My deer are starving...

[Elmo]

Status ally speaking, we got around 61" of snow 3 years ago and so far this year we got around 40 something so we've had a lot worst only a few years back. Of course winter is not over yet this year.

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[nyantler]

I hear ya, but in terms of management with a view to filling freezers, I feel you need to give a lending hand some years if you want consistent results in terms of harvesting meat. I don't particualrly want to feel I need to back-off the hunting for a year or 2 to help deer numbers. I will certainly be watching deer numbers very carefully this coming spring and summer. Last season was great but we had a couple of mild winters to back it up. We live in ski country and get more snow than most anyway but this winter is a doozy so far. I will be downing more trees for fodder in the next few days.

Like I said... planting natural browse or enhancing what already exists in the habitat is the best thing we can do management wise to help deer during those extreme winters. Felling trees is probably not a bad idea as well. Filling freezers is not really a consideration when coming up with a management plan nor should it be... the best thing that can happen in high snowfall areas is to keep the carrying capacity of the deer to a level that allows them to make it through those winters... nature is just doing its part to take

 care of that pretty much on its own.

Edited February 17, 2014 by nyantler

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Post off of another website,

 

 

  #67  

 Today, 07:53 PM

 

 

Join Date: Jan 2013

Location: Tug Hill New York zone 4

Posts: 912

 

My dad talked to his neighbor yesterday. She said a small deer crossed the road and was standing in the 5' snow bank. She thought nothing of it. A couple hours later she looked and it was still in the same spot only dead. It was a fawn and apparently the snow bank was the last straw. It died standing up in the snow bank.

 

[SteveB]

 

Post off of another website,

 

 

  #67  

 Today, 07:53 PM

 

 

Join Date: Jan 2013

Location: Tug Hill New York zone 4

Posts: 912

 

My dad talked to his neighbor yesterday. She said a small deer crossed the road and was standing in the 5' snow bank. She thought nothing of it. A couple hours later she looked and it was still in the same spot only dead. It was a fawn and apparently the snow bank was the last straw. It died standing up in the snow bank.

 

 

Point?

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Point?

No point...Just facts. That some of us will realize and do something about!

[SteveB]

Let nature adjust the carrying capacity to what it will support.

Or start farming outside the fence as well as inside and act like it"s noble and the right thing to do.

 

Edited February 17, 2014 by SteveB

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Let nature adjust the carrying capacity to what it will support.

Or start farming outside the fence as well as inside and act like it"s noble and the right thing to do.

How about you mind your affair's and the rest of us will do the same.   If sitting back and watching is your thing then so be it.  I will take care of my area thanks!

Edited February 17, 2014 by Four Season Whitetails

[shawnhu]

How about you mind your affair's and the rest of us will do the same. If sitting back and watching is your thing then so be it. I will take care of my area thanks!

We all should follow the laws, whether you agree with them or not.

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[mike rossi]

Like I said... planting natural browse or enhancing what already exists in the habitat is the best thing we can do management wise to help deer during those extreme winters. Felling trees is probably not a bad idea as well. Filling freezers is not really a consideration when coming up with a management plan nor should it be... the best thing that can happen in high snowfall areas is to keep the carrying capacity of the deer to a level that allows them to make it through those winters... nature is just doing its part to take

 care of that pretty much on its own.

 

Nice job on here by everyone keeping it civil and not overworking the moderators!

Edited February 17, 2014 by mike rossi

[sits in trees]

Yea its 10 degrees and the snow is hardening to concrete, the deer are just about knocking on my door now....Think I will start by taking the burlap off some of my pines, that's if everyone here promises not to rat me out and have me arrested, Hee,Hee....

[Four Season Whitetail's]

We all should follow the laws, whether you agree with them or not.

X-Calibur Lighting Systems

http://facebook.com/XCaliburLightingSystems

Are you sure it still against the law?   Ya its in the book but the action all took place after the book was out.  It seems to be a grey area.

