Winter Kill

C

cnimrod

New member
interested in all things Whitetail
Here in north jersey the local deer herd seems to have done quite well despite this tough winter, Ive seen several groups herded up that look healthy, Shed hunting around a nearby 1200 acre preserve only found one winter kill. Always amazed how tough these critters are. How's it look in your neck of the woods?
 
In Wisconsin, since most deer have adapted to Ag areas, and baiting and feeding has become legal in all areas where availability to Ag crops are slim, winter kill has almost disappeared. Studies show, that a healthy deer going into winter with a normal fat reserve can survive even the most severe of winters. It's when that deer has been stressed by low fat reserves for two years because of a lack of acorns and available browse decimated, that the herd suffers. Add to this young of the year without the capabilities of reaching higher browse and the maturity to obtain a good fat layer and bucks stressed heavily because of rut and you get natures way of helping the whole herd at the cost of a few individuals. One needs to look at overall herd health as opposed to a few individuals that die over winter. Used to be before the deer acclimated themselves to Ag crops, that late in the season when folks started to see them stressed and try to feed them hay and corn, the animals would die with their bellies full because they did not have the needed enzymes in their digestive system. Not so much anymore. Most deer around here now have hay and/or corn in their daily diet and go into winter with good fat reserves regardless of a poor acorn crop..
 
Not a "bad" winter in the midwest so I doubt much in the way of winter kill. I've been doing some shed hunting and fixing fence and haven't seen any carcasses that looked like anything but wounded and escaped during deer season. Haven't found any shed antlers either.
 
We did not have Winter this year. We only recieved 25% of our annual snowfall so there will be more deer this fall. When I get bak up to the cabin I will download my game cam. I keep one of those trace mineral salt blocks and a protein block just up the hill 80 feet behind a stump so the Forest Service does not see it. It sure has made a difference in the health of the local animals. Before I would find pieces of deer and elk around the cabin tract.
 
When I lived in Utah, you could tell how much snow was on the mountains by how many dead deer were alongside the roads. The higher the snow, the more the deer were driven down to the lower areas where roads were more dangerous.
 
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