Doesn't look good for WMU 47 deer

Deer in 47 can't seem to catch a break. Our place is in the Restoule area and there has been over 18 inches of snow on the flat in the bush since mid January and currently it is at +/- 30 inches. The snow that is there is hard and packed from the two small thaws and freezing rain we have had in the last few weeks. This is at our place on Sunday and is representative of the snow depth in the bush in our area:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7839/...aea28da5_b.jpg

30 to 40 cm forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday with another 15 cm forecast for Friday/Saturday. No thaw in 14 day forecast. On the fun side I put 300+ km on the sled this past weekend and did see 5 deer that actually looked not too bad.

Yup same as 49. Pretty sad, hopefully the crust doesnt get too hard as it will be hard on moose too, wolves just run on top.

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Looks like a lot of snow, wow, sure does look deep..... Nice work, can't be easy keeping the place clear of snow in winters like this..
Hopefully an early spring.

I haven’t seen a winter like since this the back to back bad years of 1995/96 & 1996/97☹️. The deer thing that saved the deer back then was the old man’s beard on the dead balsam fir.Unfortunately there’s none of that left.

Best case scenario is say goodbye to 100% of this year's fawn crop. It will get even better if we have a late green-up by even a couple of extra weeks. MNR will then act stellar and some brainless pennis will fail to cut the antlerless tag allocation. Saddest thing about it all is that the bios will have the OWSI data right in front of them. Best be looking up some raccoon recipes for next fall!

Be careful up there, looks like a long ways down. Yup totally fed up with shovelling, were getting nailed big times in the Cochrane District. Tonnes of snow and -40 + for a month. Poor Moose, will be a hard one for them, luckily deep snow is like sugar, I doubt Wolves have a easy time. Well it should take care of ticks and slow down the Spruce Budworm infestation.

Even if the deer were having a favourable winter, its hard to produce fawns without does.

I've previously never been overly critical of the MNR(F). I know and have worked with their a few of their senior biologists and they are smart dedicated people who are in it for the right reasons. But the WMU 47 situation is a clusterf^ck. This didn't come out of nowhere; hunters have been sounding the alarm since 2014. And the MNRF has responded with all the nimbleness of a fat lady on a Walmart scooter.

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Originally Posted by Sam Menard

I haven’t seen a winter like since this the back to back bad years of 1995/96 & 1996/97☹️. The deer thing that saved the deer back then was the old man’s beard on the dead balsam fir.Unfortunately there’s none of that left.

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Interesting. I googled it. Usnea is very susceptible to sulphur dioxide so I guess it's a safe assumption pollution was to blame for it's demise. Would you agree?

Cheers

48, 65 and 63 probably not going to be good

The reaction time of the MNR is usually delayed by a year-and-a-half.... we found this out at a wild game dinner here in Niagara when the MNR Representatives came to speak to us .....it was late January and they told us, not this upcoming season, but the following season. there would be reductions to the doe tags..... when we asked why so far in advance they said it's how the system is set up.. I took the floor and ask them how they react to a bad winter or a winter kill that's happening now.... how do you react just in time for the upcoming season when the adjustment should have been done that year!!! not a year-and-a-half later ...... the crowd, all hunters, were flabbergasted that this is how the management tools are set up in our MNR. So a bad winter with a large die-off followed by an over-harvesting of does the following fall set the stage for dismal seasons after that....

maybe this is the same system you guys have up there.

Tough winter in 59 as well. We've been out packing trails with the snowmobile through the cedars but noticed an abundance of coyote tracks since we started doing that. I hope we're not doing more harm than good making it easier for the coyotes to get around! I wonder if the Ministry or OFAH monitor the severity and will suggest emergency feeding programs.

We have coyotes in our yard weekly looking for a meal. Friggin things are like rats in NYC, there everywhere around us.

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Originally Posted by warpipe

I wonder if the Ministry or OFAH monitor the severity and will suggest emergency feeding programs.

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I am and will continue to be a strong supporter of the OFAH, but after seeing what the winters have done to the herd and no emergency feeding occured, I honestly don't know what it would take to trigger the DeerSave Program.

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Originally Posted by warpipe

Tough winter in 59 as well. We've been out packing trails with the snowmobile through the cedars but noticed an abundance of coyote tracks since we started doing that. I hope we're not doing more harm than good making it easier for the coyotes to get around! I wonder if the Ministry or OFAH monitor the severity and will suggest emergency feeding programs.

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There was a piece on this a week ago on the telly about this and it was to do with I believe the Jasper National Park remote area,s where they have banned both
snow shoeing and cross country skiing in order to prevent wolves taking to the packed trails in pursuit of the last remaining Caribou, I think there are only 4 Caribou left in that area, featured in that story.But the wolves and I guess coyotes will naturally take advantage of the easier travel on these paths.

https://www.rmoutlook.com/article/pa...ribou-20130912

I’m headed up to Restoule this weekend. I was planning on going for bunnies. With the snow being that deep it’s not going to happen. Have to do some walleye fishing on Commanda. Less work lol

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Originally Posted by missy83

I’m headed up to Restoule this weekend. I was planning on going for bunnies. With the snow being that deep it’s not going to happen. Have to do some walleye fishing on Commanda. Less work lol

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I was in Restoule 2 weekends ago and could not believe how deep the snow was. Almost impossible to move around in the bush.

Here's some interesting information about snow cover over the last few decades:
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/info/201.../index-en.html