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Post by jims on Apr 19, 2009 18:04:54 GMT -5
I saw 7 deer yesterday (April 18, 2009) and a number of others recently. They are the skinnest I have ever seen at this time of year. How did others deer fare over the winter?
The does will be having fawns in a month and they look rough.
I live in Ohio.
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Post by huntingmike on Apr 19, 2009 20:16:48 GMT -5
Our winters are mild.
I saw 8 last week that looked very good! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by northny on Apr 20, 2009 4:11:29 GMT -5
This past winter was less harsh than the year before ( the ground did not have 2 ft of frozen stuff that needed a pick ax to clear in march like the prior winter). I watched 12 deer last month in the spotting scope, and they seemed in very good shape (this in St Lawrence County, NY which is north of Adirondak park, but south of Canada near the seaway). I also had four one acre plots of brassica planted, and they grazed the tops completely by digging in the snow, and over the winter dug all the roots (like turnips). Most of the fields look like they have already been turned.
But the deer we took last fall (8 does, one buck) all were in very good condition with more fat than we have seen before, and were running about 10 to 15 lbs heavier in each age class than when we started planting food plots five years ago. So they went into the winter in good shape, and combined with a mild winter, seemed to have come through in good shape.
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Post by wilmsmeyer on Apr 20, 2009 4:18:28 GMT -5
My friend who taps 5000-6000 Maple trees each year didn't find one deer. You cover a lot of ground when you tap trees. These trees are located in 4 separate woods. I think they did well here in WNY even though we had a fairly cold and snowy winter. A lot of corn was left this year too.....that's huge.
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Post by northny on Apr 20, 2009 5:00:49 GMT -5
wilmsmeyer, do you mean your friend did not find even one dead winter killed deer (which is good) or he did not find any deer (which is bad)?
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Post by wilmsmeyer on Apr 20, 2009 5:25:06 GMT -5
No winter kills. He usually finds some in the bottoms of gullies each year. They usually go there when the weather is cold and bad to get out of the wind. Sides of gullies can be steep and extremely deep with snow. Once they get in there, depleted of strength, it's very hard to get out.
Here, we can get massive amounts of lake effect snow off of Erie
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Post by broomebuck on Apr 20, 2009 6:33:57 GMT -5
ive been watching 10 pretty much every day and they look really good it was cold this winter but not alot of snow all at once
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Post by raf on Apr 20, 2009 22:43:08 GMT -5
The hardest thing on a deer in the winter is the spring. By then all their reserves have been used up and they need food. What is toughest is if there is a hard crust on the surface of the snow. Usually a warm spell with some melting and then cold causes the crust. Or some rain on top of the snow then cold. It's hard for them to get through that to find some food. That's how it works up here anyway.
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