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Darn! I just found out, my "hunter host" in Grand Prairie has between 3 1/2' to 5' of snow in his hunting area, and this was the year I was going for my bucket list mulie! Any other reports to depress me?
And it was +6C last couple of days with some wind plus a good 1/2" of rain. Knocked snow down but it is turning cold again/more snow next 3-4 days. Be a real nice crust on a heavy snow. Make pawing tough but easy for the predators to run on top. And 3 long months of winter ahead. Not going to be good on the deer that were not in abundance anyway.
Obama is still in office. I know that sure depresses me!
Are you going with Mike's?
Hope the news gets better for you!
Grande Prairie was my destination also. Still is. Not much for deer left in Manitoba. Moose and elk down too.
Bear t..Itoo am heading to Mikes this year. Any good news yet on the deer herd?
Not going to Mike's. Being Canadian, I can have a friend "Hunter Host" me. Basically a sponsor.
Glad I went to Grande Prairie last year...lol
Our snow north of Grande Prairie melted off in many of the fields in January, right down to the stubble or hayfields exposing a lot of good feed. The deer had been grouping up in the fields feeding the whole last month. We have a cold stretch going on right now but as long as they have feed they should be ok.
The moose are all fine, they can just feed in the willow flats even if snow gets deep, ticks are their biggest enemy and I see very little sign of that on them. nothing seems to knock the elk down, they get in big herds and hammer the farmers haystacks at night. Farmers hate them but they seem to do well in the farmland no matter how tough the winter is and the elk don't seem to put a big dent in them.
Thanks Mike. I was told that's how the snow was there and had gone down. Ours keeps going up unfortunately. Mulie and elk for me this year there.
Mike
How have the Mulies fared prior to the warm up? It seems that the worst conditions for them is when you get a freeze/thaw with a heavy crust, then more snow on the crust. I remember in years past, that was the death knell for the deer by you.
Hopefully it will be many years before you have a bad winter kill.
Cold stretch ended and now we have had another big 2 week melt, most of our fields are exposed, almost no snow. Many bucks are still packing antlers so as far as I know that means they are not stressed. We have a group of about 15 deer around our lodge with 6 fawns and none of the fawns have died, they are usually the first to go. There is much more snow around the city of Grande Prairie but in our 2 zones we are in great shape.