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Potential for deer kill from 2021 snow?
Whitetail Deer
Contributors to this thread:
scndwfstlhntng 20-Feb-21
Bou'bound 20-Feb-21
MathewsMan 20-Feb-21
Jethro 20-Feb-21
WV Mountaineer 20-Feb-21
bassmasterjk 20-Feb-21
Shuteye 23-Feb-21
Pat Lefemine 23-Feb-21
WVFarrier 23-Feb-21
scndwfstlhntng 23-Feb-21
LKH 23-Feb-21
20-Feb-21
I live in EastCentral Pa and we have had a lot of snow over the last several weeks. Initially it was at least 15", didn't melt much at all, and then we got another 5-6". We have not seen the dirt for all of this time, and there is not any browse to speak of. As of today we stand at about 8" or so where undisturbed. Fortunately, while it has snowed and been into the 20s lots of nights, it has not been windy, rainy, or just "miserable". What can you guys tell me about the potential winter die off from all of this (unusual and prolonged) snow compared to other milder years?

From: Bou'bound
20-Feb-21
You haven’t gotten to a critical point yet they’ll be fine and less you get a lot more and it stays much longer than normal

From: MathewsMan
20-Feb-21
Our winter last year was pretty mild, and the deer hunting south of here about 150 miles where we hunted for Sitka Blacktail was apparently hit pretty hard.

This winter has been vastly worse with more snow before December than what we had total the previous year.

Hopefully conditions were not as bad for the deer as the impact seems to be in comparison.

From: Jethro
20-Feb-21
Although the last 3 weeks in PA make it seem like winter has been harsh, it really hasn't been. Dec and Jan were mild and relatively snow free. We have 16-18" snow cover at my place but its not hard crusted and deer are digging through to feed no problem on the sunny slopes.

20-Feb-21
No browse can be an issue. It limits deer populations. While it isn’t critical yet, with no habitat, you need to see some dirt soon.

From: bassmasterjk
20-Feb-21

bassmasterjk's Link
I posted this last week: https://forums.bowsite.com/tf/bgforums/thread.cfm?threadid=492307&messages=31&forum=4

From: Shuteye
23-Feb-21

Shuteye's embedded Photo
Shuteye's embedded Photo
Here is what the snow and cold did to the exotics in Texas. Of course our deer can stand a lot of cold weather.

From: Pat Lefemine
23-Feb-21
Weather is warming up considerably in the PA region this week, your deer will be fine.

From: WVFarrier
23-Feb-21
Im just over the border in WV with the same weather as the OP and honestly its been pretty mild overall. Ive seen more daylight activity in my horse fields but thats about it. They arent hitting the mineral blocks any harder than normal.

23-Feb-21
Thanks guys. It sorta goes from casual observer, to concerned "nature lover" to proprietary angst. I haven't seen snow like this in more years than I can remember. It has to be nearly 6 feet piled up along the driveway. It even flurried this morning in the context of a clear warming trend and currently standing at 39 degrees. Crazy, right? Now that I have one less thing to worry about, I have to say that the prolonged weeks of lots of beautiful white snow has been fantastic as it did not have any serious elements with it such as high winds or freezing rain to bring the trees down. I could enjoy this for a little longer and not really happy about the next weeks of mud.. particularly with 2 dogs.

From: LKH
23-Feb-21
WY has wind, PA really doesn't so WY opens up some. Same here in MT

For the Minnesota guys, maybe you know the mortality index or whatever they call it which gives a point for each day below xx deg F and a point for each day with YY" of snow. Then you add the two and see where the result falls on their scale.

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