Old man winters death grip...

[wooly]

Out for a short hike yesterday when I found this little yearling surrendering to the harshness of winter.
I'm sure this little deer was frightened out of it's mind by me, but near the end she just seemed to accept the fact that she was going to die and didn't fight it off any longer.
Things got a little hairy when I crawled under the tree with her. The shot of her standing up in my face was the last shot I took before she put the hooves to me and decided to run through me instead of around me,lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lawdwaz]

Nice but sad pics wooly.  Unfortunately I think this is going to be commonplace in the coming month.......

 

Mother Nature's way.

[Water Rat]

Mother Nature at her cruelest.

[The_Field_Ager]

Can hardly think about it. Heart breaking. 

[WNY Bowhunter]

Poor little thing, nothing but skin and bones. I've been seeing plenty of fawns lately, hopefully this thaw will get rid of a majority of the snow over the next week and give the critters some relief.

[bkln]

Awesome pics Wooly......

[NFA-ADK]

Hard winter.

[sweet old bill]

I have found in the past you find more of the deer herd die off in the month of June. Things are green, but they have lost to much of body fat and even down to loss in the bones marrow. I sure hope we have a early spring to help the deer herd.

[greg54]

Great pics

[Terry]

Great pics that tell a sad story

[grampy]

Amazing pictures. Appreciate you risking life and limb to get them.

Mother nature can be cruel. And she will be this year.

[genesee_mohican]

A sad story that will be played out over and over across the North East this year.  Deer & Deer Hunting Magazine had an article a few months ago stating that after a harsh winter, the early mid spring time, (they mentioned April ) is a hard time for deer.

[diplomat019]

Hopefully some of thos deer can hang on a little longer with the warming temps coming up.

[Curmudgeon]

I got one out of a neighbor's yard last week that had just curled up and died. It got used as eagle bait. I saw another in the condition of Wooly's on Saturday.

 

I was out before dawn this morning. There is a crust the coyotes are walking on without breaking through - at least at night while it is below freezing. The coyotes will be feasting now - on the dead and dying. This is just a fact. Stating it may incite some people but I like coyotes and don't advocate killing them to help deer.

[Stratus]

I was up in 4w last week with my kids sleigh riding down my brothers driveway. He hasn't seen a deer from his cabin in about 8 weeks. Some of the drifts are around 5 feet. Rough one...

[The_Field_Ager]

So I was just reading the latest Outdoor news. Sullivan County in NY allows the feeding of wild-life. Anyone know why this is the case, but not for any other county?

 

Also, some old-timey hunters wrote in with anecdotal tales of deer numbers being way way down on previous decades. May 1/4 of what they used to be. Anyone got stats for this?

[Paula]

I bet your warm hand felt kinda nice to her

[Mustang51js]

Nice buck rub on 2nd pic