Description:
Food plots typically are suggested as a management practice to benefit game species because use by nongame species is considered negligible. We tested this assumption and determined nongame species' use of winter food plots on 6 ranches in southern Texas. We equally divided a total of 144 1- m<sup>3</sup> sites among the ranches and located them randomly within newly planted winter oat (Avena sativa) food plots during December 1996. We built 24 1- m<sup>3</sup> exclosures per food plot to exclude white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; large-mesh fencing), deer and lagomorphs (medium-mesh fencing), all animals (small-mesh fencing), and no animals (i.e., no exclosures as control plots), respectively. We observed white-tailed deer in each food plot. We observed eastern cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) and black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) within the large-mesh fencing exclosures and control plots. We observed 5 species of rodents within each exclosure type except the small-mesh fencing exclosures. We observed no animal or animal signs within the small-mesh fencing exclosures. After 4 months of growth, dry-matter biomass of winter oats differed between exclosure types. The small-mesh exclosures had the greatest biomass (356.9±5.7 g; x̄±SE), followed by the medium- and large-mesh exclosures (219.8±13.2 g and 191.7±4.3 g, respectively), and no exclosures (62.3±6.2 g). Using the biomass of oats from the small-mesh exclosures as the potential plant growth, we determined that 46.7%, 9.6%, and 43.7% of the oats consumed were eaten by rodents, lagomorphs, and deer, respectively. Therefore, we attributed the majority of winter food plot consumption to nongame wildlife.