A yard is a small protected area that deer stay in during the winter months. Some yards will have a hundred or more deer within a few hundred acres. The deer use the small area because is has protection, food sources such as cedar, balsam fir and the most important reason is that they keep the snow trampled down. When the snow gets deeper than 22-24" the deer can't move easily and expend a large amount of energy just finding food. The problem with the yards is at the end of the winter. If the winter is long and the snow is deep the deer starve before spring.

As sad as it sounds, if you feed them in all but the worst winters there are so many deer that they will starve in a relatively easy winter. So if you start feeding, someone must keep it up every year. When the feeding is stopped large numbers of deer die. On top of this the over population destroys the young tree growth and more feed is required every year.

Ask Farmhunter about his field edge.

Dan O.