WI winter severity index???

[tundra]

My other house is in the UP in Iron County,,,,,, we have a lot of deer, too many really, and politics from UP whitetails of Marquette, stopped our biologist from letting out some doe tags,,,,, It was nothing to see 40 deer in a few days of ML hunting in my areas, no horns but lots of does. anyway, our area is not too bad. This would be south of Hwy 2, from 73 east to Iron Mountain.....

Of course an hour north, its a lot of snow, but that is pretty usual. It is extreme lengths of severe cold, and ice crusts that are the issue. It is not as bad as the winter of 2013 to 2014.......

My friends though in NW Wis have lots of issues, and it will not be good for the deer......

Deer can handle the snow and predators, IF they have decent habitat, and its just coming back in Fed land, after years of poor mgt due to politics

I do not see spring coming for a long long time,,,,

[strutnrut716]

Just got back from my cottage west of Rhinelander in southern Oneida co. Shoveled snow off roofs of 4 buildings. The deepest was 43 inches on my uncles garage. On the ground depths average about 38 inches.

Saw a deer running on a blacktop road as we approached with a vehicle. It basically did NOT want to jump up off the road. Also saw deer tracks on other properties in driveways that were plowed out. Severity index is rising fast !

[Wetfoot]

Saw a deer running on a blacktop road as we approached with a vehicle. It basically did NOT want to jump up off the road. Also saw deer tracks on other properties in driveways that were plowed out.

We're seeing the same behavior around here in the UP. This is fairly normal here though (unfortunately, but I wouldn't trade it). We may not have the rack size you get in other areas of the country but, the quality of the hunting experience here is what I really enjoy. Rare that I come across another bow hunting while in the swamps here.
I'm the snow belt areas, the deer just completely migrate to yarding areas, so there are no deer to be seen at all till they head back to summer range.

[tbowers]

Im in central Polk County in NW WI. There is a solid 30" of snow on the ground currently. I wonder though how many deer succumbed to the cold at the end of January when it was in the -30's for several days. Not a good winter for sure..hopefully we dont get hit with 15" of snow in Mid-April like we did last year.

[Itchy Bones]

My other house is in the UP in Iron County,,,,,, we have a lot of deer, too many really, and politics from UP whitetails of Marquette, stopped our biologist from letting out some doe tags,,,,, It was nothing to see 40 deer in a few days of ML hunting in my areas, no horns but lots of does. anyway, our area is not too bad. This would be south of Hwy 2, from 73 east to Iron Mountain.....

Of course an hour north, its a lot of snow, but that is pretty usual. It is extreme lengths of severe cold, and ice crusts that are the issue. It is not as bad as the winter of 2013 to 2014.......

My friends though in NW Wis have lots of issues, and it will not be good for the deer......

Deer can handle the snow and predators, IF they have decent habitat, and its just coming back in Fed land, after years of poor mgt due to politics

I do not see spring coming for a long long time,,,,

Winter of '14 '15 was kinda rough too long stretches below zero and lots of double digit negative. check out this recent mww video harsh realities for deer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U5ftqUSHs4

[Dewey]

Might want to watch this link. I'm sure it will be updated soon with the February results.

https://dnr.wi.gov/wideermetrics/DeerStats.aspx?R=WSI

[strutnrut716]

February 2019 results have been posted for Wisconsin WSI. Most northern stations are now in the 40's and 50's for WSI.

https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabita ... siest2.pdf

[Wetfoot]

Here's a link I just spotted online. Not all doom and gloom for Northern deer herds but, not great either.
https://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/blog ... -deer-herd

[headgear]

Lots of snow in the northland right now, like lots and lots of snow, more than I have seen in a very long time. The only saving grace is most of it came in Feb and early March so the pounded hasn't been as long. If we can melt it off in a reasonable time frame the deer will be ok but just ok, they aren't coming out of this winter in great condition and I expect to see some stunted racks this fall.

[Dewey]

I just spent 4 days in the northwoods and got a good feel for how things are up there right now. I did some snowshoeing and about 250 miles by sled in Vilas County and there is a ton of snow. It's a winter wonderland if you like to snowmobile, snowshoe or ski but not so nice for anybody else including ice fisherman. Seems like a minimum 36" of snow on the ground everywhere with isolated areas with closer to 4 feet. I saw a BUNCH of deer out and about everywhere and surprisingly they all looked very healthy. Even the young deer that really struggle in the extreme weather and have a much harder harder time getting around seemed to be just fine. Didn't see any with that fuzzy look that get when starvation starts setting in. The mild temps right now are coming at a really good time since below zero temps combined with the deep snow is a killer this time of the year. Luckily the rest of the winter was really mild before the February dumping. Feeding is illegal but it was obvious a lot of cabin feeding was still going on. Lot's of deer congregating around some houses like always.

