georgepoker

Yes Doug, But if this was the case, Then why was our deer herds so big if the does was unhealthy to give fawns? The population continued to grow instead of decline. The oppisite would be true if your statement was true.
I have actually seen smaller does. My reason for this is because the does don't have a chance to mature as they use to. We use to see bigger does now we see smaller ones who are not living to be 3 years old as they once did.

Phil from Maine

It's not? Here we have lost alot of adult deer and alot of them were pregnant does. The coyotes put the deer onto the ice causing them to hamstring and then it is over for the deer. 2 years ago 23 deer in one deer yard was killed at one location ( about 3 miles from me ) most of them were does with lambs and it was calculated to be from 52 - 54 deer had the fawns survived.

This is a true statement and it is worst in March on them if alot of snowfall has come. This makes it hard for the deer to get all the food they need for the unborn to survive.

Also predators and dogs out running deer in cold weather is very dangerous to the deer in the temps we are currently having. After the deer are run for long lengths of time they will die even if they do not get caught. This happens because the deer when run generate a large amount of body heat and when running for long periods of time releases more heat. Causing the deer to heavily sweat and when they stop the cold air cools them off to quickly causing the deer to develope pneumonia. This in turn can and will kill deer. But, cold air by itself does not appear to kill them when they are not bothered by predators or dogs.

BTBowhunter

I'm not a biologist but I'm 95% sure that deer dont sweat.

Phil from Maine

I am not a biologist either but, It is a known fact that deer will die from pneumonia here. And they state the same reasons that I have stated here for the cause of it.

Fletch NY

The temperatures will not overly affect the deer. As someone else stated it will make them burn more energy. For us up here it is more the snow depth and the length of that snow on the ground. They are used to usual winters it is the ones that keep going through March that they get so low on fat reserves that they do not make it. Just the past 4 days the towns just 10 miles North from me have gotten 80 inches of snow and will have over 100 by end of week. We will need some warmer weather in the next couple weeks to compact it down or the deer will start to feel it.

Phil from Maine

Welcome to Maine, we have our share of cold weather as most states in the north do. Cold weather as a rule do not affect the deer to much. When they are chase for extended periods of time be it predators or your family pet they in fact suffer greatly! They can and will suffer from pneumonia as been the case here. So to think they won't you may be in for a big surprise if they are being chased for long periods of time by those mentioned above. If they are not botherd by those other animals they will do fine.Here they tend to go into the thick cedar swamps for food and cover. They come up out of them to feed in the cuttings and are doing great as the coyotes do not appear to be so thick this year. So if our amount of snowfall stays the way it is now it should give us another good year of hunting ahead.

DougE

George,we were blessed with mild winters all throuout the 80's and 90's with just a few exceptions.Combine a mild winter witha good mast crop and the herd will increase.Unfortunately,when we have a hard winter and apoor mast crop,the herd declines and there's evidence to support this.A deer needs several pounds of browse a day during the winterto sustain it's body weight.Once a doe loses 20%,the chances of her giving birth to healthy fawns is almost zero.Why do do think some of the most rugged and remote ares of Pa have seen such a decline in the deer population lately?Hunters aren't killing them in these areasand the doe mortality study proves that.

Phil,I'm not saying winter mortality can't be a problem.I'm saying you don't have to find dead deer in order for there to be a problem.If you have deer dieing,lack of recruitment will definately be an issue and you'll soon have alot less deer.

georgepoker

So the PGC has became weather experts and can predict the weather? I bet the enviromentalist would like their input on global warming. So the PGC are predicting harsher winters and the deer herd must be thinned for their survival. That is interesting.

germain

I highly doubt it moose because it's a dirt road on a hill which makes travel slow.And the road was basically ice covered throughout that winter which really made travel slow.

DougE

Just the opposite George.They can't bank on a mild winter and a good mast crop every year.The herd needs to be balanced with the habitat.Less browse means less deer.Less deer also means healthier deer,better habitat for all game and more fawns suviving.Everything revolves around habitat.