I recently went up to my hunting land and took a walk. Needless to say it was the worst walk of my life!!! I cannot believe the amount if snow! It is close to impossible for me to walk through this snow! With a hard crust and close to 3.5 feet of snow under it, it makes me think what this is going to do to the deer population. It can't be easy for them to move around in this stuff! And they have to be way more vulnerable to predators and the search for good also had to be hard! What do you think this winter entails for the future of my deer herd? Any thoughts on this hard winter?
Yeah its been rough for some animals I am sure. A friend of mine that hunts near Montfort, WI walked his property last week after we had some snow melt off and found a dozen dead turkeys. Nature has a way of making it though, I try to remember that all those critters out there were here before us and will hopefully be here long after we become worm food.
I'm concerned as well. Some of the bucks I get on camera are starting to look a bit skinny. Also, we're in for another week of very cold weather. I hope it warms up and starts melting snow very soon.
I think there is always room for concern. But as WiRutJunkie said, nature can handle it. We've had winters like this before and we'll have many in the future. These animals are survivors.
Here is our 55 lbs Lab trying to go through 40" of snow. The trails she kept walked on several times she sank down where it was over her head. [video=youtube_share;JEsZnL8LquI]http://youtu.be/JEsZnL8LquI[/video] Having said all that, the deer always amaze me how well they can survive.
I have been wondering the same thing. Indiana has set an all time record for snow this season, not to mention the many days below zero. I haven't even been able to get to my cams for nearly three months. We have had one or two days in the fifties and a lot of the snow has melted where I live, so yesterday I made the hour's drive to my hunting spot and the snow was still so deep I got the 4-wheeler stuck and still couldn't get back into the woods. On the upside, I did see a lot of tracks and my wife and I counted 40 turkeys coming out into a field. With the number of yotes I've gotten on camera, I'm amazed those turkeys are surviving. Blessings..........Pastorjim
Ours isn't that bad...but I am worried about the turkeys with the snow and cold temps. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
I am quite surprised this year actually. One of the worst winters I can remember but pretty much every ag field is wide open to the soil. They aren't having a tough time at all as far as that goes. Still colder than crap though.
It's cold and snowy for sure. It'll thin them a bit, but they are build for it. Deer will stick to the same trails as they are 20 times easier to travel. They love using our snowshoe trails. I always feel bad when deer spook this time of year and jump off the trail. As you can see in Caleb's video, it's hard for critters to break new trails.
