How long can Whitetails survive the deep freeze?
02-06-2007, 06:13 PM
#1
Host of Hosts
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Erie, Pennsylvania
Posts: 5,780
How long can Whitetails survive the deep freeze?
Just curious as to how long the deer can put up with this severe cold we are having in the Northeast? I know years ago officials used to find hundreds of deer in deer yards that died due to the weather or lack of food caused by it. Anyone know?
02-06-2007, 06:46 PM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,236
RE: How long can Whitetails survive the deep freeze?
It has always been accepted as fact in my circles that cold does not affect whitetails. Only deep snow or ice and/or crusted deep snow adversely affects them. As long as they can stay mobile and feed easily, no temperature lows known to man will impact them. Food is their only concern. As long as they can get to it, they are good. Let's hope that the snow we have doesn't melt and then refreeze as ice, or that we get a deep accumulation. In extended durations of cold, any snow we get stays, so deep accumulations can result.
02-06-2007, 06:57 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 1,149
RE: How long can Whitetails survive the deep freeze?
I know how long I could last in these temps.
They'll hit the thermal covers and try not to expend alot of energy in the deep snow.I always get the year mixed up but somewhere back about the mid 70's I think the NC had deep snow and then an ice storm on top of it.That year alot of deer broke their necks just from sliding down ridges.You couldn't break through the stuff.Then in the winter of 93 we kept hearing rumors of deer and turkey freezing solid standing in place.So we finally got up to see what all the hub bub was about.We took a long walk through 30 plus inches of snow and didn't cut a track.We eventually went to an area where cutting was done in the late fall and the tops were left.Bingo!Deer were everywhere hanging out in that one spot by the tops and thermal cover nearby.That was in 93.Today under those circumstances you might see two deer.
They'll hit the thermal covers and try not to expend alot of energy in the deep snow.I always get the year mixed up but somewhere back about the mid 70's I think the NC had deep snow and then an ice storm on top of it.That year alot of deer broke their necks just from sliding down ridges.You couldn't break through the stuff.Then in the winter of 93 we kept hearing rumors of deer and turkey freezing solid standing in place.So we finally got up to see what all the hub bub was about.We took a long walk through 30 plus inches of snow and didn't cut a track.We eventually went to an area where cutting was done in the late fall and the tops were left.Bingo!Deer were everywhere hanging out in that one spot by the tops and thermal cover nearby.That was in 93.Today under those circumstances you might see two deer.
02-06-2007, 07:29 PM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: PA
Posts: 522
RE: How long can Whitetails survive the deep freeze?
That was in 93.Today under those circumstances you might see two deer.
There's one in every crowd
Might've been '93, forget now, but it was one of those winters when rumors were flying about turkeys frozen to tree limbs and hollows "full" of dead deer. Called my cousin that lives across the valley from my camp and in the course of the conversation, I asked if he'd heard any ofthat stuff. Said there was local talk, since temps had been low for some time and there was alsoa heavy snow cover. He said he hadn't seen a deer or turkey in weeks and was beginning to believe the stories.
Couple weeks later he called me about something and I eventually remembered to ask if he'd found any dead turkeys or deer yet. He laughed, said no, but he'd found lots of live ones. Not long after we'd talked, he stopped to visit another farmer up the valley and mentioned the cold weather and wildlife. That farmer told him to come back in early morning or at dusk and he could see critters on the NW side of the valley, coming out of the dense pines to the spring seep.
Couldn't see them from the road, so people driving about hadn't seen deer and turkeys. But that farmer's house was high enough up the hillso's he could see them almost every day. Another mystery solved.
I've been in part of that thick pine"plantation" (about 80 acres in three pieces) and it's thick enough that I doubt snow depths inside of it ever got close to what was out in the fields. There are also many smallopen areas in there where pines died and green briers, apple trees and other bits of vegetation may have provided some seeds and browse for both species to get some food? Then there was also some greenery along the springs too.
According to what I've read,healthy deer can abide cold temps almost indefinitely, with a bit of water, cover and chow to see them through.
There's one in every crowd
Might've been '93, forget now, but it was one of those winters when rumors were flying about turkeys frozen to tree limbs and hollows "full" of dead deer. Called my cousin that lives across the valley from my camp and in the course of the conversation, I asked if he'd heard any ofthat stuff. Said there was local talk, since temps had been low for some time and there was alsoa heavy snow cover. He said he hadn't seen a deer or turkey in weeks and was beginning to believe the stories.
Couple weeks later he called me about something and I eventually remembered to ask if he'd found any dead turkeys or deer yet. He laughed, said no, but he'd found lots of live ones. Not long after we'd talked, he stopped to visit another farmer up the valley and mentioned the cold weather and wildlife. That farmer told him to come back in early morning or at dusk and he could see critters on the NW side of the valley, coming out of the dense pines to the spring seep.
Couldn't see them from the road, so people driving about hadn't seen deer and turkeys. But that farmer's house was high enough up the hillso's he could see them almost every day. Another mystery solved.
I've been in part of that thick pine"plantation" (about 80 acres in three pieces) and it's thick enough that I doubt snow depths inside of it ever got close to what was out in the fields. There are also many smallopen areas in there where pines died and green briers, apple trees and other bits of vegetation may have provided some seeds and browse for both species to get some food? Then there was also some greenery along the springs too.
According to what I've read,healthy deer can abide cold temps almost indefinitely, with a bit of water, cover and chow to see them through.
02-06-2007, 07:47 PM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 1,149
RE: How long can Whitetails survive the deep freeze?
Yep we heard it all that year.Turkeys were frozen solid to limbs,a herd of deer was found frozen solid standing up in a valley in Potter county,and alot of other stories.I heard it all that year.
The following winter I went to camp in march to have a well dug after a long time of deep snow and I did find two skeletons of young deer where the snow had melted.It was right beside the road so I couldn't tell if idiots poached them,starvation,or predators got them.Being right beside the road I'm thinking idiots shot them and left them lay.
Turkeys were frozen solid to limbs,a herd of deer was found frozen solid standing up in a valley in Potter county,and alot of other stories.I heard it all that year.The following winter I went to camp in march to have a well dug after a long time of deep snow and I did find two skeletons of young deer where the snow had melted.It was right beside the road so I couldn't tell if idiots poached them,starvation,or predators got them.Being right beside the road I'm thinking idiots shot them and left them lay.
02-06-2007, 07:53 PM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: SW PA USA
Posts: 7,220
RE: How long can Whitetails survive the deep freeze?
Big Country and I and another friend Just came across the PA turnpike from Carlisle to New Stanton. (Saw the Harrisburg show) We saw around 20 deer from the pike. 2 were bedded and the rest were up and feeding. All of them appeared to be just fine.
