SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

i was out digging out my truck today here in clinton county wmu2g.

i was out yesterday to feed the deer in my area alfalfa/corn.

i only got to 1 of our sportsmans feeders and ole sproul got stuck,this has to be worst winter in a longtime.

also i set up my camera and walked the 3 miles to road and hitched hiked home.

left truck there until today then i got help to pull it out,man, woods are nasty.

deer dont have any acorns to eat,only BROWSE.

on my camera i had 4 doe at feeder, 3 big ones and this years little fawn.i said about 4 were coming to avg feeder, I WAS RIGHT ON AND CAMERA PROVED IT.

to my shock these deer all look very healthy, big , fat and sassy.they were even playing around chasing each other.

coats were real nice, no ribs thru sides of deer and real big BUTTS.:)

i truly was amazed, i expected to see straving deer that the local PGC/DCNR wannabees are telling the kids at schools.[:@]

well, I AM NOT SEEING THAT AND IF I DID, I WOULD BE FIRST TO REPORT IT.

this area is a bad one for habitat also ,not much feed,trees are too big and very little browse.

i now feel that 4 dpsm is too low and i bet we could hold more than that in this nasty winter.

if anyone finds a deer in clinton county that is starving and dead, please PM me or take picture,i want it,i want to see a dead starving deer.

i really belive some people are FIBBING about this,we dont have a overpopulation of deer and they are not starving:eek:

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

All our snow is nearly gone in 2b. Even the 4 inches of ice in my driveway melted. I have never seen a malnourished looking deer until around April, Sproul. By then the greenup is just around the corner. They will make it even without you feeding them.

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

I checked my feeders yesterday also,plenty of tracks.We lost a lot of snow in the last couple of days.

I took my chain saw and started cutting next years fire wood, I dropped 20-25 big maples so the deer could eat the buds.

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

Ground isabout 70% bare hereon the 2B 2D border:D

Think I'll take a short walkthis afternoon and see if I can findany sheds in the beds;)

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

Would that be like Dead man walking? Once it is dead,I don't think it is starving anymore and just dead.

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

Our feeders aren't getting hit hard on the state lands. At each feeder, maybe 2-3 deer. We have 3 feeders on private land that are getting hammered, but not as hard as they did 4-5 years ago.

My buddy came out the other morning to leave for work and found this deer laying in his driveway. Bobcat tracks all around it. Best as we can tell, the cat was laying in wait on top of a feeder, and caught the button buck by the windpipe. Very little sign of a struggle. That evening, after he removed the carcass, I setup my trailcam on his trailer watching over the kill site. 6am the next morning, Mr Bob returned for breakfast. Makes one wonder just how many deer succumb to predators and what effects predators have on a herd when deer numbers drop to single digits per square forested mile.

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

Nice pics of the cat. With 8 OWD PSM one deer lost to predation equals a 12.5 % reduction in the herd.

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

I ain't good with figures unless it's a female figure. But that's a reduction that's hard to swallow.

HEY SPROUL.....I was down past that feeder near Ole Bull last week. Sure wasn't any sign of many deer hitting that one.

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

very sad thing to see.

i am still shocked to see deer in clinton county in the great shape they are with such a bad winter.i dsid not expect to see that on my cameras.

stupid camera is broke again.3rd time back to MOULTRIE IN 5 MONTHS.[:@]

boy, DEER are hitting the hemlock trees a lot.

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

i guess that came out real funny,hehe:)

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

not many deer around park anymore.

we ride out motorcycles out there each week insummer, what a nice ride.

we always come in around dark.

i cant remember even seeing a deer close to roads,on privateland, i see deer but very few along roads.

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

no sign of cats/ yotes/fox around my woods just deer turks luckly

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

I took a ride around Geneva swamp yesterday, may as well went to the mall.
I saw four hawks and a kid from slippery rock whom ran out of gas.Glad he's going to college,he will need it.

Not one muskrat,no beaver sign and the area was void of even rabbit tracks,our wildlife populations are in dire straights.I did see two deer eating in a field but I'm not telling anyone where they are.;)

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

i could not get bedroom window down fast enough or MR.FOX would have been HISTORY.

RE: SPROULS FEEDER CHECK
 

very true.

i have friends that walk the SGL252 in antes fork this time of year looking for signs of things alive.

they saw very few rabbit tracks, lots of fox tracks and coyote poo:eek:

very few deer tracks , i think they felt that 6 deer were in area they walked about 3 mile trip with their dogs on roads in SGL252.

they said the woods are beautiful.

they said BERRIES are all over place on bushes from last year going uneaten.

SGL252 has best habitat, i feel of any place including privateland but very few things live there.

very sad......:(