Enhance wildlife through deer property management
Annual property assessment to determine the status of wildlife program
Landowners who have started their first management program and have owned the property over long periods of time should consult Westervelt’s Wildlife. Property assessments serve to be a tool to help clients identify strategies for improvement and growth.
This makes sure the program is set in the right direction and management puts in the effort to gain anticipated results. Clients will ask for annual assessments to help identify the next steps and follow the deer management strategies or projects to help achieve their goals.
It is important to understand the diverse types of vegetation on the property are the key to ensuring meeting cover and food requirements. Basic deer cover is low-growing vegetation sufficient to protect fawns, mid-level vegetation or escape cover to protect them from predators, and larger bushes, trees, and shrubs to help protect deer from extreme changes in weather.
Identifying the carrying capacity for the habitat on the property is the first step to deer property management. The goal is to identify the carrying capacity for the property’s habitat. One of the largest problems in wildlife is the competition for food by deer and other wildlife species.
Should the problem arise where the population of deer is too many in one habitat, it will have terrible consequences. Carrying capacity is the highest population amount that is permitted to prevent damage to the habitat.
“Maintaining deer at carrying capacity is extremely important. Food will be provided for the needs of the deer. If there are too many deer ones may need to produce the amount of food or decrease the deer population,” said Matt David, Lease Manager, of Westervelt Wildlife.
Developing a deer property management plan will require a lot of research, including population surveys. This will need to be done before thinning out the herds through hunting. Everything needs to be taken into consideration such as grazing and perusing the animals on the property to ensure there is correct carrying capacity.
Westervelt Wildlife Services have certified wildlife biologists and hunting lease and hunting club managers that have over 100 years of combined expertise in managing wildlife. Their land is managed to promote the desired wildlife cover with quality food resources, fauna, and flora. The Westervelt owned lands promote abundant wildlife habitat and excellent hunting.
Their years of experience and expertise make them leaders in the wildlife industry and their deer property management plan ensures the protection of the habitat and vegetation.
About us
Westervelt Wildlife Services was founded by Herbert Westervelt in 1884. He began to manage its land for quality wildlife and hunting including their own Westervelt Preserve in the 1950s. He was one of the first landowers to initiate the produce of doe’s and bucks to improve the health and quality of deer herd. Westervelt land has some of the greatest hunting in Alabama. They were one of the first companies to encourage hunting lease program and opened their first public hunting lodge. They provide and manage the best private timberland, hunting leases, deer management plan, habitat management for deer, wildlife property management guidance, and hunting leases for other landowners in the Southeast.