pencil

and when was the last one we had here? and how long can a deer live without food? does the pgc take this into consideration at all? or just does as dcnr tell them to?

Edcyclopedia

i would consider DEATH to be a bad winter ~ ouch!

TonkaDonk

yea,that would be. the pgc says reduce deer herd so they have food in case of really bad winters. if we get a winter with 3 feet of snow it is not going to matter about the food source cause it is under the snow anyway. they are not going to get to the food source any way. i don't see how they can factor this into deer numbers that an area can support from a bad winter. its bs.

DougE

Wow,some of you are out of touch with reality.Deer need browse during the winter.In fact,they need around 5 lbs a day.Their winterfood sources arenot covered by snow.

yes the PGC takes this into consideration.If the habitat is poor(ie. no browse)less deer can be overwinterd inthat area.therefore,the herd needs reduced more.the worst thing you can doduring the years following bad winters and winter mortality is to add more deer to the habitat.If you're losing deer during winter,it's because you didn't kill enough to begin with.

pencil

that is not true. deer do not have to eat every day to survive. they have fat reserves on their bodies for emergency as for when we have bad winter storms and they cant feed for periods of time.deer are animals and are very strong. Can you show me a record of when deer died off in huge numbers in pa over the years because of bad winters? there has to be a record of this if what you say is true. huge numbers of deer in the past and the population stayed strong from harsh winters. why has it all changed over the past 6 years all of the sudden? i call bs again.

DougE

Deer don't have to die in large numbers but they do die.Look it up in the PGC annual reports.They have the results of the winter mortality in most of them.So in other words,you feel the population should be allowed to expand until they start starving to death?Brilliant

bluebird2

Bad whether for deer is 3 or 4 ft. of snow for an extended period or a foot of snow with a heavy crust that prevents deer from moving to access the available browse.

DougE

That is true but there has to be available browse,which many areas lack.

bluebird2

And most areas that lack browse are stands of pole timber where no one should expect to see any browse.

DougE

Wrong.Most areas around here are areas that have been devistated by too many deer.