I think most deer that die during the winter will do so in late February and March, after their fat reserves have been drawn down to nothing. I went to my place about a month ago and didn' t see any dead, but fear many have died since. About 4 years ago, I found about 6 dead on my 120 acres, and others may have died I didn' t see. What makes this winter worse is that there were ZERO acorns in the fall to fatten them up. I am nervous about the herd health, despite knowing that several neighbors do feed them some corn.
Doug, are you talking about AA county? Im in Calvert and we had the most spectacular acorn drop ever. How was the acorn crop in other areas? Im also worried about winterkill. We had the longest period of snow covering the ground that any deer has ever seen even if they were 10 years old. I have recently seen 3 road kills which are rare for this time of year.
Im off work the next couple days and I am going to sweep 2 properties looking for sheds and listening for gobblers. I hope I dont find any dead deer.
If we don' t have a heavy kill this winter, WV will probably never see one. It has been a long, miserable winter for sure. I haven' t had a chance to check at our place, but I would think some died. There was a good acorn crop last fall, but 3 months of snow cover, including one storm of 37" , combined with cold temps most of the time would have to take a toll on them. Who knows, I guess we' ll see. It probably wouldn' t hurt if some did die off. Most areas are overpopulated anyhow. (at least where I hunt) I just hope my big one made it
I hunted the Elkins area, Randolph Co., back in the muzzy season(Dec 16). We had a good snow for tracking and my bud and myself were done by noon the first morning.
The deer we jumped would not run more than 100 yds and then only ducked into the rhoddy thickets. When I dressed mine out I found out why. They were jam packed full of grass and rhoddy leaves. Not an acorn or scratchins for them could be found.
On skinning the deer at home I found it had very little fat reserves left. The deer were otherwise healthy but I fear that last storm may have done many of them in. Hopefully I' ll get back there for spring gobbler and will be able to follow up with a body count...
DougMD is correct, most people don' t realize March is the toughest month for deer. Some feel that as the snows begin to melt, and temps rise the deer are safe. When actually its the hardest on them. Like Doug wrote deer have used up their fat reserves, while also having used up their food sources. On top of the increased temps, it causes them to use more energy to get around with those heavy coats. So in some states you won' t get a good idea of winter mortality until April to May.
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I am talking about my place in West Virginia. In Anne Arundel where I hunt, the acorn crop was decent. The deer here in Maryland have it much better than in WV this year. I hope the deer in the mountains made it down low and were able to get food there!
WV...How bad was the winter on the deer?
