I'm from Western New York, and as some of you may know, we just got slammed by a winter storm. And by slammed I mean 75" in 24 hours... with more on the way. The rut was just peaking on Saturday, and I'm interested in what the deer will do. They can't just not rut, right? Will it pause until the snow gets more manageable? where are the deer going to concentrate? I'm just looking for a little in sight on this. Personally, I love hunting and killing whitetails, but this kind of thing makes me concerned about our deer herd. Collin
With that much snow, they will not chase as much, they can't. Just like us, they will want to hunker down. I would find their feeding and bedding areas....
Go find some thick pines that are keeping the snow off the ground. The deer will bed in their more likely, anywhere else they aren't moving much.
You will probably have a really good second rut. First week of December. A lot of does will not get bred right now because they simply wont be able to get around. They will be in the pines and cedars. ONce they get some trails established, they will be easy to locate. They will not travel far.
The deer will yard up in thick conifers, spruce and cedar around here. The thicker the better, and out of the wind, think swamps and gulleys. Follow any tracks you can find, but they won't be moving much.
Your heard may or may not be hit hard. If your snows stay, it could be rough. If you meant some they'll be fine. With that much snow, you can easily find trials. After a few days they will stick to those trails as long as they don't feel in danger.
Couldn't agree more! I hate to say it, but your local (used loosely) deer herd is going to take a serious loss fom that snow. They have NO WAY to tavel in those snow depths. Breeding will take a hit as well, I would think. Very bad picture.
This weekend shows rain and temps ranging from 40-60 degrees so some of this snow should be taken care.
