Philly Free 2-Month Weather Forecast FEBRUARY 2011: temperature 35 ° (2 ° above avg.); precipitation 4" (1" above avg.); Feb 1-3: Sunny, turning mild; Feb 4-6: Heavy rain, mild; Feb 7-10: Rain to snow; Feb 11-16: Snow showers, then sunny, very cold; Feb 17-20: Snowstorm, then sunny; Feb 21-24: Rain, then sunny, mild; Feb 25-26: Rain, mild; Feb 27-28: Sunny, mild. MARCH 2011: temperature 39 ° (2 ° below avg.); precipitation 1.5" (2.5" below avg.); Mar 1-4: Sunny, cold; Mar 5-10: Rain and snow, seasonable; Mar 11-16: Showers, mild; Mar 17-22: Rain, then sunny, cool; Mar 23-26: Showers, then sunny, cool; Mar 27-31: Rainy periods.
Again Tony... Warmer temps in early fall don't require them to burn as many calories. I looked at the actual temps for Buffalo, NY (I don't know if that's exactly where you hunt but I would assume it's close?) and the observed temperatures were significantly warmer through september and october. If your deer always have plenty to eat, it makes sense that they were able to store more this year with the warmer temps. The deer here in Wyoming had a ton of fat on them and it hasn't been that bad of a winter, but it was warm through October.
Could be .... but we typically do not get snow until the end of November .... this year was the same. The deer where I hunt have an over abundance of food ... its a HUGE farming community. I guess I will pay closer attention in the years to come ,,, this year I just noticed more fat on the deer than I have seen in a long time ... and this has been the coldest winter ....possible coincidence I suppose ...
Someone may have already mentioned it, but I always thought seeing deer with lots of fat meant there was an adequate amount of food. Back in the 90s, northern MI had a VERY high number of deer. I remember shooting deer in December that didn't have much fat. My parents still hunt up there. A lot less deer, but body weights are up. The deer are carrying more fat going into the winter, now, than in the past.
I think it just depends on the individual deer and when it was shot. I have found that dry does and very early bucks tend to be the fattest. Does with twins and tripletts are skinny. Early fawns usually don't have much fat at all and post rut bucks are lean. This was a dry doe I took last shotgun season, she was fatter than any of the six deer I butchered this year.
I shot a HUGE doe during shotgun that was LOADED with milk .... AND fat ... as a matter of fact, she had the most fat of all the deer I killed ....
al gore says your all wrong. I got rid of my snow plow years ago and here i am shoveling 14 inches of snow down a 400 foot driveway so the mother in law can go buy some smokes.
IMO the connection is available food at the time as opposed to how bad the winter may be. Lots of food, fat deer, not much food and the deer are lean. Our weights were down quite a bit last year, we had a flood that lasted nearly 2 months on our land, not much food when 10' of water sits on top. This year weights are still down and we have had the biggest snowfall in years, not to mention somw record lows.
