Snow is killing me!

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AB_Vinny
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Snow is killing me!

Unread postby AB_Vinny » Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:16 am

Well we are getting another nasty November. We have the odd snow in October but didn't seem to stay. Then Halloween night got dumped on, temperatures tanked (went from 14F to -34.6F) and it has been snowing ever since.

All of my scouted spots for the rut are shut right down since whitetails can't physically travel there, thus zero tracks or beds. Trying to walk through fields and woods to get to stands in thigh-deep snow has me sweating than freezing. Prime time for the rut in my area are the last two weeks of November. They seem to be yarding up around the only feed they can dig to in the snow which is a hay field that never got second cut. Of course no hunting access there.

We had a 50% mortality rate on whitetails in 2010 and about a 30% mortality in 2012. I fear this winter is going to kill what's left. The mule deer are doing great however.

I think I have to get better at bowhunting in September and October. Nobody let me go hunting in November again up here.

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Re: Snow is killing me!

Unread postby Stanley » Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:24 am

Man, those are some tough survival conditions.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Snow is killing me!

Unread postby AB_Vinny » Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:33 am

Stanley wrote:Man, those are some tough survival conditions.


Ya no doubt. The biologist for my area was telling me that whitetails are just not meant for these kinds of winters and they just die off. Moose, elk and mule deer do a lot better. 200 years ago there were no whitetails in Alberta. Bison and cold praires with the northern part being all boreal forest. When farming became big new wood lots started popping up by controlling praire grass fires and Dakota deer slowly moved up here from the USA. The density in my area on a good year is 3 whitetails/square mile, but I'm thinking it is floating around 1/sq mile until we get a few mild winters.
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Re: Snow is killing me!

Unread postby Stanley » Tue Nov 26, 2013 6:36 am

AB_Vinny wrote:
Stanley wrote:Man, those are some tough survival conditions.


Ya no doubt. The biologist for my area was telling me that whitetails are just not meant for these kinds of winters and they just die off. Moose, elk and mule deer do a lot better. 200 years ago there were no whitetails in Alberta. Bison and cold praires with the northern part being all boreal forest. When farming became big new wood lots started popping up by controlling praire grass fires and Dakota deer slowly moved up here from the USA. The density in my area on a good year is 3 whitetails/square mile, but I'm thinking it is floating around 1/sq mile until we get a few mild winters.


Wow tough hunting for sure.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Hodag Hunter
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Re: Snow is killing me!

Unread postby Hodag Hunter » Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:50 am

Tough for sure.

The one point you made that stood out to me was the hay never made it to the 2nd cut. :shock: Even in central WI 3 cuts is norm and 4 is an exceptional growing year. I don't know how many cuts IA or IL experiance?

Just goes to show how tough the growing season is up in your area......wow.
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Re: Snow is killing me!

Unread postby PLB » Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:58 am

:shock:

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Re: Snow is killing me!

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Tue Nov 26, 2013 10:45 am

Wow, tough conditions on whitetails for sure. It sounds like you could use some large expanses of quality thermal cover with food plots like corn and brassica's adjacent to it.
You cannot invade mainland America. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.
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Re: Snow is killing me!

Unread postby AB_Vinny » Tue Nov 26, 2013 10:51 am

DEERSLAYER wrote:Wow, tough conditions on whitetails for sure. It sounds like you could use some large expanses of quality thermal cover with food plots like corn and brassica's adjacent to it.


How large of an area would one need and how do you create a thermal cover? I think the brassica's would be buried in snow pretty quick but the corn will stand tall I'm sure. No one grows corn up here since the short growing season.

I was thinking more along how can I maximize September and October so I don't have to hunt in the cold :)
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Re: Snow is killing me!

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Tue Nov 26, 2013 11:33 am

AB_Vinny wrote:
DEERSLAYER wrote:Wow, tough conditions on whitetails for sure. It sounds like you could use some large expanses of quality thermal cover with food plots like corn and brassica's adjacent to it.


How large of an area would one need and how do you create a thermal cover? I think the brassica's would be buried in snow pretty quick but the corn will stand tall I'm sure. No one grows corn up here since the short growing season.

I was thinking more along how can I maximize September and October so I don't have to hunt in the cold :)

With the cold temps and as much snow as you get up there you would need some real good thermal cover to have good deer numbers (like 20 per sq mile). The type of thermal cover I think you would need takes quite a few years to produce. White cedar is the best, but hemlock would be good up there too. It needs to have a thick canopy to both hold a lot of snow up in the braches and retain some ground heat (it can be 10*-15* warmer under there). It also needs to be large enough to block wind from the interior or be surrounded be a wind break (spruce for example). If you have wolves or other whitetail predators around then your probably talking about a 1,000+ acres or the deer are sitting ducks, but otherwise it could be a lot smaller area. Maybe less than 40 acres and even 5 acres could help. Down here in lower Michigan the deer can get away with just having something to block the wind like a hill, conifers, thick tall stand of switch grass, etc., because we usually have less than 2' of snow on the ground. In the U.P. there can be 4'-5'+ on the ground in some area's so that won't cut it. I'm assuming you get similar snow cover?

I think you may be able to get a short season corn that would work for you up there. It might not produce enough of a cash drop to be worth while but it would be great for the deer. Even if you couldn't grow corn you can plant brassicas that get taller than the deer so getting to those big green nutritious leaves wouldn't be a problem.
You cannot invade mainland America. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.
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