Deer mortality northwoods winter

[Huskie]

Has the dnr come out with any numbers in regard to the impact of the last few snow storms on the deer herd north of Grand Rapids. It seems that the area we hunt has been hit hard by a lot of snow the last few months, Dora Lake to Northome. I would think the key would be to make it through to April 1.

[lichen fox]

The deer we are seeing here in NW Mn, look in pretty good shape for the most part considering all the snow...but, this morning I saw two that had been turned into crow & eagle bait on the railroad tracks within a one mile stretch...there was also two others that were still eating the spilt grains on the rr tracks!

[Jameson]

Check the DNR site( http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/deer/index.html ) for winter severity index. Here is the link to the most up to date map as of 3/6/2013 with hunting zones on the map: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/recreation/hunting/deer/wsi_dpa_map13.pdf

It looks like an average to slightly easy winter.

[Huskie]

Any change in how the deer are surviving north of Grand Rapids? Seems like the winter will not quit?

[surewood]

Being just south of that area I'd say it was a pretty hard winter. Started good after deer season so hopefully they had enough time to recover before the snow and cold temps set in. So far this spring has been miserable with cold temps and rain/snow. Can only hope for warm and dry weather when they start fawning. I'd say, outlook not so good.

[Black Bear]

I'm officially worried. The way I understand it, as photoperiodism (daylight) increases, so does a deers metabolism. They need access to food now more than anytime during the winter. We'll see but I suspect some mortality.

[lichen fox]

Yes, thier metablolism does increase dramaticly as the days lengthen...I'm seeing about 40 to 50 deer per day in my travels to and from work...they are feeding on every area of exposed grasses along the roads and railroad tracks...I have observed, on average, at least 2 fresh vehicle kills each day for the past 8 days...so, it's not just starvation that will get them...we need the snow to melt so they can get at the fields again, and off the road...we have about a foot of heavy crusted snow over most of the fields yet in NW Mn...the only place there is any amount of grass or dirt showing is along the highways and gravel roads!

[Bowfin]

I would be worried less about starvation and more about wolves in northern Minnesota. The winter wasn't too bad until March but now the deer are pretty much immobile in the deep snow and the wolves can run on top. The last month is pretty much as easy as life gets for wolves.

[certified jumbo]

not sure how the deer are doing, but i did find a shed out buck that died last week and was mostly eaten. unsure of cause of death, but died after it shed its antlers. but the long winter certianly hasn't helped the deer any.

[lichen fox]

I wouldn't be worried about wolves and such...they kilt em all in the wolf season, and there won't be any more until the next full moon!

[lungdeflator]

It was going to be an easy winter again, but now I am pretty worried about it. There is still 20+ inches around Bemidji and they just got more Sunday night/Monday. Not to bad if this was late January/February but fawns usually start dropping in another 1-1.5 months and the extra stress on the carrying does this late in the winter might cause them to abort the fawn OR might kill both of them. There is definatley a hard crust as well making it very difficult to dig through, and like mentioned the wolves have it very easy running on top of the crust.

[Musky Buck]

I saw in the last Outdoor News the local CO had numerous calls for road killed deer. Anyway, seemed like an odd time of year to deal with numerous road kills, I've been seeing deer out any time of the day lately, thankfully I think I repeat think once we get to this weekend we may be finally coming out of it knock on lumber.

[Bear55]

I don't think we are at those bad winters numbers yet but things went from a nice mild winter to something to at least worry about during March/April. Another storm on the way, we might just skip spring this year and go from winter to summer.

[bigbucks]

Or winter to fall...

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

I saw in the last Outdoor News the local CO had numerous calls for road killed deer. Anyway, seemed like an odd time of year to deal with numerous road kills,

Well, I took a drive last weekend north of East Battle Lake on Friday at dusk and Saturday at dusk..... I could have EASILY bumper thumped a couple dozen deer on the road, and they didnt want to get off the road into the ditches until the last possible moment. Some I had to stop and let them decide what side of the road they were going to jump into..

My only guess is that along the roads there is some greening going on with the fact the snow is melted down off the shoulders of the roads.

I took the kids and nephews out for the Saturday dusk run, and we counted 78 deer in less than 30 minutes of driving the backroads.... And 90% of those were within a rocks throw distance of all the roads.

[hockeybc69]

.... oh and a friend of mine found a dead doe 2 weeks ago... fresh dead deer. this past weekend he found a dead fawn doe as well. Another fairly fresh one. It wasnt there 2 weeks ago when he was up there...

Near Dead Lake.

The winter that wont end.....

[nonteepical]

There's no greening up going on in west central mn. The deer are HUNGRY and seem to be getting a little desperate, anywhere the snow is thin they're eating, fields or shoulder of the roads day and night. Heck can't even keep the bird feeders full enough they don't have anything to eat, at least another 2-3 weeks till we see some green.

[hockeybc69]

Talked to our farmer neighbor this week. Gave him a call about turkey hunting.

He claims the deer are jumping up INTO his bale feeder..... I dont honestly remember what feeder he is talking about, but he said they are inside of it.... Not understanding why they wouldnt just eat out of it, but whatever I guess..Having a hard time picturing this, but he said the deer are hungry and is seeing a lot anywhere there is a bale to chew on....

[Notime]

When we went to the Gathering a couple weeks ago I saw 3 deer standing on top of round bales eating. This was south of Detroit lakes on the way to Fergus Falls. I saw LOTS of small deer last night on the way home from Cross Lake, probably like 20 in a clear cut they are logging just east of the north end of 64 on 200. I haven't saw any tracks out back behind our place for 3 months. I would not be surprised if the DNR only offers a few doe permits this year.