Gonna take awhile to melt all of this.



This entire area was about 40" deep. I stepped of my snowshoes and walked in and was instantly over waist deep. Not drifted.............this went on for miles and miles.



I checked out a few bedding areas by snowshoe and the deer had really good networks of trails. Every one I saw was moving along pretty easily on those trails and even running when a few spotted me.



After breaking trail with snowshoes I think the deer appreciated it because the next day the deer were using my trail.





It was pretty weird walking through bedding areas and beds were 3 feet below my snowshoes. Obviously the deer have been using those same beds in the cedars all winter. Wish I had taken pics of those. Pretty cool looking and bet they were well insulated down in those holes.

I think the deer will be fine if the meltdown starts now. The WSI is in the upper 50's right now up there and climbing every day the snow stays above 18". Hopefully we don't get dumped on in April like we did about 5 years ago. That was a brutal winter lasting into late May with snow still on the ground in early June. Hate to see a repeat of that.

[Tim H]

I just spent 4 days in the northwoods and got a good feel for how things are up there right now. I did some snowshoeing and about 250 miles by sled in Vilas County and there is a ton of snow. It's a winter wonderland if you like to snowmobile, snowshoe or ski but not so nice for anybody else including ice fisherman. Seems like a minimum 36" of snow on the ground everywhere with isolated areas with closer to 4 feet. I saw a BUNCH of deer out and about everywhere and surprisingly they all looked very healthy. Even the young deer that really struggle in the extreme weather and have a much harder harder time getting around seemed to be just fine. Didn't see any with that fuzzy look that get when starvation starts setting in. The mild temps right now are coming at a really good time since below zero temps combined with the deep snow is a killer this time of the year. Luckily the rest of the winter was really mild before the February dumping. Feeding is illegal but it was obvious a lot of cabin feeding was still going on. Lot's of deer congregating around some houses like always.

Gonna take awhile to melt all of this.



This entire area was about 40" deep. I stepped of my snowshoes and walked in and was instantly over waist deep. Not drifted.............this went on for miles and miles.



I checked out a few bedding areas by snowshoe and the deer had really good networks of trails. Every one I saw was moving along pretty easily on those trails and even running when a few spotted me.



After breaking trail with snowshoes I think the deer appreciated it because the next day the deer were using my trail.





It was pretty weird walking through bedding areas and beds were 3 feet below my snowshoes. Obviously the deer have been using those same beds in the cedars all winter. Wish I had taken pics of those. Pretty cool looking and bet they were well insulated down in those holes.

I think the deer will be fine if the meltdown starts now. The WSI is in the upper 50's right now up there and climbing every day the snow stays above 18". Hopefully we don't get dumped on in April like we did about 5 years ago. That was a brutal winter lasting into late May with snow still on the ground in early June. Hate to see a repeat of that.

This is good information Dewey. I have yet to get out and do any walking in the woods. I've spent my extra time with my family and removing all the snow we have been getting. Scouting in 4 feet of snow isn't on my do list at the moment.

[Net Guy]

Father-in-law was up at the cabin again this past weekend to remove the snow off the roof and he said the snow was consistently up to his mid-thighs, which would be probably over 2.5' deep. He mentioned some spots on the roof were over 4' deep. However, he said he said a lot of deer that appeared healthy. Snow was starting to melt just from the sunny day, but of course, they got another 5" on Sunday

Even though the snow is deep now I think it will melt fairly quick with warmer temps and the good amount of rain forecasted since the snow is light and fluffy. Just hope mother nature doesn't throw any more curve balls. I haven't been up there since January so I haven't walked around any woods or anything up there in a while, so taking his word for it. Seems fairly consistent with other reports I've heard or read.

[Dewey]

Is it spring yet?



(Not my pic. Found it on the internet)

Pretty funny last night we rode into Boulder Junction to gas up the sleds and a couple of deer were at the local store busting open bags of shelled corn on a skid right against the building. Bunch of thieves. Checked it out today and the corn was gone and they left a big pile of droppings in the parking lot.

[matt1336]

Dewey- was there any wolf sign in or around those bedding areas?

[Dewey]

Dewey- was there any wolf sign in or around those bedding areas?

I didn’t see any wolf sign in the bedding areas I checked. There is at least one wolf pack in the area. Had one wolf jump across one of the trails by Star Lake then saw deer shortly after. I’m sure they are being harassed.