 

That following the law thing is a good one though.  Thats a whole new thread of its own.

[sits in trees]

I want to purchase bails of hay or whatever and toss them out behind my barn, is that illegal? Does the law clearly state that hay bails have to be stored in doors?

[Five Seasons]

I want to purchase bails of hay or whatever and toss them out behind my barn, is that illegal? Does the law clearly state that hay bails have to be stored in doors?

Those bails of hay are for helping your new grass seed grow in the spring right? Sucks the deer got to it...

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[phade]

And people complain about shooting fawns...when they're some of the earliest winterkill.

 

Someone should have shot that fawn this fall and ate it. Pretty clear the land and carrying capacity doesn't support it.

[landtracdeerhunter]

I want to purchase bails of hay or whatever and toss them out behind my barn, is that illegal? Does the law clearly state that hay bails have to be stored in doors?

 

Nothing wrong with feeding a few wild bunnies.

[mike rossi]

I want to purchase bails of hay or whatever and toss them out behind my barn, is that illegal? Does the law clearly state that hay bails have to be stored in doors?

 

Probably not, but what good use is hay if it gets wet? Its not free and one would be curious as to why someone neglected it...

[landtracdeerhunter]

Hay keeps really well in the frozen air, LOL.

[bubba]

This is why I plant those food plots/ bait piles.  After the ice I took the tractor and broke the ice up over the sugar beets. Then I broke trails for them to get there.  Last weekend there is a lot of activity there.  See not everyone plants food plots to sit over them.  

[mike rossi]

Hay keeps really well in the frozen air, LOL.

 

I never known anyone to store hay outdoors unless they are round bales wrapped in plastic... It is common knowledge that hay should be kept dry... Even if what you said was true, does this dude even own any horses or livestock, because if he does not, the next question would be what is he doing with it? Let me guess, an archery backstop?

Edited February 17, 2014 by mike rossi

[Four Season Whitetail's]

We dont have to worry to much about our overworked DEC staff worrying to much about  guy that threw some bales of hay he no longer needs out behind a barn.  Try to get them to do something that really matters. No time for that.

[nyantler]

the same amoi

And people complain about shooting fawns...when they're some of the earliest winterkill.

 

Someone should have shot that fawn this fall and ate it. Pretty clear the land and carrying capacity doesn't support it.

That would be fine if we all new in advance which fawns might make it and which might not, whether all might get through or none... I agree to take a fawn if that's your thing... but killing it on the hunch that it isn't going to make it through the winter doesn't make much sense... once you shoot it there is a 100% chance it won't make it through the winter. Killing mature deer reduces the carrying capacity just as much as killing the same amount of young deer.

[Five Seasons]

We need Early in this thread. He'd be freaking

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[mike rossi]

A friend has found 2 dead on his property, said they were skin and bones. not dead long.

 

 

Off course deer do starve to death because of lack of food, but do you know that supplemental feeding can cause them to starve down to skin and bones? The Pope here feels its needed to invalidate my earlier comments with sarcastic reference to "upset tummies" or however he put it, but what actually happens is the animal, even though it is eating, is not absorbing nutrients and starves. This isn't something that is up for debate, the mechanism is well understood...  You should make your friend aware of that so that he doesn't start feeding them because of the dead ones he found or if he already has been feeding deer or wildlife in general, hopefully will stop and remove the remaining food... 

 

CWD also causes deer to "waste" down to skin and bones, by the way.

[mike rossi]

We dont have to worry to much about our overworked DEC staff worrying to much about  guy that threw some bales of hay he no longer needs out behind a barn.  Try to get them to do something that really matters. No time for that.

 

Hooper drives the boat, Chief....

[First-light]

Did not have time to read all of this. Just got back from camp which had a lot of snow. What I did see was a few of my apple trees holding a ton of fruit. I did my best to bring down what I could. Don't you know it the next morning most of it was gone. I did the same today. Hope some of the warmer weather works in soon. Its been tough for sure.