a rather unprepossessing appearance. Occasionally, patches include some stems tall enough to reach a person’s chest. Hunters encountering running oaks for the first time may conclude, quite pardonably, they have stumbled into a colony of tiny, developing oak saplings.

fs-deer3copy — Elm leaves are also preferred, as repeated ravages to this young sapling display. (Photo by Tim L. Lewis)

In ’85, a friend from Gainesville joined me for a hunt in the Bull Creek Management Area of Central Florida. My preseason scouting had revealed heavy deer sign in an area east of my stand, so I suggested he give it a try. We didn’t let any arrows fly during the weekend, but his description of encountering two does in some short, greyish brush piqued my curiosity enough to listen carefully when he disclosed the location. Hunting alone the following weekend, I visited the site and jumped a deer. The spot, surrounded by sand and palmetto clumps, gave the impression of a short, scrubby patch, 25 yards by 35 yards, of diminutive oaks. Their average height was no more than halfway from my knees to my hips, and their sparseness seemed to offer no real cover for creatures as big as deer. Their leaves, grey-green and dry-looking, didn’t convey any semblance of nutritional value. Then, I noticed the acorns. These little plants, seemingly seedlings, bore multitudes of acorns! And more exciting, many empty caps showed where deer had been aggressively feeding upon them. This was my first discovery of running oaks, but I soon learned that, because their acorns ripened early in the season, typically much earlier than live oaks, they were potent draws for deer. In addition, because of their lowness, deer do not have to wait for the acorns to drop to the ground. They can feed on them directly from the shrub.

Running oaks derive their name from their tendency to spread via runners that shoot forward and outwards under the ground, reproducing vegetatively as well as through acorn production. This mode of growth causes the typical patch-like appearance of the oaks. Other areas of Florida host dwarf live oaks which share the ability to spread by runners. They too, grow in short patches and look very much like running oaks. The main difference is in their leaves. Dwarf live oaks have more heavily lobed leaves often accentuated with spikey tips. Also, the acorns from dwarf live oaks issue forth from a small stem while those of running oaks spring directly from the slender branches. My romps and explorations have never revealed running oaks (or dwarf live oaks) in swampy, fertile lands, and, therefore, I associate them with higher, sandy, more arid soils.

While obviously not that problematic for rifle hunters, stand positioning can prove challenging for those using a bow. The low nature of the running oaks themselves and the typical surroundings of saw palmetto clumps offer few trees to hold a stand. On the other hand, waiting for rifle season may not be such a good idea either for these acorns ripen early and seldom draw as decidedly once rifle season begins, somewhat from a faltering of the supply and, more so, from tree oaks beginning to rain acorns in larger numbers.

Two methods I’ve utilized to hunt the short oaks are: 1) ground blinds, and 2) stepladders. Ground blinds are pretty much self-explanatory. Put them up near running oak patches where arrow travel is not too restricted, a background of palmettos or brush disguises the blind (or, even better, shades it), and the wind carries scent away from the oaks. Stepladders can be set directly into a palmetto thicket. It is odd and mindboggling, but deer and hogs seldom notice a hunter above palmettos unless movement becomes too extreme. When I first started trying the technique, I felt completely exposed, but repeated experiences have taught me that chances are great I will not be noticed. (Turkey have no such difficulty spying out stepladder hunter!) However, the lack of shade in the early part of season can be a trial. Be prepared to sweat and bring lots of water.